THE LADY IN QUESTION, a 1940 comedy with a light tinge of mystery, did pretty good box office—65th place and $2,700,000—and is mildly amusing, mainly for seeing early work from Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes, all supporting star Brian Aherne.

Parisian shop owner ‘Andre Morestan’ (Aherne) is delighted that he finally gets a chance to perform jury duty–and in a murder trial yet. Though things don’t look good for defendant ‘Natalie Roguin’ (Hayworth), Andre’s observations and resolve manage to convince jury and judge of the broke and homeless young lady’s innocence (her attractiveness is incidental). Taking pity on her situation he invites her to stay with his family and work at his bicycle shop. His son ‘Pierre’ (Ford) is giddy over the new guest, but there are suspicions still to be put to rest. The fact that Andre makes up a story for his wife (Irene Rich) about who Natalie is complicates the set-up.

Written by Lewis Meltzer (Golden Boy, The Man With The Golden Arm, High School Confidential), the script is a rework of the 1937 French film Heart Of Paris. Charles Vidor liked that movie enough to take on the direction of the Hollywood version. Aherne, 38, relished a chance at something light, telling The Saturday Evening Post “After I got into the swing of creating that bourgeois father, living his nature and working it out through the torturous path of the story, it proved more stimulating than any other role that came my way.”

Aherne is considerably more exuberant than his usual solid self (he’d been Oscar-nominated for his sympathetic portrait of Emperor Maximilian in 1939’s Juarez) but the main enjoyment comes from the younger talents. Hayworth, 21, had spent six years in the trenches, with bits in 34 pictures prior to this, breaking upwards in 1938’s Only Angels Have Wings. Ford, 23, had only six small parts to his credit when he drew third billing in this. Most enjoyable of the group—the most fun in the whole movie, is Keyes, 23, as Andre’s daughter ‘Francois’, with ten roles logged in her first two years (notably in Gone With The Wind); she’s infectious, skipping around like a merry sprite. *

Lucien Morawack’s score is too heavy on the cutes. The show runs out of gas in the third act; the frothy material may have worked better with someone like Ernst Lubitshh directing—what wouldn’t?

With Curt Bois, Edward Norris, George Coulouris, Lloyd Corrigan, Frank Reicher, Sumner Getchell, William Castle and Philip Van Zandt. 80 minutes.

* Hayworth and Ford would reteam four more times (Gilda, The Loves Of Carmen, Affair In Trinidad, The Money Trap) and Ford and Keyes would appear in another five (The Adventures Of Martin Eden, Flight Lieutenant, The Desperadoes, The Mating Of Millie and Mr. Soft Touch).

Are you kidding? Of course we will.