Easy Virtue (1928)

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

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Noel Coward (adapted from the play by), Eliot Stannard (scenario)

Stars:

Isabel Jeans, Franklin Dyall, Eric Bransby Williams

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Isabel Jeans	...	Larita Filton
Franklin Dyall	...	Her Husband
Eric Bransby Williams	...	The Co-respondent
Ian Hunter	...	The Plaintiff's Counsel
Robin Irvine	...	John Whittaker
Violet Farebrother	...	His Mother
Frank Elliott	...	His Father
Dacia Deane	...	His Elder Sister
Dorothy Boyd	...	His Younger Sister
Enid Stamp-Taylor	...	Sarah (as Enid Stamp Taylor)

Storyline

Larita Filton is named as correspondent in a scandalous divorce case. She escapes to France to rebuild her life where she meets John Whittaker. They are later married, but John's well-to-do family finds out Larita's secret.

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Plot Keywords:

divorce | artist | secret | trial | france | 

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Genres:

Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 1928 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fragile virtù

Filming Locations:

French Riviera, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gainsborough Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 89 min (Hypercube restored)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Alfred Hitchcock:  walking past a tennis court carrying a walking stick.

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Goofs

After talking to his mom about Larita and sitting next to Sarah, John's leg and arm positions change between shots.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Version of La comedia: Fácil virtud (1983)

User Reviews

Sowing the seeds of later Hitchcock masterpieces

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.