Dearest Reader,

The film my grandmother saw in 1944 was Lady in the Dark, starring Ginger Rogers. Although she remembered it as Woman in the Dark. Released in 1944, Lady in the Dark tells the story of Liza Elliott, a successful magazine editor suffering from anxiety, mood swings and troubling dreams. The movie explores her struggle with what was then called psychoneurosis, following her through a series of psychoanalytic sessions in which a doctor helps her uncover childhood trauma buried beneath her polished exterior. The film was one of Hollywood’s early attempts to portray mental and emotional conflict on screen. For 1944, the film’s frank depiction of inner turmoil and psychoanalysis made it both unusual and modern.