ROXIE HART (74)

Directed by: William Wellman (1942)

Starring: Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Lynne Overman, George Montgomery

The Pitch: In Prohibition-era Chicago, a showgirl is arrested for her lover's murder, and becomes a media celebrity.

Theo Sez: Only watched this as homework for CHICAGO, and you have to wonder how many of the Oscar voters celebrating that film are familiar with this earlier incarnation, which kicks its ass on just about every level - even as a musical, albeit without any songs (just a few stray bars here and there, plus Ms. Rogers and company dancing the 'Black Bottom'). It's a question of energy, and the enervated showiness of CHICAGO vs. the exuberant rolling rhythms here, melodious patter soaring into the equivalent of production numbers - Roxie's press conference, the anything-goes vaudeville of the courtroom climax - set to the constant backbeat of FRONT PAGE-style newspaper comedy. Unlike the new version, which makes cynicism the way of the world and heaps scorn on those who don't 'get' it (result : smugness), the structure here carefully sets the goings-on in the 'bad old days' - a freewheeling fantasy world - and allows everyone an equal voice, even if they're not equally smart : Rogers' Roxie is a more good-humoured figure than Zellweger's, a gum-chewing floozie with unlimited street smarts and a bimbo's childlike vanity - she's dumb, but never pathetic - and the husband isn't an innocent to be fleeced, just a small-time operator who's easy prey for the big boys (even Roxie's parents out in the sticks add to the fun). It basically starts from a more sophisticated place, making clear from the start that Roxie's in no danger of being found guilty, so the whole film is a kind of mischievous charade played for the benefit of propriety, with the newspapermen as masters-of-ceremonies : Roxie simpers on the witness stand, pretending to recall how that nasty man tried to seduce her and gave her something horrible to drink - my goodness, if that's what whisky tastes like... ("That's the kind of loose talk that gives whisky a bad name," deadpans gravel-voiced Lynne Overman as the chief reporter) ; everything stops for photos at regular intervals, Roxie smiling for the camera while the judge strikes impressive poses in the background. Quite absurd the way CHICAGO pats itself on the back for being so 'boldly' cynical when a 60-year-old film takes care of that from the get-go, and even moves to the next stage of having fun with it ; Menjou shines as the "poor barefoot mouthpiece", motherly Sara Allgood (just a year after HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY) out-badasses Queen Latifah, getting up with a sigh to literally knock some heads together as Roxie and Vilma are in the midst of a catfight (complete with miaow noises on the soundtrack) then back to her magazine ; feeble ending is unfortunate reminder that a murderess couldn't be a heroine in the days of the Hays Code, but you have to admire the way it's structured so it doesn't dilute the main story ; and Ginger does look gorgeously leggy in those short pants and garters...