Trottie True

Trottie True is a 1949 British musical comedy film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Jean Kent, James Donald and Hugh Sinclair. It was known as The Gay Lady in the US, and is an infrequent British Technicolor film of the period. According to BFI Screenonline, "British 1940s Technicolor films offer an abundance of visual pleasures, especially when lovingly restored by the National Film Archive. Trottie True is not among the best known, but comes beautifully packaged, gift wrapped with all the trimmings." The film is based on a novel by Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon, published in 1946. The New York Times called it "a typical Gay nineties success story" that "amuses but never convulses the reader." Premise Trottie True is a Gaiety Girl of the 1890s who, after a brief romance with a balloonist, marries Lord Digby Landon, becoming Duchess of Wellwater when he succeeds to the dukedom. Her music hall background delights the staff, but does not, at first, delight her aristocratic in-laws. But after complimenting Trottie upon doing what she likes, rather than obeying convention, Lady Drinkwater calls her a "true aristocrat". Digby agrees to lunch with the Marquess of Maidenhead at Romanoff's, and to be the escort of Ruby Rubato (another chorus girl), merely so the married Marquess can philander with another. But Trottie is also dining there, with an old beau, having invited him after they innocently met in Hyde Park, London, after years of separation. Upon seeing each other, Digby and Trottie both believe they have discovered the other in an assignation, as the Marquess has failed to arrive, leaving Digby and Rubato alone. The film is set as Trottie looks back over her past, whilst staring out of a window at a wedding, and pondering her future.