This film adaptation's storyline begins around 1920 and concludes in 1933.[1] In its opening scene a limousine is traveling down a road outside London. In the car are two passengers, Amelia Sedley (Barbara Kent) and her friend Becky Sharp (Myrna Loy), young ladies who agewise are in their twenties. Amelia is from a rich, well-connected family, while Becky is from very modest means and has no family at all. Given Becky's circumstances, Amelia has invited her to her home for the Christmas holidays.
At the Sedley estate Amelia's family welcomes their guest, but the mother is soon wary of her. Those suspicions are warranted, for Becky aims to use her beauty and guile to gain wealth and privilege by climbing England's social ladder. Her first target for achieving those goals is Joseph, Amelia's much-older brother (Billy Bevan). After Becky tries unsuccessfully to trap him into marriage, Mrs. Sedley sees her cuddling in the home's drawing room with her daughter's fiancé, George Osborne. Disgusted, the mother calls "Miss Sharp" into the adjoining room, where she advises Becky to leave immediately so she can begin the job she had accepted before the holidays, that of governess for the family of Sir Pitt Crawley. Becky heeds the thinly veiled advice and departs.[2][3]
Upon her arrival at the residence of Lord Crawley, Becky quickly stirs the passions of both the elderly Sir Pitt and his son Rawdon (Conway Tearle). The new governess entices them with her suggestive comments and by allowing each man into her bedroom at night while she glides about in her satin pajamas. Soon she and Rawdon begin a secretive affair, but Sir Pitt finally catches them together in Becky's bedroom. There they inform him they had married the previous day. That news enrages the old man, who orders his son and his "shameless little hussy" out of his house.
Relocating to a townhouse in London's Mayfair district, Becky and Rawdon feel the financial strains of being cut off from Lord Crawley and his wealth. The couple at first brings in money by betting and cheating their friends playing bridge. That income, however, is insufficient for their mounting bills, so Becky schemes to find other ways to get money. She does so through blackmail and by obtaining gifts from a string of lovers, including George Osborne, now the husband of her friend Amelia. Eventually, even Rawdon cannot tolerate his wife's wanton, criminal behavior. On the evening he is released from police custody for writing bad checks, Rawdon finds Becky at their home with another lover. He declares their marriage is over and gives her only ten minutes to vacate the premises. As she leaves, he informs Becky that his father had just died, and he is now the new Lord Crawley. He then warns her that if she ever dares to refer to herself as "Lady Crawley," he will track her down and kill her.
Several years pass and Becky lives in a far less affluent, largely French-speaking area of London.[4][5] There she prowls the area's bars and casinos, getting money from the assorted men she meets. One evening in a casino, she sees Amelia's brother Joseph, who updates her about his sister's situation. While Becky already knows that Amelia's husband George had died five years earlier in a horse-riding accident, she learns from Joseph that Amelia still refuses to remarry. Subsequently she also learns that her friend's devotion to George's memory and her mistaken belief in his fidelity have led Amelia to refuse repeated marriage proposals from Dobbin, a gentleman who has adored her for years. Sometime later, Becky invites Amelia to her apartment and confesses her affair with George. She then calls Amelia a fool for revering a dead "cad" and urges her to wed Dobbin, who is waiting outside in a car. When Amelia rejoins him after Becky's disclosures, she rests her head on Dobbin's shoulder, implying that his next proposal will be accepted.
The film sequence that follows shows the passage of more years and the ongoing disintegration of Becky's life, which has become a daily struggle marked by petty crimes, prostitution, and meager funds. In the final scene Becky enters her shabby one-room apartment. Lying on the bed is Joseph, stirring from his latest binge. She addresses him as "my love" and informs him that his sister had just given her another check. He is infuriated and tells her never to accept money again from Amelia. Becky turns, sits at a dresser, and stares into its mirror. In the reflection she watches her face transform from the reality of its present haggard appearance to its former beauty. She then notices that Joseph has quietly departed. She also notices on a small bedside bureau that he has torn up his sister's check, and in the dust that coats the bureau's surface he has written Finis ("The End").[6] The film concludes with Becky lowering her face into her hands and weeping.
