Easy Virtue (1928)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

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:

Director Cameo: [Alfred Hitchcock]walking past a tennis court carrying a walking stick.

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)

A powerful movie made during a time when divorce wasn't discussed

I will admit that at times this movie seems slow. However, if you take a look deeper at the time frame in which this movie was presented you can easily see the risk that Hitchcock took. In the movie the main character is divorced and disgraced by her horrible husband. When she tries to regain some normalcy by marrying again, the ghosts of her past come to prevent any happiness in her future. Once again she is shamed, disgraced, and helpless prey for the photographers and newspapers who use her high social standing and demise to sell their goods.

A very compelling look into hypocrisy and judgment in a time when both were at their highest peak.