Easy Virtue (1928)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Noel Coward (play)
Eliot Stannard (scenario)

Release Date:

1928 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Thriller

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Artist | Divorce | Trial | France | Secret

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)

Runtime:

79 min | 89 min (Hypercube restored version)

Country:

UK

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Finland:S (1995) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Islington, London, England, UK

Company:

Gainsborough Pictures

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.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Version of Easy Virtue (2008)

Quite possibly the worst Hitchcock movie ever.

As you may or may not know, I've decided to type reviews for all my DVDs ("May or may not know." Like you guys actually read one of my reviews and said to yourself "Wow. I've got to read more from this guy.) When it came time to type my review for "Easy Virtue" I was drawing a blank. I once cited "Murder!" as a forgettable Hitchcock film, but in this case I really could not remember a thing. As I started reading other reviews and such, the movie started coming back to me. And I realized I was just suppressing bad memories. One problem with this picture is (and maybe it was just my copy) there was no music for this silent film. I mean none. Now I could probably watch "Nosferatu" or "The Phantom of the Opera" with no music, but those are good movies with great story/plot/action. This on the other hand was just dreadfully boring. I mean I had to sit up in bed just so I wouldn't fall asleep watching it. Now you may be thinking what if there had been music? Would it make it better? No. The story itself just did not interest me at all. I stated once that "Champagne" was the worst Hitchcock film that I ever saw. I gave that film a 2. Despite the horrible story, it had good directing. Here however I didn't see anything special about the direction in this film. That's why I gave this movie a 1. And like I stated in the title it is quite possibly the worst Hitchcock movie ever. "Quite possibly" because I haven't seen all his early work yet. And there's a couple of his other films I haven't seen as well. I probably could have combined those last two sentences. So in closing I recommend this only to the Hardcore Hitchcock fans. The rest should avoid this film. Trust me.