Saratoga Trunk

Saratoga Trunk is a 1945 American Western film (or historical romance film, per the American Film Institute) directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, and Flora Robson. Written by Casey Robinson, based on the novel Saratoga Trunk by Edna Ferber, the film is about a Texas gambler and the daughter of a Creole aristocrat and his beautiful mistress. They become lovers and work together to seek justice from a society that has ruined their parents and rejected them. The title of the film and novel has a dual meaning. Clio says at one point that she thought a Saratoga trunk had to do with luggage, not a railroad line. It meant both. Saratoga trunks were top of the line for elegant travelers. Plot New Orleans, 1875. Clio Dulaine returns, plotting revenge. Years earlier, she and her late mother were banished to Paris by her father's family, the Dulaines. Clio's mother was his mistress; Clio was born out of wedlock. His family forced him to marry a woman of his own class. When Rita tried to shoot herself, he intervened. She was accused of murdering him. Clio has two devoted allies—her maid, Angelique, and a dwarf servant, Cupidon. They restore her mansion on Rampart Street; she assumes the name “Comtesse de Chanfrais”. Clio plans to shame the Dulaines and marry a rich man, but Angelique says Clio is like her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, fools for love. “They always hope, ladies like her, but never so…” One Sunday morning, at the market, Clio falls in love at first sight with a tall Texan gambler, Clint Maroon. A furious Angelique whisks Clio away, but they soon meet at Begue's, a famous restaurant, where Clio takes the Dulaine's regular table. The Dulaines recognize her and flee, and Clio invites Clint to sit at her table.