Easy Virtue (1928)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Noel Coward (play)
Eliot Stannard (scenario)

Release Date:

1928 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Thriller

Plot:

A divorcée hides her scandalous past from her new husband and his family.

Plot Keywords:

Artist | Divorce | Trial | France | Secret

Cast

Isabel Jeans	...	Larita Filton
Franklin Dyall	...	Aubrey Filton
Eric Bransby Williams	...	Claude Robson - the co-respondent
Ian Hunter	...	The Plaintiff's Counsel
Robin Irvine	...	John Whittaker
Violet Farebrother	...	Mrs. Whittaker
Frank Elliott	...	Colonel Whittaker
Dacia Deane	...	Marion Whittaker
Dorothy Boyd	...	Hilda Whittaker
Enid Stamp-Taylor	...	Sarah (as Enid Stamp Taylor)

Runtime:

79 min | 89 min (Hypercube restored version)

Country:

UK

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Finland:S (1995) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Islington, London, England, UK

Company:

Gainsborough Pictures

Trivia:

The play opened in London and New York City in 1925. The New York City production began on 7 December 1925 and had 147 performances with Jane Cowl as Larita, Robert Harris as John and Halliwell Hobbes as Colonel Whittaker.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Prosecutor: Mrs. Filton, do you wish the Jury to believe the co-respondent never kissed you?

Movie Connections:

Version of Easy Virtue (2008)

Gets Decent Mileage Out of a Simple Story

This silent Alfred Hitchcock drama gets decent mileage out of a rather simple story. Isabel Jeans stars as a young woman who, because of a messy divorce in her past, is unfairly considered a woman of "Easy Virtue", and she must struggle constantly against the ways that her past affects how she is perceived by others. This kind of drama was probably more popular and more familiar in previous eras, and many stories of the kind don't hold up very well now. This one does often show some signs of age, but it also has some of Hitchcock's creative touches that move it along and make it worth watching. One of the best is Hitchcock's treatment of Jeans responding to a marriage proposal - it's quite innovative, and a nice way to avoid the often banal treatments of romantic scenes.

This is nothing like the movies for which Hitchcock is usually remembered, and it's really not even among his best silent work. But it's not bad, and if not always compelling, it is sometimes interesting in its look at the characters' social attitudes and perspectives.