Becky Sharp
| Becky Sharp | |
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| Directed by | Rouben Mamoulian |
| Produced by | Kenneth Macgowan Rouben Mamoulian Robert Edmond Jones |
| Written by | Story: William Makepeace Thackeray Langdon Mitchell Screenplay: Francis Edward Faragoh |
| Starring | Miriam Hopkins Frances Dee Cedric Hardwicke |
| Music by | Roy Webb |
| Cinematography | Ray Rennahan |
| Editing by | Archie Marshek |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 13, 1935[1] |
| Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Becky Sharp is a 1935 film directed by Rouben Mamoulian[2] and starring Miriam Hopkins. Other supporting cast were Frances Dee, Cedric Hardwicke, Billie Burke, Alison Skipworth, Nigel Bruce, and Alan Mowbray. It is based on the play of the same name by Langdon Mitchell, which in turn is based on William Makepeace Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair. The screenplay was written by Francis Edward Faragoh.
The film recounts the tale of a lower-class girl who insinuates herself into an upper class family, only to see her life and the lives of those around her destroyed. The ruthless, self-willed and beautiful Becky is one of the most famous characters in English literature.
Becky Sharp was the first feature film to use the three-strip Technicolor process, which created a separate film register for each of the three primary colors.[3] Earlier live action films to use the new Technicolor process include the final musical number in the feature The Cat and the Fiddle released by MGM in February 1934, and in short sequences filmed for other movies made during 1934, including The House of Rothschild (20th Century Pictures/United Artists) with George Arliss and Kid Millions (Samuel Goldwyn/United Artists) with Eddie Cantor. Warner Brothers released two Leon Errol shorts, Service With a Smile (28 July 1934) and Good Morning, Eve! (5 August 1934), and RKO Pictures released the short La Cucaracha (31 August 1934).
Becky Sharp is now in the public domain.
Miriam Hopkins was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.
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[edit] Plot
Becky Sharp (Miriam Hopkins), a socially ambitious English young lady manages to survive during the years following Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. In her efforts to advance herself, she manages to link up with a number of gentlemen: 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 top of British society and becomes the scourge of the social circle, offending the other ladies such as Lady Bareacres (Billie Burke).
Finally, Sharp falls into the humiliation of singing for her meals in a beer hall. But Becky never stays down for long.
[edit] Cast
- Miriam Hopkins as Becky Sharp
- Frances Dee as Amelia Sedley
- Cedric Hardwicke as Marquis of Steyne
- Billie Burke as Lady Bareacres
- Alison Skipworth as Miss Crawley
- Nigel Bruce as Joseph Sedley
- Alan Mowbray as Rawdon Crawley
- G.P. Huntley as George Osborne
- William Stack as Pitt Crawley
- George Hassell as Sir Pitt Crawley
- William Faversham as Duke of Wellington
- Charles Richman as Gen. Tufto
- Doris Lloyd as Duchess of Richmond
- Colin Tapley as Captain William Dobbin
- Leonard Mudie as Tarquin
- Charles Coleman as Bowles
[edit] Production
John Hay "Jock" Whitney and Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney formed Pioneer Pictures specifically to produce color films, and signed a contract to release Pioneer films through RKO Radio Pictures. After producing La Cucaracha, Becky Sharp, and Dancing Pirate (1936), the Whitneys and David O. Selznick formed Selznick International Pictures. Two Selznick International films, A Star Is Born and Nothing Sacred (both 1937), were produced by Selznick, copyrighted by Pioneer Pictures, and released through United Artists rather than RKO.
Lowell Sherman, the original director, developed pneumonia and died early in the filming of Becky Sharp. His replacement, Rouben Mamoulian, scrapped all of the original footage and started over. Sherman mostly filmed several pieces of test footage, which have survived.
[edit] Preservation
For many years, the original three-color Technicolor version of the film was not available for viewing, though a 16 millimeter version was available. This version had been printed (poorly) on two-color Cinecolor stock which did not accurately reproduce the colors of the original film. The smaller film stock also resulted in a grainier, inferior image.
In 1992, the UCLA Film and Television Archive restored the film, under the supervision of archivist Robert Gitt.
[edit] Awards
Wins
- Venice Film Festival: Best Color Film, Rouben Mamoulian; 1935.
Nominations
- Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Miriam Hopkins; 1935.
- Venice Film Festival: Mussolini Cup, Rouben Mamoulian; 1935.
[edit] Trivia
Patricia Ryan, later the First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974, worked as a movie extra at this time, and can be seen as a walk on during the ball scene.
[edit] References
- ^ Brown, Gene (1995). Movie Time: A Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from its Beginnings to the Present. New York: MacMillan. p. 124. ISBN 0-02-86042906. In New York, the film premiered at Radio City Music Hall.
- ^ Becky Sharp at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Technicolor's earlier processes did not include a blue register, just green and red.
[edit] External links
- Becky Sharp at the Internet Movie Database
- Becky Sharp is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
- Becky Sharp at Film Reference web site.
- Becky Sharp at Rotten Tomatoes
- Becky Sharp at AllRovi
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