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Becky Sharp (film)
Encyclopedia
Becky Sharp is a 1935 film directed by Rouben Mamoulian
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. 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.
), 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.
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.
In 1992, the UCLA Film and Television Archive
restored the film, under the supervision of archivist Robert Gitt.
Nominations
, 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.
Rouben Mamoulian
Rouben Mamoulian was an Armenian-American film and theatre director.-Biography:Born in Tbilisi, Georgia to an Armenian family, Rouben relocated to England and started directing plays in London in 1922...
and starring Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins
Ellen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility in a wide variety of roles.Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Bainbridge, a town in the state's southwest near the Alabama border...
. Other supporting cast were Frances Dee
Frances Dee
Frances Marion Dee was an American actress. She starred opposite Maurice Chevalier in the early talkie musical, The Playboy of Paris...
, Cedric Hardwicke
Cedric Hardwicke
Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
, Billie Burke
Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live...
, Alison Skipworth
Alison Skipworth
Alison Skipworth was an English stage and screen actress. She was born Alison Mary Elliott Margaret Groom in London....
, Nigel Bruce
Nigel Bruce
William Nigel Ernle Bruce , best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
, and Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray MM, , was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood.Born Alfred Ernest Allen in London, England, he served with distinction the British Army in World War I, being awarded the Military Medal for bravery...
. It is based on the play of the same name by Langdon Mitchell, which in turn is based on William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
's novel Vanity Fair. The screenplay was written by Francis Edward Faragoh
Francis Edward Faragoh
Francis Edward Faragoh was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 20 films between 1929 and 1947. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1931 for Best Writing, Adaptation for Little Caesar...
.
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
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
.
Becky Sharp was the first feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
to use the three-strip Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
process, which created a separate film register for each of the three primary colors. Earlier live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
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
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
) with George Arliss
George Arliss
George Arliss was an English actor, author and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award.-Life and career:...
and Kid Millions
Kid Millions
Kid Millions is an American film directed by Roy Del Ruth, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and starring Eddie Cantor.-Plot:The story features Eddie, a kid from Brooklyn, New York,...
(Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
/United Artists) with Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter...
. Warner Brothers released two Leon Errol
Leon Errol
Leon Errol , was an Australian-born American comedian and actor, popular in the first half of the 20th century.-Biography:...
shorts, Service With a Smile (28 July 1934) and Good Morning, Eve! (5 August 1934), and RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
released the short La Cucaracha
La Cucaracha (1934 film)
La Cucaracha is a 1934 short musical film directed by Lloyd Corrigan. It was designed by Pioneer Pictures to display the new full-color Technicolor Process No. 4 , which had been used since 1932 mainly in Walt Disney cartoons. Jock Whitney and his cousin C. V. Whitney, the owners of Pioneer, were...
(31 August 1934).
Becky Sharp is now in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.
Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins
Ellen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility in a wide variety of roles.Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Bainbridge, a town in the state's southwest near the Alabama border...
was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for her performance.
Plot
Becky Sharp (Miriam HopkinsMiriam Hopkins
Ellen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility in a wide variety of roles.Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Bainbridge, a town in the state's southwest near the Alabama border...
), a socially ambitious English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
young lady manages to survive during the years following Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
. In her efforts to advance herself, she manages to link up with a number of gentlemen: the Marquis of Steyne (Cedric Hardwicke
Cedric Hardwicke
Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
), Joseph Sedley (Nigel Bruce
Nigel Bruce
William Nigel Ernle Bruce , best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
), Rawdon Crawley (Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray MM, , was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood.Born Alfred Ernest Allen in London, England, he served with distinction the British Army in World War I, being awarded the Military Medal for bravery...
), and George Osborne (G. P. Huntley Jr).
She rises to the top of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
society and becomes the scourge of the social circle, offending the other ladies such as Lady Bareacres (Billie Burke
Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live...
).
Finally, Sharp falls into the humiliation of singing for her meals in a beer hall. But Becky never stays down for long.
