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Easy Virtue (1928) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
5.8/10   787 votes
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Down 14% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
Writers:
Noel Coward (play)
Eliot Stannard (scenario)
Contact:
View company contact information for Easy Virtue on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1928 (USA) more
Genre:
Romance | Thriller more
Plot:
A divorcée hides her scandalous past from her new husband and his family. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
NewsDesk:
(8 articles)
"Easy Virtue" Tops Film Favorites At Rome Film Festival
 (From iCelebz. 29 October 2008, 2:12 PM, PDT)
Jessica Biel's New Gig: Singing!
 (From PEOPLE.com. 23 October 2008, 11:00 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
Sowing the seeds of later Hitchcock masterpieces more (22 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited 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)
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
79 min | 89 min (Hypercube restored version)
Country:
UK
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Silent
Certification:
Finland:S (1995) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG
Filming Locations:
Islington, London, England, UK
Company:
Gainsborough Pictures more

Fun Stuff

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. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Prosecutor: Mrs. Filton, do you wish the Jury to believe the co-respondent never kissed you?
more
Movie Connections:
Version of Easy Virtue (2008) more

FAQ

Why does the print look so bad?
Why do distributors add music to silent films?
Why is the music so bad?
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User Comments

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful.
Sowing the seeds of later Hitchcock masterpieces, 27 March 2006
5/10
Author: Jugu Abraham (jugu_abraham@yahoo.co.uk) from Trivandrum, Kerala, India

While many have dismissed this silent film of Hitchcock as an insignificant work, I found this film anticipates the virtues of the later works of the director. Hitchcock often relied on strong stories/scripts/plays whether it was du Maurier or Ernest Lehman or Ben Hecht or Anthony Shaffer to make his cinema tick. In this film it was the brilliant playwright Noel Coward. Just as "Frenzy" (script of Shaffer) ends with the words "…you are missing your tie," the final words of "Easy Virtue" are the explosive "Shoot! There is nothing left to kill." The word "shoot" refers to the cameras of the paparazzi not guns.

Visually, Hitchcock would revert to the same scene in "Notorious", in "Torn Curtain" and even as a weapon of defense in "Rear Window." The underscoring of the irony of final scenes of Hitchcock films are interesting to note. Coward and Hitchcock were really sensitizing the viewer on the social perceptions of marriage and divorce. Coward and Hitchcock seem to ask us the connection between slandered reputation and "easy virtue." In "Blackmail" the jester (the painting) seemed to scoff at the so-called justice meted out by the law keepers in final sequence.

Visually the most poignant shot (repeated twice) in the film is the shot of the judge's wig from above his head as he looks up. The interiors of the sets seem remarkably similar to scenes from Russian (Eisenstein's "Ivan the Terrible") and German expressionist cinema. Who should be credited more for what the film offers—Coward or Hitchcock. Probably both, in equal measure.

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