Becky Sharp

Director: Rouben Mamoulian Rouben Mamoulian

Overview

Now famous as the first feature film produced in the three-strip Technicolor process, Becky Sharp is also an enjoyable effort in its own right. Adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair, the film stars Miriam Hopkins as Becky Sharp, a resourceful, totally self-involved young lady who manages to survive any number of setbacks and deprivations in the years following Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. In her efforts to advance herself, she manages to link up with a number of not altogether attractive gentlemen, including the Marquis of Steyne (Cedric Hardwicke), Joseph Sedley (Nigel Bruce), Rawdon Crawley (Alan Mowbray), and George Osborne (G. P. Huntley Jr.) She rises to the pinnacle of British society, only to tumble and fall into the humiliation of singing for her supper in a cheap back-alley beer hall, but, like her spiritual sister Scarlet O'Hara, Becky never stays down for long. The film ends on an ambiguous note, never hinting that Becky will eventually drop her current beau and settle down to a life of smug piety, as she does in the novel. Begun in 1934 with Lowell Sherman in the director's chair, Becky Sharp was forced to shut down production when Sherman died; he was replaced by Rouben Mamoulien, whose unerring eye for cinematic splendor exploited the new color process to the utmost, especially during the opening Brussels Ball sequence. Until its recent archival restoration, Becky Sharp was available only in a shortened, two-color version, which had the negative effect of diminishing the film's strong points and overemphasizing its weaknesses (This version is still available on the public-domain market). Becky Sharp is an enormous improvement over the low-budget 1932 version of Vanity Fair, which updated the story to the 20th century and cast dumb-blonde specialist Joyce Compton in the role of Becky.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/16/2019
UPC:	0738329231187
Original Release:	1935
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Miriam Hopkins	Becky Sharp
Cedric Hardwicke	Marquis of Steyne
Nigel Bruce	Joseph Sedley
Billie Burke	Lady Bareacres
Frances Dee	Amelia Sedley
Alan Mowbray	Rawdon Crowley
Alison Skipworth	Miss Crowley
G.P. Huntley	George Osborn
Colin Tapley	William Dobbin
William Stack	Pitt Crowley
William Faversham	Duke of Wellington
Charles Richman	General Tufts
Doris Lloyd	Duchess of Richmond
Leonard Mudie	Tarquin
Bunny Beatty	Lady Blanche
Charles Coleman	Bowles
May Beatty	Briggs
Finis Barton	Miss Floyers
Olaf Hytten	The Prince Regent
James Robinson	Page
Elspeth Dudgeon	Miss Pinkerton
Tempe Piggott	The Chairwoman
Ottola Nesmith	Lady Jane Crawley
Will Geer	Actor
George Hassell	Sir Pitt Crowley
Pat Nixon	Actor

Technical Credits

Francis Edwards Faragoh

Rouben Mamoulian	Director
Francis Edwards Faragoh	Screenwriter
Robert Edmond Jones	Producer
Russell Lewis	Choreography
Kenneth MacGowan	Producer
Archie Marshek	Editor
Ray Rennahan	Cinematographer
Robert Jones	Production Designer
Roy Webb	Score Composer

Editorial Reviews

Lavishly praised upon its initial release, time has somewhat dimmed the luster of Becky Sharp, which is more important for its historical significance (as the first feature film shot in three-strip Technicolor) than for its place in the development of cinematic drama. This is not to say that Sharp is a bad film, merely that its virtues are not as impressive as they were in 1935. Chief among those virtues is its stunning color photography (which is noticeably absent from many prints, which reduce the vibrant, vivid palette of the original to dull, muddy hues). The riot of color is glorious and used to very good effect by director Rouben Mamoulian, who starts the film out with a very restrained use of color, then gradually introduces different tints and shades until the screen explodes with color. Mamoulian does a marvelous job with the visual aspect of the piece and he's in fine command of the performances; he is less successful, however, at covering the flaws in the screenplay, which reduce the Thackeray novel to a Cliff's Notes version that rushes over the nuances and complexities of the characters and their situations. In the title role, Miriam Hopkins delivers a bravura performance; it anchors the film, but it also is a bit of an acquired taste. Her Becky lacks subtlety, and this will put some off; others, however, will be mesmerized by the power and conviction she brings to the role and the manner in which she dominates the entire picture. However, even those who may have qualms about her performance should be suitably impressed by the depth of sorrow, desperation, and heartbreak she exhibits after losing the one real love of her life. Sharp has its imperfections, but it's still an interesting and visually lovely film.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler