Although not of aristocratic birth Noel Coward became the protégée of Mrs Astley Cooper at an early age, and through her gained access to London Society where his sharp eye and keen perception enabled him to achieve an almost unique appreciation of both its strengths and its weaknesses. He exploited this shamelessly in a steady stream of very popular plays as well as such epic dramas as the award winning WW-II film "In Which We Serve".
Easy Virtue, first staged in New York in 1925 and one of Coward's earlier plays, was completely reconstructed to become an almost incredible silent Alfred Hitchcock film made in 1928 shortly before the Hayes Code came into force. It was a daring film even for this period, mocking divorce laws which ignored such trivial matters as love, support or understanding from a spouse, in favour of a black and white judgment based solely on proved infidelity. This film turned on a divorce court action brought by a wealthy husband against a wife he accused of having an affair with an artist who was painting her portrait. Little evidence was shown but it was made clear that the jury picked were likely to side with the husband. When awarded his divorce his wife became an outcast - a lady of 'Easy Virtue'. Both Coward's play and Hitchcock's film contrasted this standard with the failure of the husband to make any attempt to provide his wife with the love and support to which she was entitled. Coward's play went even further, comparing these domestic failings with post-WW-I failings of the British aristocracy to recognise their long established obligations to attempt to create an acceptable lifestyle for all those living on their estates. He portrayed landowners, depleted in both number and wealth by the conflict, as becoming sterile and embittered - with their energies spent almost entirely in trying to preserve their line and as much as possible of their estates. This is hardly the subject for a traditional comedy but Coward's biting wit and mastery of irony made for dialogue which was often both absorbing and enjoyable. .
Hitchcock's early film was thought to have been lost until a copy was discovered in Austria, and later featured in one Hitchcock collection. But it would be hard to obtain a copy today, and for most people probably not be worth the effort. By 2008 it was time for this remake from Ealing Studios who have a long tradition of filming major British comedies. Their film-script only broke with Coward's play at two significant points. It is both well made and well acted so it provides very enjoyable viewing, but I do not think it deserves the 8 or 9 IMDb rating that some reviewers here have given it. Its re-written dialogue attempts to reproduce the irony and sardonic humour in Coward's play, but does not always succeed. Some of the humour almost approaches slapstick and is rather out of place in this comedy of manners, leading to a few sequences which induce shudders. Nevertheless its makers deserve recognition for creating a sophisticated comedy rather than relying on belly laughs. I felt that, if the dialogue had been a little more true to Coward's original, this film could have been in the running for an Oscar, but its box office appeal might then have been less. Most North American film-goes remain conditioned to expect the types of situation comedy so brilliantly exploited by Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton, Langdon and many others - all working before effective dialogue became practicable; and sophisticated comedy still seems to have very limited appeal here.
This film features Jessica Biel as an American racing car driver, Larita, who captures the heart of a young and immature English landowner John Whittaker (Ben Barnes). Married, they return to his family estate where he totally fails to provide his wife with any support against the onslaughts of his horrified and gorgon like mother (Kristin Scott Thomas). Larita's only support comes from John's alert and observant father (Colin Firth, giving the best of many consistently good performances) who unfortunately still suffers from experiences as an army officer during WW-I that have left him rather ineffectual. We also meet Sarah (Charlotte Riley) John's former girlfriend and daughter of a wealthy nearby estate owner. We find it easy to understand why Mrs Whittaker with a loveless marriage and facing an unending battle to manage the estates and deal with the debts, is so anxious to destroy John's marriage and encourage him to re-marry Sarah. Our natural sympathy with Larita, who has blown into the Whittaker household like a much needed dose of salts, is tempered by the fact that she is not presented as an entirely sympathetic character, leaving us free to sit back without taking sides and simply enjoy the dialogue (often witty and still showing glimpses of Coward's original brilliance) whilst closing our eyes and ears occasionally for a few shudder inducing sequences. With Coward's plays it is often true that the characters are almost caricatures designed to complement the author's plot, nevertheless the resulting ride remains a lot of fun. The film-script differs from Coward's play both in the nature of the scandal in Larita's past and in the ending. The former change I felt was unfortunate - it opened up a whole new playing field which there was no time to explore; but I do commend the scriptwriters for their ambiguous new ending that seemed to me to be more in accordance with today's lifestyles. As usual the credits were overlong, but those to "the orchestra" were delightfully original. The film probably deserved an IMDb rating of 6, but because sophisticated comedies are as rare as hens teeth today I felt compelled to rate it 7.
