Underplayed Gems

The Reluctant Debutante (1958)

The Reluctant Debutante poster
Directed by
Vincente Minnelli
Genre
romantic comedy
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 34m
Rated
NR
Rating
6.7 of 10 from 42 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A young American woman arrives in London for her debutante season. Her father and stepmother try to manage her social introduction while she pursues her own interests.

lightheartedromanticamusingbreezysophisticatedplayfulcheerful

What happens

The Reluctant Debutante is a 1958 American comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by Pandro S. Berman from a screenplay by William Douglas-Home based on Douglas-Home's play of the same name. The music score is by Eddie Warner and the cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg. The film stars Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall — who had married in 1957 after they worked together on The Constant Husband (1955) — with featured performances by John Saxon, Sandra Dee, and Angela Lansbury. The setting is London's debutante season amidst the last presentation at Court in 1958. However, because of Harrison's tax problems, the film had to be made in Paris. Harrison had learned from Kendall's doctor that she had been diagnosed with myeloid leukemia, a fact that was kept from Kendall, who believed she was suffering from an iron deficiency. The actor cared for Kendall until her death at the age of 32. She only completed one more film, Once More, with Feeling!, before her death the following year. In 2003, the film was remade as What a Girl Wants, starring Colin Firth and Amanda Bynes. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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