Vanity Fair (film)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Vanities Fair
Original title Becky Sharp
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1935
length 85 minutes
Rod
Director Rouben Mamoulian
script Francis Edward Faragho
production Kenneth MacGowan
for Pioneer Pictures
(rental by RKO Pictures )
music Roy Webb
camera Ray Rennahan
cut Bernard W. Burton
occupation

Vanity Fair (original title: Becky Sharp ) is an American historical film from 1935, which is based on parts of the novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray . It is the first full-length feature film that was shot entirely in the newly developed 3-color Technicolor . The antihero Becky Sharp stars in Miriam Hopkins , directed by Rouben Mamoulian . The film was a financial failure and, contrary to the hopes of the producers, did not trigger a boom in color film.

action

Around 1800 the orphan Becky Sharp left no stone unturned to achieve social advancement. She shamelessly takes advantage of the good nature of her loyal and wealthy friend Amelia Sedley, but fails in her attempt to seduce and marry Amelia's brother Joseph. Disappointed, Becky goes to the eccentric Sir Pitt Crawley as governess, where she lures his impoverished but charming son Rawdon Crawley, an officer and bon vivant, into marriage. In the following years Becky managed to win over the top of society thanks to her charm. She continues to rise in favor and is on the verge of winning the heir to the throne when her decline begins. Things accumulate on the evening before the Battle of Waterloo . Becky, who holds splendid court with her husband in Brussels, tries to pay off her husband's high gambling debts by giving herself to the depraved Lord Styne. Then suddenly Rawdon stands in the door of the private room and the ensuing scandal leaves Becky without a husband and without money, despised by society. It sinks deeper and deeper to end up in a cheap inn. Only at the end is she released from her shame when a distant relative gives her some money. Becky pays back her debts and can finally go to India, where Amelia's brother Joseph is eagerly waiting for her.

background

In principle, the corresponding technical requirements for the production of color films had been in place since 1928. Technicolor in particular pushed the development forward, so that they soon became the market leader for the necessary technical equipment in this segment. The so-called "second subtractive Technicolor process (also 2-color Technicolor)" was a preliminary stage to the fully developed "real 3-color Technicolor". He worked with the colors cyan and magenta . By 1934 there were around 78 productions, most of which only contained individual color sequences. Well-known films from this early period of color film were the horror film The Secret of the Wax Museum from 1933 and the lavish music revue King of Jazz from 1930. The relatively unnatural and artificial coloring and the lack of use of color as a means of dramaturgy prevented the viewer the breakthrough of technology in the mass market.

Only with the establishment of the 3-color printing process, in which the color yellow was also integrated, could all the colors be reproduced without restriction. From mid-1932, Walt Disney produced many of his cartoons and short films using the newly developed color process. Gradually experiments with short films began in order to gain the necessary experience for a full-length feature film. Disney failed in 1933 with its plans to realize an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland with Mary Pickford . Encouraged by the great financial and artistic success of the short film La Cucaracha , the film enthusiast John Hay “Jock” Whitney and his cousin Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney founded the company Pioneer Pictures , which produced color films exclusively with Technicolor.

Finally, in August 1934, the parties agreed on Becky Sharp as the first project for a feature-length film. The script is very loosely based on the novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray , but changes the events decisively in many places. The female lead took on Miriam Hopkins , the director was first Lowell Sherman , who died unexpectedly in late December 1934. The producers then commissioned Rouben Mamoulian , who discarded all of the material that had already been shot and started from scratch. Mamoulian quickly recognized the dramaturgical possibilities that color film opened up. In the course of the plot, he uses the various shades to visually reinforce or illustrate feelings and inner developments. Especially the Duchess' ball towards the end of the film was unanimously praised for the skillful use of color, light, shadow and decoration, which Mamoulian merges into an artistic unit.

Due to the turbulent filming, the costs escalated to 950,000 US dollars in the end, which could not be recovered at the box office. Mixed reviews, particularly criticizing the incoherent script and the very free handling of the original, did the rest to keep the viewers out of the cinemas. The breakthrough of color film that was hoped for by all those involved, analogous to the triumph of sound film , did not materialize. Most studios shied away from large investments and it was not until the early 1940s that the use of color gradually became the rule and no longer the exception.

Reviews

In addition to the allegations against the script, some critics also found no access to the use of color in the film. One reviewer said the actors looked like cooked salmon in mayonnaise. ("The cast looked like boiled salmon dipped in mayonnaise").

In December 1935, the film critic Pem in Der Morgen - Wiener Montagblatt didn't let the strip down well: “Now is the first big color film, 'Becky Sharp' [original US title under which the film was also shown in Austria] [ ,] also got to Vienna; but the public will have little joy in the new invention because this filmed Thackeray novel is too simple-minded. I confess that I simply did not understand the plot; You don't feel a whiff of Rouben Mamoulian's art of directing - the director of ' Schloß im Mond ' was probably abandoned by all good film geniuses. What was said here about the color film a few weeks ago remains: The process is promising and already quite good; only one should not choose realistic, but rather romantic fabrics or, best of all, use the color as a dramatic accent. "

Awards

At the Academy Awards in 1936 , the film received a nomination in the category

  • Best main actress

In 2019 the film was included in the National Film Registry .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Title on schnittberichte.com
  2. ↑ Title on moviejones.de
  3. ↑ Title on kunst-der-vermittlung.de
  4. ↑ pem : Sharply seen - but correct. Colors, flails and mayflies. In: Der Morgen - Wiener Montagblatt , December 2, 1935, p. 10.
  5. ↑ Women Rule 2019 National Film Registry. Library of Congress , December 31, 2019, accessed February 23, 2020 .

Web links