Lady for a Day could be the archetypal Capra film. It features a sentimental and improbable story, but is presented in such a believable way that you buy and care about what happens to characters. The plot summary that follows sounds terrible, but the movie really works.
Apple Annie (May Robson) is a near elderly woman who wanders the streets of New York at the height of the depression selling apples, just a step above homeless. For years, she has upheld an elaborate ruse: she sent her daughter (Jean Arthur) away to Spain as a child to be raised in convent, and has written her for years, claiming to be a rich socialite. Now however, she is engaged to be married to Carlos (Barry Norton) the son of a Spanish Count (Walter Connolly), and would like to come visit her mother in New York. Oh no! Feeling sorry for her, Dave the Dude (William Warren) a local gangster, pays to buy her some rich clothes and put her up in a hotel, and finds a pool shark (Capra regular Guy Kibbee) to play her husband. The plan becomes so elaborate that he puts the singer at his nightclub (Glenda Farrell) in charge of rehersing Annie's street urchin friends and the rest of his gang to act like snooty rich people. Do you think that they can pull it off and impress the Count enough to allow the marriage?
In virtually any other director's hands this would be an insipid and saccharine bit of manipulative treackle. But Capra makes us really like the characters. Towards the end of the film, I felt genuine suspense as to what was going to happen, more suspense than I have ever felt even in a Hitchcock film. Part of what makes the film so successful is that Capra gives us some bitter to go with the street -Dave the Dude is clearly a ruthless gangster, and he commits some rather brutal crimes to maintain the charade. But the movie's real standout is Robson-there are not many good parts for women of her age, but this one is meaty and she sinks her teeth into it. The actress has such an expressive face and screen presence that you can't help but feel sorry for her.
There are some who will argue that Lady for a Day is completely unrealistic, and there are right, but it doesn't matter. The movie feels realistic, and is made me feel good after watching it. So many great directors are filled with angst and cynicism, it's sometimes nice to watch films by a Capra or a Spielberg and be told that the human experience is not completely lost and miserable.
Lady for a Day (1933)