Becky Sharp

source: Becky Sharp

I watched this right after the 1932 version of the same story (there titled "Vanity Fair"). The one big difference is that the 1932 film was a drama, this is a comedy. The other important difference is that this was made in 1935 and therefore the material is defanged by the Code. Miriam Hopkins is miscast (she looks too old for a girl just starting out), but she is attractive and energetic; some of the supporting players overact appallingly. The story is aimless; at least the 1932 film (which is superior) made a point, with which you could agree or disagree. Even the colors don't look very vivid - though that might be a fault of the DVD print I watched. ** out of 4.

Not Rouben Mamoulian's finest hour even if this fully-fledged Technicolour movie is rather sumptous to look at. In deference to its heroine, Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair' has been rechristened "Becky Sharp" and Mamoulian gallops through Thackeray's epic novel in under ninety minutes. So much has been left out, you might think you're watching something else entirely. It's also very badly cast. Alan Mowbray, of all people, is the 'dashing' Rawdon Crawley, Alison Skipworth is his dowager aunt and if Miriam Hopkins is a coquettish Becky she's closer to being a Manhattan hostess than a Napoleonic one. Had it been shot in black and white it would have been long forgotten by now but it's saved to a degree by Mamoulian's use of colour. Unfortunately, the dialogue sounds like it came from a dime-store novel rather than from one of the great works of English literature. If there's an audience for this movie today, I'd be very surprised.

BECKY SHARP is set during the Napoleonic era. When the film begins, Becky is leaving finishing school and the headmistress is thrilled to see her go. Becky, for her part, feels the same and unlike the demure ladies of the time, she tells the headmistress where she can put her school!! But, like a cat, she lands on her feet—being taken in by a rich classmate. After wrangling this invitation to stay with this rich lady, Becky then works hard to snag a rich husband. Instead, she does manage to marry a minor member of the gentry—but he cannot afford the rich ways of his new wife. Eventually, he tires of her *-like ways and divorces her. Becky, now broke, is forced to work in the lower quarters of society. But, once again, she manages to find a rich guy (Nigel Bruce) to bail her out and once again she begins scheming her way to the top. And, by the end of the film, Becky hasn't learned any lesson about life other than "look out for number one"! This film is the Thackery novel "Vanity Fair" and it's been made several times. What makes this one of some importance is that this was the first full-length film made in Three-Color Technicolor—the first true color process for movies. While Two-Color movies had been made since the early 1920s, they lacked full color as the color strips were blue-green and orange-red—resulting in a film that tended to actually look more orange and green than anything else (though there were a few exceptions where the colors actually looked pretty good—such as in the color segment in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA). Despite the major technical improvement with BECKY SHARP, it, too, looked rather muddy and orange. This is NOT due to the age of the print, as people at the time commented on its rather limited color palate. But, the process was roughly that of future full-color films and it is the first of its kind. The story features the shallow but scheming Becky (Miriam Hopkins) working her way through society in order to further her great ambitions. To do so, she lies and plots continuously and she's quite good at it! However entertaining this is, it is also the biggest problem with the film. Because Becky is generally a selfish jerk (though not always so), it's hard to care about her and the film rests mostly on its costumes and full-color. As for Hopkins' acting, it's one of her best performances—though it is a tad two-dimensional—mostly due to the writing, not her acting. Had they made Becky either MORE evil and conniving (like Bette Davis in JEZEBEL or THE LETTER) or LESS, it would have improved the film immensely. Overall, a rather forgettable costumer whose sole reason to watch it is the use of Three-Color film. Other than that, fans of Miriam Hopkins (both of them) might want to see it, as it's among her best performances—mostly because it doesn't call for a lot of restraint or subtlety.

Cut-down story of Becky Sharp is not based on Thackeray's mammoth novel but on a play by Langdon Mitchell which starred Minnie Maddern Fiske in three productions between 1899 and 1911. This 1935 film is famous as being the first feature film shot in Technicolor. Current version has been restored a few times and boasts brilliant colors that sometimes vary between scenes but are mostly pleasing. Miriam Hopkins won her only Oscar nomination as Becky Sharp and dominates the film in nearly every scene. She brings her fiery southern charm to the screen as Becky, a woman who charms and cheats and cajoles her way into early 19th century British society. The Napoleonic Wars serve as a mere background. Film opens with Becky graduating from a girls' school where she has served as a teacher. She has befriended Amelia Smedley (Frances Dee) and their lives intertwine as the years pass. Becky starts out as a governess but quickly snags a son of the house (Alan Mowbray) as a husband. Trouble is they both like to live the high life and are always in debt. Becky turns to charm and teases a series of men into giving her money. She is a scandal among the posh set but never looks back. After her husband dies in a faraway war, she turns to performing on the stage but is a failure. She is saved once again by an old suitor and plans to run away with him to India, where they can live well on a little money. Lowell Sherman had started directing the film but died about a month into production. Rouben Mamoulian took over the production and started from scratch. Hopkins is a house afire and deserved her Oscar nomination (losing to Bette Davis). Others in the cast include Billie Burke as a snotty hostess, Cedric Hardwicke as an old lecher, Alison Skipworth as Miss Crawley, Nigel Bruce as Joseph Crawley, and Tempe Pigott as the charwoman. Historically important film, but don't overlook the great performance by Miriam Hopkins.

