(Rouben Mamoulian, US 1935, 84 min., 35mm nitrate)
Print source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Becky Sharp was the first feature film to be entirely shot in three-color Technicolor—a fact that forever secured its position in film history books. “Natural colors” were introduced to motion pictures in the late 1900s. The palette, however, was limited, and reproduction of such colors as yellow and blue was impossible until Technicolor Process IV came into play in the early 1930s.
Robert Edmond Jones was one of the country’s leading stage designers, and his work on this film concluded a series of experiments aimed at “taming” color and teaching filmmakers how to use it to express the atmosphere of a scene or the character’s emotions. Director Rouben Mamoulian enthusiastically supported this approach, and the credit line “designed in color by Robert Edmond Jones” appears before the names of the writer and the cinematographer in Becky Sharp.
An adaptation of Vanity Fair was a perfect subject for a full-color debut, and not only because it was a costume film. Hollywood of the 1930s was hardly capable of showcasing all the layers of one of the world’s greatest novels. However, Thackeray’s story is framed as a puppet play, and that could be one of the keys to a successful film adaptation.
Indeed, Becky Sharp opens with a shot of parting curtains. The characters, simple, amusing, and colorful, deceive and seduce each other, much like puppets in a Punch and Judy show. Becky Sharp, the charmingly opportunistic protagonist (or antagonist) of the novel, is the only character who is both a puppet and puppeteer. In the film, she mainly demonstrates her talent for mimicry and plays a chameleon by applying a new gimmick and showing a new acting technique every time she changes the color of her dress. Miriam Hopkins was an actress of rare psychological complexity, and some critics and historians were perplexed by the crudeness of her performance as Becky. Yet, Hopkins implements something rather unique—“Technicolor acting”: it is built on a contrast of garish brushstrokes of local colors, precisely in line with Jones and Mamoulian’s approach.
Mainstream cinema chose a different route, with color rarely becoming the dominant. In this respect, Becky Sharp is a precursor to post-war MGM musicals or even the European experiments of the 1960s.
This radiant original print is in excellent condition, with a moderate shrinkage of 0.65%–0.85%, and has, as archivists say, many more screenings in it.
– Peter Bagrov