Becky Sharp (1935)

A young orphan girl (Miriam Hopkins in an Oscar nominated performance) cleverly schemes and manipulates herself into the British aristocracy and social circles by whatever means possible. This means using whatever wealthy or socially prominent man that is available as a step ladder. Based on VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackery and directed by Rouben Mamoulian (QUEEN CHRISTINA). Historically, the film is notable for being the first feature film in the full three strip Technicolor process and the film's color palette is its main focus of interest. The Technicolor is gorgeous but unreal in its richness and luster. The process would be toned down somewhat in future films but this was the first and they wanted to impress and Ray Rennahan's (DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK) lensing and Robert Edmond Jones's eye popping costumes and production design do just that. Hopkins is quite good here and her Becky seems to take such devilish delight in her sly ways and machinations that you can't dislike her and as most of the upper class she interacts with are pompous snobs or seducers, you can't feel too sorry for them. The film's visual highlight is a fancy dress ball on the eve of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. With Frances Dee, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Nigel Bruce, Alison Skipworth and Doris Lloyd.