Miriam Hopkins delivers a great performance as a nonchalant woman who cheats her way through society before finding out that what goes around comes around, and of course she must find a way to redeem herself. The color in this film looks a lot better than most people of the day describes it as. And I think the guy who said the color looked like "boiled salmon dipped in mayonese" has had a little too much mayonese. Altogether, I highly recommend this film for anyone who can't seem to find a good movie to watch, because this is the one!

I just had the pleasure of seeing the restored version of "Becky Sharp", and, like others who had taped this back in the bad old days of nearly monochromatic, public domain copies of this title, the improvement amounts to seeing an entirely different film. The use of color was striking and surprisingly well considered. As a writer, I found the dialogue delightfully rich in the manner of what were admittedly more sophisticated films of the 30's. Make no mistake, other than the admirable use of 3-strip Technicolor on its first feature film outing, this is no masterpiece--Mamoulian's name in the credits notwithstanding. But compared to today, with dialogue now largely dismissed as unnecessary to filmed "entertainment", it was brilliant. I could finally hear 90% of it, whereas in the old Cinecolor print, most of it was unintelligible. What pains me is that audiences seem unable (or unwilling) to enjoy dialogue that was meant to be listened to and appreciated on its own account. I heard nary a chuckle during any the witty ripostes of which Beck Sharp has its(and her) fair share of. A shame.

Becky Sharp (Miriam Hopkins) is a lower class girl who, through her upper class friend Amelia Sedley (Francis Dee), does her best to become an upper class woman herself...and do anything to get there. Dull story with thudding dialogue (nobody ever talked like that) but I watched the whole thing. This movie has just two things going for it: Miriam Hopkins fantastic performance is one. She is playing a very unlikable character but she's so beautiful (in some shots she takes your breath away) and full of life that you can't help but root for her. The second thing is the groundbreaking use of color photography. I believe this is the first full-length feature to be filmed entirely in color. Director Rouben Mamoulian uses color creatively to express mood or show what a person is feeling or doing. I saw the restored print which has rich, beautiful colors. Even when the story was boring (which is often) with that lousy dialogue the colors and use of light and shadow kept me watching. With this film and the 1932 version of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", Mamoulian created new rules in how to direct sequences and use settings, light and shadow. Sadly, he's forgotten today. So, this is worth seeing only for Hopkins and the color. Don't watch it for the story or you'll be sadly disappointed.

While this film is often respected as the first full-length, all-color film, it is much more than that. Color stylist Robert Edmond Jones was hired to explore the possibilities of the Technicolor process. His color design for Becky Sharp forced the industry to recognize color as a necessary ingredient, not just a gimmick. He was the first to use color as "cinematically expressive," according to an interesting essay in Lewis Jacobs' The Movies as Medium (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York, 1970, 189-196).

The 1935 film "Becky Sharp" remains important chiefly for being the first major movie shot in Technicolor. The story is an abridged version of William Makepeace Thackeray's 19th Century novel "Vanity Fair." Becky Sharp is the main character of the book and is a social-climbing hussy with few redeeming qualities, except for her good-looks. Thackeray didn't judge her too harshly, however. He was more interested in satirizing British society, in general. "Vanity Fair" was indeed his greatest work although he's also known for writing "The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon" which Stanley Kubrick brought to the screen in the mid-1970's. Miriam Hopkins may have been a bit old to be playing the conniving Becky Sharp but she gives it her best shot. Unlike the novel, Hopkins' character is at least somewhat justified in her decision-making process even while retaining the frivolous part of her personality. The key scene in the film is near the end when director Rouben Mamoulian re-enacts the famous Duchess of Richmond's ball at her Brussels estate on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo. It's done with a definite flair for the dramatic along with some well-placed historical references. The ominous sounds of war are heard in the distance as the great ball comes to a premature end; its frightened participants running off into an uncertain future. The cast is filled with some familiar faces from the past. Beautiful Frances Dee livens up the screen as Becky's good pal Amelia. Nigel Bruce, best remembered for playing Doctor Watson alongside Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, does some adequate work as one of Becky's admirers. Sir Cedric Hardwicke is also around as a British aristocrat with a roving eye for the ladies. Recently, Reese Witherspoon tried her luck in the role of Becky Sharp in the 2004 film version of "Vanity Fair" with mixed results. At least she was young enough for the part.