Great Performances, Awkward Script in this Production-Code Version of the Legendary CHICAGO
Loosely based on the 1924 trials of Chicago murderesses Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner, as well as the exploits of notorious defense lawyers W.W. O'Brien and William Scott Steward, playwright Maurine Dallas Watkin's play CHICAGO was a popular stage success of 1926--a wickedly funny satire on fame and the American justice system. It was also a popular silent film of 1927. But when Hollywood returned to the story in 1942 the movies were under the infamous "production code," and there was simply no way the story could be filmed as originally written. The resulting film was a very loose adaptation in which the role of Velma Kelly was largely cut and Roxie Hart herself became less sinner than a fame-hungry dimwit who pleads guilty to a crime of which she is innocent in order to gain media fame.
ROXIE HART is one of those films that goes off with a bang when it works and dies with a fizzle when it doesn't. The great success is the cast: both Ginger Rogers and Adophe Menjou are knock-outs in the leading roles of Roxie and her slick-and-slimy defense attorney Billy Flynn, and the supporting cast (which includes a host of famous faces, including Nigel Bruce, Phil Silvers, Sara Allgood, Spring Byington, William Frawley and Iris Adrian) is hard to beat. The jail house scenes are a scream--yes, Ginger coaxes everybody into dancing "The Black Bottom"--and the court room scenes even more so--with Ginger showing as much false emotion as she does leg.
On the other hand, the film uses a framing device in which a reporter (George Montgomery) tells the story of Roxy to a bar-room audience some twenty years after the fact, and it creaks, plods, thuds, brings the movie to a slow crawl, and then gives us a surprise ending that's not only completely unsurprising but which has the effect of undercutting the entire premise of the film. When ROXIE HART flies, it really flies; when it falls, it does so with the thump of an over-cooked poundcake.
Even so, the film was still appealing enough to intrigue Broadway star Gwen Verdon, who was so fascinated by the general premise that she begged then-husband Bob Fosse to transform it into a stage showcase for her own talents. Fosse agreed it would make a great musical, but he ran afoul of original author Watkins, who had had a change of heart about her play over the years and didn't want to see it resurrected. When Watkins died in 1969 her estate felt differently, released the rights, and by 1975--with all its sin blackened humor restored--CHICAGO began to prove its worth on the musical stage. An Academy-award winning film version aside, it is currently one of the most widely admired and widely performed musicals on the world stage.
Getting back to ROXIE HART--well, no, it ain't no CHICAGO. But that awkward framing device aside, fans of the later musical will enjoy seeing this variation of their favorite musical, and certainly no one can argue with the calibre of the performances. The DVD is not mint, but it is close, and it comes with two film trailers. Recommended, as long as you don't expected too much.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
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