Now playing on the Criterion Channel!
“I can’t wait to be forgotten,” Kay Francis once famously remarked. Too bad, because she was completely unforgettable. Glamorous, tragic, and idiosyncratic, Francis was a miraculous vision. Her tall, lithe frame (always clad in the chicest of couture), downturned brows, and doe eyes helped make her the top female star at Warner Bros. in the early 1930s, but beneath the stylish image was a streak of world-weary fatalism that imbued her performances with a wistful, moving gravitas. Francis’s finest moments—sparkling, risqué pre-Code gems like TROUBLE IN PARADISE, ONE WAY PASSAGE, and JEWEL ROBBERY—are a testament to a singular screen presence that still feels strikingly authentic and modern.
