Public schoolboy Roddy Berwick is expelled from school when he takes the blame for a friend's charge and his life falls apart in a series of misadventures.
Patsy Brand is a chorus girl at the Pleasure Garden music hall. She meets Jill Cheyne who is down on her luck and gets her a job as a dancer. Jill is engaged to adventurer Hugh Fielding and... See full summary »
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
Stars:
Virginia Valli,
Carmelita Geraghty,
Miles Mander
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.Written by
Col Needham <col@imdb.com>
The play opened in London and New York City in 1925. The New York City production began on December 7, 1925 and had one hundred forty-seven performances with Jane Cowl as Larita, Robert Harris as John, and Halliwell Hobbes as Colonel Whittaker. See more »
Goofs
When Sarah and Larita first meet, John stands in between them. But in the next shot he is shown on the far left of the girls. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
The Plaintiff's Counsel:
Mrs. Filton, do you wish the Jury to believe the co-respondent never kissed you?
See more »
Alternate Versions
In 2004, the Turner Classic Movies channel broadcast a version digitally remastered by Hypercube LLC for the National Film Museum Incorporated. It has a new piano score composed and performed by Douglas M. Protsik and runs 89 minutes. See more »
Easy Virtue is one of Hitchcock's interesting but not great films, that is neither among his best or worst. Not a terrible one but this is really not the master of suspense at his best. When it comes to his silent films, Easy Virtue is perhaps one of his weaker ones, with his best being The Lodger and his weakest being Champagne. It has a lot of good things. There are some very clever shots and Hitchcockian touches like in the opening courtroom scene with everything being shot like from the perspective of the judge through his monocle and the proposal over the phone showing only the reactions of the telephone operator. Hitchcock directs very well, though there is understandably the sense that he was still finding and developing his own style. The sets and costumes are lovely to watch, while Violet Farebrother plays her role with tremendous gusto and Isabel Jeans brings a lot of charm to hers. Robin Irvine is very bland though and the rest of the acting can feel rather overheated and exaggerated even with a silent melodrama. The characters do come across as stock and somewhat cardboard, there's little dimension to them and you don't really care for them either. The story is a let down, it begins brilliant and ends just as satisfyingly but there's half-an-hour at least of tedious melodrama and staid storytelling, the romance also lacks passion and you don't ever really feel the love between them. And some have made a good point about the benefits of having dialogue instead here, I have great appreciation for silent films but Easy Virtue was the sort of film being a comedy-social drama where dialogue would have helped it come alive. Overall, not terrible, not great, mixed view here if anything. 5/10 Bethany Cox
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Easy Virtue is one of Hitchcock's interesting but not great films, that is neither among his best or worst. Not a terrible one but this is really not the master of suspense at his best. When it comes to his silent films, Easy Virtue is perhaps one of his weaker ones, with his best being The Lodger and his weakest being Champagne. It has a lot of good things. There are some very clever shots and Hitchcockian touches like in the opening courtroom scene with everything being shot like from the perspective of the judge through his monocle and the proposal over the phone showing only the reactions of the telephone operator. Hitchcock directs very well, though there is understandably the sense that he was still finding and developing his own style. The sets and costumes are lovely to watch, while Violet Farebrother plays her role with tremendous gusto and Isabel Jeans brings a lot of charm to hers. Robin Irvine is very bland though and the rest of the acting can feel rather overheated and exaggerated even with a silent melodrama. The characters do come across as stock and somewhat cardboard, there's little dimension to them and you don't really care for them either. The story is a let down, it begins brilliant and ends just as satisfyingly but there's half-an-hour at least of tedious melodrama and staid storytelling, the romance also lacks passion and you don't ever really feel the love between them. And some have made a good point about the benefits of having dialogue instead here, I have great appreciation for silent films but Easy Virtue was the sort of film being a comedy-social drama where dialogue would have helped it come alive. Overall, not terrible, not great, mixed view here if anything. 5/10 Bethany Cox