Murder at the Vanities (1934)

Director:

Mitchell Leisen

Writers:

Earl Carroll (play)
Joseph Gollomb (writer)

Release Date:

18 May 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Mystery

Plot:

Shortly before the curtain goes up the first time at the latest performance of Earl Carroll's Vanities...

Plot Keywords:

Theater | Murder | Based On Play

Cast

Carl Brisson	...	Eric Lander
Victor McLaglen	...	Police Lt. Bill Murdock
Jack Oakie	...	Jack Ellery
Kitty Carlisle	...	Ann Ware
Dorothy Stickney	...	Norma Watson
Gertrude Michael	...	Rita Ross
Jessie Ralph	...	Mrs. Helene Smith
Charles Middleton	...	Homer Boothby (as Charles B. Middleton)
Gail Patrick	...	Sadie Evans
Donald Meek	...	Dr. J.T. Saunders
Toby Wing	...	Nancy
Duke Ellington	...	Himself (as Duke Ellington's Orchestra)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

This is the film that contains the "Sweet Marijuana" song and dance number. It got past the censors because at the time the film was made, the drug was not illegal. Today, most prints omit this production number all together.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the body of the woman on the catwalk is turned on her back, you can see the actress' chest rise and fall as she takes a breath.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in End of Days (1999)

Soundtrack:

Lovely One

No one EVER Made Movies Like This One!!!

There are moments in the film that are so dreadful, your teeth ache. But knowing that there were only weeks left before the Code made movies innocuous and bland, Paramount rushed this into production before innuendo and leering went out of style. Vanities is so horrifically anti-female that it's delicious. As Kitty Carlisle sings, women are displayed with price tags that would insult a Bronx hooker. They emerge from clams (nudge,nudge;wink,wink) in postures of absolute submission. Minions of the law, so stupid they cannot find the door, get to look up their skirts and snicker. Bare-breasted chorus girls sit uncomfortably in giant cacti (Could they be a source of hallucinogens, perhaps?) while we listen to "Sweet Marijuana" and watch as blood falls on a chorines's breast.

Sure, Carl Brisson learned his lines phonetically and doesn't seem to have a clue what he is saying. But it's all worth it as Norma steals the show while no one is looking.

Taking one moment of this fragile fluff seriously is missing the point of the whole exercise. Watch this with a charter member of NOW and prepare to justify the whole Hollywood machismo sch tick between body blows.

Toby Wing, by the way, is the icing on the cake. And Duke Ellington doesn't hurt either.

A must stroll down Memory Lane.