Cast
- Miriam HopkinsMiriam HopkinsEllen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility in a wide variety of roles.Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Bainbridge, a town in the state's southwest near the Alabama border...
as Becky Sharp - Frances DeeFrances DeeFrances Marion Dee was an American actress. She starred opposite Maurice Chevalier in the early talkie musical, The Playboy of Paris...
as Amelia Sedley - Cedric HardwickeCedric HardwickeSir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
as Marquis of Steyne - Billie BurkeBillie BurkeMary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live...
as Lady Bareacres - Alison SkipworthAlison SkipworthAlison Skipworth was an English stage and screen actress. She was born Alison Mary Elliott Margaret Groom in London....
as Miss Crawley - Nigel BruceNigel BruceWilliam Nigel Ernle Bruce , best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
as Joseph Sedley - Alan MowbrayAlan MowbrayAlan Mowbray MM, , was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood.Born Alfred Ernest Allen in London, England, he served with distinction the British Army in World War I, being awarded the Military Medal for bravery...
as Rawdon Crawley - G.P. Huntley as George Osborne
- William Stack as Pitt Crawley
- George HassellGeorge HassellGeorge Jefferson Hassell was a convicted mass murderer who murdered his wife and eight children on December 5, 1926 in Farwell, Texas.-Family background:...
as Sir Pitt Crawley - William FavershamWilliam FavershamWilliam Faversham was a legendary movie and stage actor from England who made his name on Broadway when he starred as Algernon in the original production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 1895...
as Duke of Wellington - Charles RichmanCharles Richman (actor)Charles J. Richman was an American film actor who appeared in 66 films between 1914 and 1939.He was born in Chicago, Illinois and died in The Bronx, New York.-Selected filmography:*The Man From Home...
as Gen. Tufto - Doris LloydDoris LloydHessy Doris Lloyd was an English actress.She appeared in over 150 films between 1920 and 1967, including the 1933 low-budget Monogram Pictures version of Oliver Twist, in which she played Nancy...
as Duchess of Richmond - Colin TapleyColin TapleyColin Tapley was a British actor. Born in New Zealand, he served in the Royal Air Force and an expedition to Antarctica before winning a Paramount Pictures talent contest and moving to Hollywood. He acted in several films before returning to Britain during the Second World War as a flight...
as Capt. William Dobbin - Leonard MudieLeonard MudieLeonard Mudie was a British-born character actor whose career ran many decades.His first film appearance was in 1921, and his last on-screen performance was in the Star Trek classic TV series....
as Tarquin
Production
John Hay "Jock" WhitneyJohn Hay Whitney
John Hay Whitney , colloquially known as "Jock" Whitney, was U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, publisher of the New York Herald Tribune, and a member of the Whitney family.-Family:...
and Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was an American businessman, film producer, writer, and government official, as well as the owner of a leading stable of thoroughbred racehorses....
formed Pioneer Pictures
Pioneer Pictures
Pioneer Pictures, Inc. was a Hollywood motion picture company, most noted for its early commitment to making color films. Pioneer was initially affiliated with RKO Pictures, whose production facilities in Culver City, California were used by Pioneer, and who distributed Pioneer's films...
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
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
formed Selznick International Pictures. Two Selznick International films, A Star Is Born
A Star Is Born (1937 film)
A Star Is Born is a 1937 Technicolor romantic drama film produced by David O. Selznick and directed by William A. Wellman, with a script by Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell. It stars Janet Gaynor as an aspiring Hollywood actress, and Fredric March as an aging movie star who...
and Nothing Sacred
Nothing Sacred (film)
Nothing Sacred is a 1937 Technicolor screwball comedy film made by Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by William A. Wellman and produced by David O. Selznick, from a screenplay credited to Ben Hecht, based on a story by James H. Street...
(both 1937), were produced by Selznick, copyrighted by Pioneer Pictures, and released through United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
rather than RKO.
Lowell Sherman
Lowell Sherman
Lowell Sherman was an American actor and film director....
, the original director, developed pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
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.
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
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film and Television Archive is an internationally renowned visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. It holds more than 220,000 film and television titles and 27 million feet of...
restored the film, under the supervision of archivist Robert Gitt.
Awards
Wins- Venice Film FestivalVenice Film FestivalThe Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
: Best Color Film, Rouben Mamoulian; 1935.
Nominations
- Academy AwardsAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Miriam Hopkins; 1935. - Venice Film Festival: Mussolini Cup, Rouben Mamoulian; 1935.
Trivia
Patricia RyanPat Nixon
Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan Nixon was the wife of Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States, and was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974. She was commonly known as Patricia or Pat Nixon.Born in Nevada, Pat Ryan grew up in Los Angeles, California...
, later the First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
from 1969 to 1974, worked as a movie extra at this time, and can be seen as a walk on during the ball scene.
External links
- Becky Sharp at Film Reference web site.