Thursday, October 6, 2011

Vanity Fair (1932)




Vanity Fair to me is a boring story and one that I have seen countless times in old films but the only differences is the ending is happy and the girl usually gets the rich man. This version of Vanity Fair is set in modern times… as in 1932 modern times.
            Myrna Loy in one of her early leading roles on a loan out to some other studio plays Becky Sharp. Becky has not had a very good life. She was orphaned when she was young and grew up in boarding schools. She has dreamed of marrying rich and living a wealthy care free life. Her friend Amelia’s family is rich and right away she tries to go after Amelia’s brother Joseph and her boyfriend. Amelia’s mother sees Becky putting the moves on and tells the girl she needs to leave to go to her governess position.
            Becky is a governess for an old man named Crawley. At this point in the story someone on youtube did not post the third part of the film so I have no clue what happened apparently she fell in love with the old man’s son Rawdon and the man kicked them out after he found out they were married. Now they do not have any money and Becky is left to whore herself out and become a kept woman to gain money, jewels and clothes.
            By the end of the film Becky is totally poor and the years showing on her face.
            What a crap story. I started watching Becky Sharp with Miriam Hopkins and could not take the story I stopped it (besides Hopkins was way too much she pissed me off so bad her acting was terrible!!!). The modern twist on the classic 1800s tale was a good idea it fit perfectly. Now if you follow this blog you know how much I adore Myrna Loy to no end and because I adore her unconditionally I had to sit through this. I hate to say it but Loy was not that good. Maybe she was not that great because the whole thing was not fantastic. At times she seemed too nice for the nasty, man eating woman she had to be but then at times all she had to do was give a lusty look and you can see her mind on the prowl and her real intentions. Alright, she did have one very good scene and that was at the very end when Becky looks at herself in the mirror at what she  has become, this is the excellent acting that Loy is known for. Loy’s Becky Sharp no doubt belongs to the pre-code era with her immoral ways and risqué clothing. 
            I just really want to know what MGM was thinking when they loaned Myrna Loy out to a low budget early talkie studio. Well at this time they did not really know what to do with her she was still the bad girl and the vamp.
            This version of Vanity Fair is very boring and very lackluster. Even Myrna Loy’s presence could not in any way help this film out.
            Only see this if you are a gigantic Myrna Loy nerd like me and only sit through it if you are dying because whoever uploaded it did not upload a part three so there is half the story missing.
 

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