Recommended!
Easy Virtue, first staged in New York in 1925 and one of Coward's earlier plays, was completely reconstructed to become an almost incredible silent Alfred Hitchcock film made in 1928 shortly before the Hayes Code came into force. It was a daring film even for this period, mocking divorce laws which ignored such trivial matters as love, support or understanding from a spouse, in favour of a black and white judgment based solely on proved infidelity. This film turned on a divorce court action brought by a wealthy husband against a wife he accused of having an affair with an artist who was painting her portrait. Little evidence was shown but it was made clear that the jury picked were likely to side with the husband. When awarded his divorce his wife became an outcast - a lady of 'Easy Virtue'. Both Coward's play and Hitchcock's film contrasted this standard with the failure of the husband to make any attempt to provide his wife with the love and support to which she was entitled. Coward's play went even further, comparing these domestic failings with post-WW-I failings of the British aristocracy to recognise their long established obligations to attempt to create an acceptable lifestyle for all those living on their estates. He portrayed landowners, depleted in both number and wealth by the conflict, as becoming sterile and embittered - with their energies spent almost entirely in trying to preserve their line and as much as possible of their estates. This is hardly the subject for a traditional comedy but Coward's biting wit and mastery of irony made for dialogue which was often both absorbing and enjoyable. .
Hitchcock's early film was thought to have been lost until a copy was discovered in Austria, and later featured in one Hitchcock collection. But it would be hard to obtain a copy today, and for most people probably not be worth the effort. By 2008 it was time for this remake from Ealing Studios who have a long tradition of filming major British comedies. Their film-script only broke with Coward's play at two significant points. It is both well made and well acted so it provides very enjoyable viewing, but I do not think it deserves the 8 or 9 IMDb rating that some reviewers here have given it. Its re-written dialogue attempts to reproduce the irony and sardonic humour in Coward's play, but does not always succeed. Some of the humour almost approaches slapstick and is rather out of place in this comedy of manners, leading to a few sequences which induce shudders. Nevertheless its makers deserve recognition for creating a sophisticated comedy rather than relying on belly laughs. I felt that, if the dialogue had been a little more true to Coward's original, this film could have been in the running for an Oscar, but its box office appeal might then have been less. Most North American film-goes remain conditioned to expect the types of situation comedy so brilliantly exploited by Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton, Langdon and many others - all working before effective dialogue became practicable; and sophisticated comedy still seems to have very limited appeal here.
This film features Jessica Biel as an American racing car driver, Larita, who captures the heart of a young and immature English landowner John Whittaker (Ben Barnes). Married, they return to his family estate where he totally fails to provide his wife with any support against the onslaughts of his horrified and gorgon like mother (Kristin Scott Thomas). Larita's only support comes from John's alert and observant father (Colin Firth, giving the best of many consistently good performances) who unfortunately still suffers from experiences as an army officer during WW-I that have left him rather ineffectual. We also meet Sarah (Charlotte Riley) John's former girlfriend and daughter of a wealthy nearby estate owner. We find it easy to understand why Mrs Whittaker with a loveless marriage and facing an unending battle to manage the estates and deal with the debts, is so anxious to destroy John's marriage and encourage him to re-marry Sarah. Our natural sympathy with Larita, who has blown into the Whittaker household like a much needed dose of salts, is tempered by the fact that she is not presented as an entirely sympathetic character, leaving us free to sit back without taking sides and simply enjoy the dialogue (often witty and still showing glimpses of Coward's original brilliance) whilst closing our eyes and ears occasionally for a few shudder inducing sequences. With Coward's plays it is often true that the characters are almost caricatures designed to complement the author's plot, nevertheless the resulting ride remains a lot of fun. The film-script differs from Coward's play both in the nature of the scandal in Larita's past and in the ending. The former change I felt was unfortunate - it opened up a whole new playing field which there was no time to explore; but I do commend the scriptwriters for their ambiguous new ending that seemed to me to be more in accordance with today's lifestyles. As usual the credits were overlong, but those to "the orchestra" were delightfully original. The film probably deserved an IMDb rating of 6, but because sophisticated comedies are as rare as hens teeth today I felt compelled to rate it 7.
Recommended!