The Alfred Hitchcock Project #5: Easy Virtue (1927)
Maybe Hitchcock should've gone with "Hard Vice" instead...
I think Hitchcock loved courtrooms almost as much as he loved trains. (Trains make a brief appearance here as well.) I can’t remember if he begins his 1948 film The Paradine Case inside a courtroom, but if not, he does so with Easy Virtue, as Larita Filton (Isabel Jeans) gives testimony in her divorce case.
Hitchcock delivers some good moments of tension as Larita tells her story, resulting in a flashback showing us this isn’t a run-of-the-mill divorce case. Oh no, this one’s a real corker. While Larita poses for a painter named Claude (Eric Bransby Williams), her husband Aubrey (Franklin Dyall) gets loaded from Claude’s liquor tray, all the while giving disapproving looks to both his wife and the artist. Aubrey knows they’re having an affair and during an altercation, Claude shoots but misses Aubrey completely. (I guess he was more accurate with the paintbrush…) The struggle continues and when all the smoke clears, Claude is dead, an apparent suicide.
Aubrey files for divorce, producing damning letters between Claude and Larita, confirming his suspicions of adultery. The jury decides in Aubrey’s favor, although Claude’s will stipulates that his entire fortune goes to Larita.
I realize this seems very spoiler-heavy, but we’re talking about the first 10 minutes of the picture here. Unfortunately, it’s the best part of the film. Larita takes a trip to the French Rivera, hoping to forget what's happened, avoiding reporters and photographers. Instead, she meets a charming (and rich) young man named John Whittaker (Robin Irvine), who falls for Larita like a drunk falling off a barstool.
The film’s best scene occurs after John has left a note with Larita, informing her that he plans to call later. We know it’s going to be a proposal. (Over the phone? What a clod…) But rather than show back-and-forth conversations, Hitchcock focuses on a bored switchboard operator as she connects the call and listens in. As we watch her expression change in reaction to the conversation, we know everything being said. It's a fun scene, but we know this marriage is a
After this quickie marriage, John brings his new bride to meet the family, which goes over like a Five Guys burger truck showing up at a vegetarian dinner party.
John’s stuffy mother (Violet Farebrother) takes an immediate dislike to Larita, wishing John had married his former girl Sarah (Enid Stamp Taylor) instead. Yet Mrs. Whittaker can’t quite place where she’s seen Larita before…
Although there’s more than a hint of a Mrs. Danvers/the new Mrs. de Winter (from Rebecca) vibe going on here, nothing especially interesting happens for the rest of the film, other than Larita’s unexpected appearance at a party hosted by the Whittakers, which creates some limited excitement.
Other than calling Easy Virtue his worst title (in the book Hitchcock/Truffaut), Hitchcock seems to have had little to say about the film, and honestly, there’s not much to say, except:
1 - Hitchcock uncharacteristically lingers on several scenes for no apparent reason. These moments include, but are not limited to: emptying the courtroom, a bartending scene that looks like an instructional video, and a “come-on” moment between Larita and John that makes you wonder if the language of love needs a translator. The version I saw was 80 minutes long, but a 2012 BFI restoration resulted in a 70-minute edition available on a French (region B) Blu-ray from Elephant Films. According to what I’ve read, it’s no great shakes.
2 - We see large tapestries adorning the Whittaker dining room, but the woven figures appear to be the kind of saints with halos you might see in medieval Christian art. Okay, but for your dining room???
3 - More trains, more staircases. Hitchcock just can’t stay away from either…
4 - Hitchcock is seen walking past a tennis court.
Hitchcock was working with many people he’d worked with before, so I’m not sure why Easy Virtue is such a dud. With the subject matter, you'd think it would sizzle a bit more. Perhaps I’ll run across more information as I read further interviews and criticism, but I can safely say that Easy Virtue has been my biggest disappointment in this Hitchcock filmography project so far. Next up: The Ring (1927).