Becky Sharp (1935)

Becky Sharp: Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. With Miriam Hopkins, Frances Dee, Cedric Hardwicke, Billie Burke. Set against the background of the Battle of Waterloo, Becky Sharp is the story of Vanity Fair by Thackeray. Becky and Amelia are girls at school together, but Becky is from a “show biz” family, or in other words, very low class. Becky manages to insinuate herself in Amelia’s family and gets to know all their friends. From this possibly auspicious- beginning, she manages to ruin her own life, becoming sick, broke, and lonely, and also ruins the lives of many other “loved ones”. In the movie we get to see the class distinctions in England at the time, and get a sense of what it was like for the English military at the time of the Napoleonic wars.

“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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDull 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 sheu0026#39;s so beautiful (in some shots she takes your breath away) and full of life that you canu0026#39;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 u0026quot;Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydeu0026quot;, Mamoulian created new rules in how to direct sequences and use settings, light and shadow. Sadly, heu0026#39;s forgotten today.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo, this is worth seeing only for Hopkins and the color. Donu0026#39;t watch it for the story or youu0026#39;ll be sadly disappointed.”