The Lady in Question

This article is about the 1940 film. For the A&E TV movie, see The Lady in Question (1999 film).

The Lady in Question
Directed by	Charles Vidor
Screenplay by	Lewis Meltzer
Story by	Marcel Achard
Produced by	B. B. Kahane
Starring	Brian Aherne Rita Hayworth Glenn Ford
Cinematography	Lucien Andriot
Edited by	Al Clark
Music by	Lucien Moraweck
Color process	Black and white
Production company	Columbia Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	August 7, 1940 (1940-08-07)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Lady in Question is a 1940 American comedy-drama romance film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Brian Aherne, Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. It is a remake of the 1937 French film Gribouille.

This was the first of five films in which Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth appeared together, most famously in their second film, Gilda (1946). They also teamed together in The Loves of Carmen (1948), Affair in Trinidad (1952) and The Money Trap (1965). Their off-screen liaisons were soon transformed into an enduring, lifelong friendship.

Plot

While serving on a Paris jury André Morestan (Brian Aherne) persuades his deadlocked peers to vote for the acquittal of Natalie Roguin (Rita Hayworth), a young woman on trial for the death of a young man she had been seeing. Securing her acquittal, Morestan invites her to live and work at his bicycle and music shop when no one else will give her a job. However, he decides to keep her true identity a secret, which soon begins to raise doubts within his family. His son Pierre (Glenn Ford) soon falls in love with her, even though he knows who she is.

Eventually, Pierre steals some money from the store's till, and André is persuaded by a fellow former juror that Natalie was in fact guilty. He goes to the authorities, but learns from them that new evidence has turned up that completely exonerates her. All are reconciled and love wins out.

Cast

• Brian Aherne as André Morestan
• Rita Hayworth as Natalie Roguin
• Glenn Ford as Pierre Morestan
• Irene Rich as Michèle Morestan
• George Coulouris as Defense Attorney
• Lloyd Corrigan as Prosecuting Attorney
• Evelyn Keyes as Françoise Morestan
• Edward Norris as Robert LaCoste
• Curt Bois as Henri Lurette
• Frank Reicher as President
• Sumner Getchell as Fat Boy
• Nicholas Bela as Nicolas Farkas

Note: Future director William Castle, then working at Columbia as a dialogue director, plays one of the jurors.

External links

• The Lady in Question at IMDb
• The Lady in Question at AllMovie
• The Lady in Question at the TCM Movie Database
• The Lady in Question at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Lady in Question at TV Guide (slightly shortened version of 1987 write-up originally published in The Motion Picture Guide)