Vanity Fair received largely negative reviews in 1932 from some of the film industry's leading trade publications. The critic for Variety could not recommend the film, finding its acting "competent" but the overall production poorly scripted and its direction deficient:
One of those independent productions which misses distinction because of a lack of finish. A modern dress version of Thackeray's famous chisler, with a competent player in the part and frequent good moments, poor photography, tepid direction and poor dialog ... However the theme will not appeal to the average filmgoer since it is seldom possible to hold interest in a story in which the heroine is not worthy ... Myrna Loy was an excellent choice for Becky. She plays the part with genuineness, looking as well as acting her assignment until the final sequence when the makeup obtrudes to suggest age and her fading charms ... The production lacks the gifted touch which welds components into a single structure.[7]
The Film Daily was even more critical of the film than Variety. The subheading of its review summarized the film as being a "Dull Drama" and an "Uninteresting Adaptation of Classic Novel That Falls Flat".[8] The influential publication found Conway Tearle's performance to be the only aspect of the production that was truly noteworthy:
Vanity Fair's slow tempo, English accents, and draggy direction does not help it any. Myrna Loy has the role of Becky Sharpe, and is alluring as usual. But her part is so unsympathetic and the string of gents she trims appear such boobs that there is no cause for the audience to get enthusiastic or vitally interested ... Conway Tearle is her main victim, and after going along for half the distance, suddenly drops out of the picture, and you never see or hear from him again. He is the only one who puts a real vital spark in his role. When he goes, the picture goes with him. From then on it is a dismal portrayal of Becky's gradual fall into poverty and misery. The ending is distinctly depressing.[8]
William Makepeace Thackeray was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of British society, and the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon, which was adapted for a 1975 film by Stanley Kubrick.
Vanity Fair is an English novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, which follows the lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley amid their friends and families during and after the Napoleonic Wars. It was first published as a 19-volume monthly serial from 1847 to 1848, carrying the subtitle Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society, which reflects both its satirisation of early 19th-century British society and the many illustrations drawn by Thackeray to accompany the text. It was published as a single volume in 1848 with the subtitle A Novel without a Hero, reflecting Thackeray's interest in deconstructing his era's conventions regarding literary heroism. It is sometimes considered the "principal founder" of the Victorian domestic novel.
Myrna Loy was an American film, television and stage actress. As a performer, she was known for her ability to adapt to her screen partner's acting style.
Becky Sharp is a 1935 American Technicolor historical drama film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Miriam Hopkins who was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Other supporting cast were William Faversham, Frances Dee, Cedric Hardwicke, Billie Burke, Alison Skipworth, Nigel Bruce, and Alan Mowbray.
Vanity Fair is a 2004 historical drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel of the same name. The novel has been the subject of numerous television and film adaptations. Nair's version made notable changes in the development of main character Becky Sharp, played by Reese Witherspoon.
Vanity Fair may refer to:
Vanity Fair is a BBC television drama serial adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel of the same name broadcast in 1998. The screenplay was written by Andrew Davies.
Vanity Fair is a BBC television drama serial adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel of the same name broadcast in 1967. It was the first drama serial in colour produced by the BBC. Vanity Fair starred Susan Hampshire as Becky Sharp. The serial was also broadcast in 1972 in the US on PBS television as part of Masterpiece Theatre, and Hampshire received an Emmy Award for her portrayal in 1973.
Rebecca "Becky" Sharp, later describing herself as Rebecca, Lady Crawley, is the main protagonist of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1847–48 novel Vanity Fair. She is presented as a cynical social climber who uses her charms to fascinate and seduce upper-class men. This is in contrast with the clinging, dependent Amelia Sedley, her friend from school. Becky then uses Amelia as a stepping stone to gain social position. Sharp functions as a picara—a picaresque heroine—by being a social outsider who is able to expose the manners of the upper gentry to ridicule.
Conway Tearle was an American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.
