Lady in a Jam
Cast & Crew
Gregory Lacava
Irene Dunne
Patric Knowles
Ralph Bellamy
Eugene Pallette
Samuel S. Hinds
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In New York, businessman Billingsley goes to see Dr. Brewster, the head of the Palmer Medical Foundation, to ask for psychiatric help for his ward, heiress Jane Palmer. The businessman is upset as Jane has managed to squander her entire inheritance, yet refuses to accept its consequences. Billingsley is sent to handsome young psychiatrist Dr. Enright, who states that he can easily cure the young lady of her spendthrift ways. Soon after, while Enright watches, Jane attempts to purchase some expensive jewelry, only to be told that her line of credit has been revoked. When Jane's chauffeur, Milton, quits outside the jewelry store, she has a series of automobile accidents while attempting to drive herself home. Enright comes to her aid, then offers himself as Milton's replacement. Jane returns home to discover that a police auction of her belongings is being planned. Refusing to accept the reality of her poor financial state, Jane agrees to hire Enright, but after all of her possessions have been sold, Enright admits his true profession and mission, and tells her that she must return to her childhood home in Arizona to face the long-repressed fears that have caused her condition. While Jane and Enright travel cross-country, her grandmother, Cactus Kate Palmer, receives a telegram telling of Jane's imminent arrival. Although Stanley Gardner, Jane's old boyfriend, believes that the young heiress is returning home to rekindle their relationship, Kate immediately surmises that Jane is in need of money, but refuses to give her a dime. Enright tells Kate of Jane's psychological problems, but the old woman simply dismisses them as an inherited family trait. Jane, in turn, tells Kate that she is trying to help Enright overcome his own bitterness toward women. Without money from her grandmother, Jane decides to mine for gold in her grandfather's deserted mine. Stanley then arrives and attempts to serenade Jane, who fails to recognize him at first. That night, Jane's romantic attentions are directed at Enright, who kisses her in the moonlight, but comes to his senses just as Stanley returns. After Jane confesses her attraction to Enright, Stanley challenges the "tenderfoot" to a duel, but is shocked to discover that the psychiatrist is an expert marksman. The next morning, Jane tells Kate that she is giving up on Enright and gold mining, but the old woman convinces her to give each a second chance. Digging exactly where her grandmother tells her, Jane strikes gold just before Enright is about to leave. Afraid that he will leave her forever, Jane tells Enright that she is having spells and strange dreams, but he recognize her ruse, and knows that Kate "salted" Jane's gold mine. Enright stays on, however, and news of Jane's gold strike soon fills the newspapers and causes a gold rush. In order to ripen Enright's jealousy, Jane tells the psychiatrist of her plans to marry Stanley. The plan fails when Enright attempts to sneak away on the night of Jane and Stanley's wedding. Enright is stopped by a shotgun-toting Kate, but is then saved when Kate mistakenly assumes that a government agent who wants to buy the "Lost Hope" mine for its silver reserve has come to arrest her for "salting" it with gold. Learning of Enright's departure, Jane leaves Stanley at the altar and goes after the psychiatrist. Back in New York, the staff of the Palmer Foundation becomes concerned with the listless behavior of Enright, but they soon realize its cause when Jane arrives with Billingsley. Jane then corners Enright in his laboratory and informs him that they are in love and meant to be together. Despite his years of medical study, the overwhelmed psychiatrist can do nothing but scream and accept his fate.
Director
Gregory Lacava
Cast
Irene Dunne
Patric Knowles
Ralph Bellamy
Eugene Pallette
Samuel S. Hinds
Queenie Vassar
Jane Garland
Edward Mcwade
Robert Homans
Russell Hicks
Hardie Albright
Isabelle La Mal
Ed Gargan
Hobart Cavanaugh
Mira Mckinney
Sarah Padden
Clara Blandick
Fred Santley
Sam H. Underwood
Irving Bacon
Charles Lane
Fuzzy Knight
Eddie Fetherstone
Charles Cane
Robert Emmett Keane
Theodor Von Eltz
Phyllis Kennedy
Eddie Dunn
Emmett Vogan
Thomas Kilshaw
Margaret Armstrong
Syd Saylor
Ruth Warren
Rex Lease
Eddy Chandler
Chief Thundercloud
Lester Dorr
Al Bridge
Dick Alexander
Billy Benedict
Bess Flowers
Tex Palmer
Casey Macgregor
Jack Gardner
Kathleen Howard
Kitty O'neil
Reed Hadley
Mona Barrie
Holmes Herbert
Garry Owen
Charles Coleman
Josephine Whittell
Claire Whitney
Crew
Bernard B. Brown
Frank Cockrell
R. A. Gausman
Mervin Houser
Gregory Lacava
Joe Lapis
Otho Lovering
Joseph A. Mcdonough
Hal Mohr
Bernard Newman
Martin Obzina
Jack Otterson
Charles Previn
Russell Schoengarth
Frank Skinner
Eugene Thackrey
Dave Todd
Les Warner
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were The Sheltered Side and Sheltered Lady. The film was planned as a follow-up to Universal's successful 1941 teaming of actress Irene Dunne and producer-director Gregory LaCava in Unfinished Business . Los Angeles Examiner reported in September 1941 that the film's original story was being written by LaCava himself. Universal publicity materials claim that the film was shot without a finished script. According to Hollywood Reporter, the film shot on location at the Superstition Mountains, thirty-five miles east of Phoenix, AZ. Universal press materials state that this site was an actual "ghost town," with eight functioning buildings including the "Last Hope Saloon." According to Hollywood Reporter, this was Universal's largest "on-location shoot" since the outbreak of World War II, with a crew of three hundred. The entire production took nine weeks to film, with five of those weeks on location in Arizona. Hollywood Reporter claims that eight-year-old Jane Garland, the stepdaughter of Gregory LaCava, made her screen debut in th production, but her appearance in the final film has not been confirmed. Universal press materials state that the jewelry borrowed for the film was worth over $100,000.
