TBT: That Lady (1955)

Years ago, I had an eye infection and needed to wear an eye patch briefly, and I became slightly obsessed with Ana de Mendoza y de Silva, Princess of Éboli (1540-92), as depicted here:

The Princess of Éboli shows up in a couple frock flicks, which I’ve been trying to track down ever since, and I finally got my hands on That Lady (1955).

I don’t know that I’d recommend making all this effort, except that this flick is a rare feature-length production about this historical woman. The others, another theatrical film La Conjura de El Escorial (2008) and a Spanish TV two-parter La Princesa de Éboli (2010), are equally hard to track down! Which is annoying, when we get 80 billion movies and TV shows about the same historical women like Elizabeth I of England, yet we can’t get a couple more treatments about other historical women of power and privilege who did potentially interesting things with their lives? Not knocking QEI, love her to bits, but I also want some variety! So instead of having to search high and low for these few frock flicks about the Princess of Eboli, I’d prefer that Hollywood, et. al., just make more flicks about her and others. We have a whole series on Forgotten History where we suggest people and topics that would make great frock flicks, instead of retreading the same-old samey stories. Why does it have to be so haaaard???

So, That Lady, it stars Olivia de Havilland as Ana de Mendoza, who’s somewhat recently widowed and soon hooks up with the king’s new secretary, Antonio Perez (Gilbert Roland). That pisses off the king, Philip II of Spain (Paul Scofield), because he’s been in love with Ana since they were kids. Supposedly she lost her eye dueling to defend his honor way back when, and he never got over that, even though he went off and married Mary I of England (yeah, he’s that Philip of Spain).

The romance between Ana and Antonio comes on weirdly fast and has obtuse political machinations sprinkled throughout. There’s a bullfight (ew, but luckily not too realistic) and just a tiny hint of swashbuckling. I’m just in it for the crazy, shiny costumes and some decent historical hats. The historical events happened in the 1570s, and I give the movie a solid “B” grade for attempting one of my favorite decades of costume and doing a decent job, obviously through a 1950s lens.

Yeah, there are some floating ruffs:

And some corset chafing:

And the hair is pretty darn modern on everyone:

Also, there’s an over-reliance on standing ruffs:

The style is a smidge early, plus this style of standing ruff wasn’t as popular in Spain (which really stuck with the cartwheel style well into the 17th century):

But Ana de Mendoza’s gowns in this flick do have a lot of the hallmarks of 1570s-90s Spanish court fashions, like those big hanging over-sleeves.

Also note the trim pattern along the center front and hem of her gown, similar to the typical fashion of the time.

I appreciate how these old movies just go to town on the trims! So unlike today’s stupid stripped-down look for historical costumes. In many history periods, loading your clothes with details showed how wealthy you were, so frock flicks that skip it look cheap. Just check out all that cording and piping and edge trimming on this daytime outfit of Ana’s.

She gets more casual for some cozy scenes with Antonio, and she wears something like a loose gown.

It’s reasonably similar to elegant at-home wear of the period.

While I do love 16th-century menswear, only Antonio gives me something worth mentioning with this one outfit — great use of patterned fabric, multiple trimmings on the sleeves, and a good hat (although the brim should be narrower, especially for Spain).

The most elaborate costume, however, is this slashed satin gown worn by Ana towards the end of the film. It’s a stunner!

Again with the excellent hanging over-sleeves, and the loads of jewels and jewelry are quite appropriate. Also, someone knew how to work with satin here. The slashings are reminiscent of this portrait where they show up in white:

I love the hat, it’s a fun, exaggerated style that the Spanish were particularly known for at the end of the 16th century.

Compare with these portrait details from just a bit later:

Unfortunately, not every character gets the best of costumes. Ana’s maid wears a potentially good outfit, but I have concerns about a few things…

First, that cap, oof. Partly it’s the angle of this shot — the cap has a round wired back, almost mimicking German headgear of the era. Which is still not right. Then there’s the so-called partlet, which really looks like she has a towel wrapped around her shoulders. Maybe she just got out of the shower? Finally, look at that trim all over her skirt. She’s covered with white awareness ribbons!

 

Have you seen That Lady?