Vanity Fair (1923) is a silent feature film directed by Hugo Ballin and released by Samuel Goldwyn.
The Truth About Youth is a 1930 American pre-Code drama with songs produced and distributed by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Directed by William A. Seiter, the film stars Loretta Young, Conway Tearle, David Manners and Myrna Loy. It was based on the 1900 play When We Were Twenty-One, written by Henry V. Esmond.
Vanity Fair is a 1922 British silent drama film directed by Walter Courtney Rowden and starring Clive Brook, Cosmo Kyrle Bellew and Douglas Munro. An adaptation of the 1848 novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, it was made as part of the "Tense Moments with Great Authors Series" of films.
Vanity Fair is a 1987 BBC Pebble Mill Production consisting of sixteen 35 minute episodes. It is an adaptation of the 1848 novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. The serial was shot on location and in studio. Locations included Winchester and Thetford. Virtually all the interiors were shot in Studio A at Pebble Mill.
Jane Octavia Brookfield was a literary hostess and writer, best known for her platonic friendship with William Makepeace Thackeray. She also wrote four novels; some critics have drawn parallels between the events in these novels and her relationship with Thackeray.
John Sayer Crawley was an English actor who, as Sayre Crawley, spent more than 40 years in American theatre playing roles on Broadway and at the Garden Theatre, among other venues.
Vanity Fair is a 1915 silent film drama directed by Eugene Nowland and Charles Brabin and starring Mrs. Fiske, a renowned Broadway stage actress. The Edison Company produced and released the film. Mrs. Fiske had starred in the 1899 hit Broadway play Becky Sharp based on William Thackeray's 1848 novel of the same name. Here she recreates the role for Edison's cameras. This film marks Mrs. Fiske's second feature film as she had starred in Tess of the d'Urbervilles for Adolph Zukor in 1913. Despite the popularity of Vanity Fair, Mrs. Fiske never made another motion picture.
Vanity Fair was a 1956–57 six-part BBC TV serial adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel of the same name. The cast included Joyce Redman, Petra Davies, Derek Blomfield, Alan Badel, David Peel, Graham Stuart, Marian Spencer, Jack May. Telerecorded during its live broadcast, only the first episode is known to survive, with the others being junked following a repeat of the telerecordings in 1957.
Vanity Fair is a 2018 historical drama miniseries based on the 1848 novel of the same name by William Makepeace Thackeray. It was produced by Mammoth Screen and distributed by ITV and Amazon Studios.
Vanity Fair is a 1911 silent film adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel of the same name. It was one of Vitagraph's first three reel productions, along with A Tale of Two Cities (1911).
References
Notes
↑ The actual year this story begins is indefinite. However, the style of car depicted in the film's opening scene, dialogue references to times between major events in the plot, and the appearance of a calendar near the end of the film support the cited timeframe.
↑ Fulghum, R. Neil (2016). The plot summary, including the story's given timeframe, and all dialogue quotations are based on notes from multiple viewings of Vanity Fair by R. Neil Fulghum, retired associate librarian, Academic Affairs Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; October 21–22, 2016.
↑ The full 1932 film Vanity Fair is currently available for viewing on YouTube.
↑ At this point in the film, many of the peripheral characters are portrayed speaking French, which suggests that Becky is living in Soho, a district of London long recognized as home to the city's "French Quarter."
↑ Watts, Peter (2014). "London's Huguenots," The Great Wren, July 9, 2014.
↑ The etymology of finis is traced to a Latin term literally meaning "the end." From the 15th century through the 19th century Finis was often placed on the final page of a book. Later, in the age of motion pictures in both Europe and the Americas, the word was frequently displayed at the conclusion of films. Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of the English Language (1978). International Edition, Volume I. Chicago: J.G. Ferguson Publishing, 475; LC 69-11209.
↑ "Vanity Fair", review, Variety (New York, N.Y.), May 10, 1932, pages 19, 29. Internet Archive, San Francisco. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
1 2 "'Vanity Fair'", review, The Film Daily (New York, N.Y.), May 8, 1932, page 10. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
