Eric Stevenson It's pretty hard to believe that the first color movie came out only eight years after the first talking film! Then again, it seems really weird. It took only four years for every movie to have sound, but it took thirty years for every movie to have color! You can tell that this is the first color movie. I think there are a few transition scenes that look black and white or at least in low quality. It's weird because there isn't much else to say about the movie. I guess the good technically outweighs the bad in this, but I wouldn't quite recommend it.I think the film's problem is that it's too short. It shows the title character becoming more cynical, but the transition seems too fast. There should have been more time to flesh out her personality. I had no idea that this took place during the Napoleonic era. It was really nice to see how those historical events affected the actual story here. It seems to be a part of history that hasn't been depicted in film that many times before.Weird, I heard this was in public domain, but I don't see it listed on Wikipedia's list. I guess I can't quite recommend it, as the story isn't that memorable, but it's still wonderful to see the earliest use of full color. There were in fact earlier movies like "The King Of Kings" that had some color sequences, and that is in fact a much better movie. Still a must for really historians of any kind. **1/2 out of ****.

cbryce59 ...in a very truncated version of "Vanity Fair". Also the quality of the visuals is poor, the new use of color is not great, and it seems more like a filmed play than a movie. None of the male actors are attractive in their roles, and the entire cast seems to be acting on a very hectic level. The pace is too rushed, as though they know they have far too little time to try to tell this sprawling story.But I enjoy costume drama, and it is that.Miriam's Becky is more shrill than charming, making it hard to believe that so many men fell at her feet.Also the wigs are bad.

MartinHafer BECKY SHARP is set during the Napoleonic era. When the film begins, Becky is leaving finishing school and the headmistress is thrilled to see her go. Becky, for her part, feels the same and unlike the demure ladies of the time, she tells the headmistress where she can put her school!! But, like a cat, she lands on her feet—being taken in by a rich classmate. After wrangling this invitation to stay with this rich lady, Becky then works hard to snag a rich husband. Instead, she does manage to marry a minor member of the gentry—but he cannot afford the rich ways of his new wife. Eventually, he tires of her whore-like ways and divorces her.Becky, now broke, is forced to work in the lower quarters of society. But, once again, she manages to find a rich guy (Nigel Bruce) to bail her out and once again she begins scheming her way to the top. And, by the end of the film, Becky hasn't learned any lesson about life other than "look out for number one"! This film is the Thackery novel "Vanity Fair" and it's been made several times. What makes this one of some importance is that this was the first full-length film made in Three-Color Technicolor—the first true color process for movies. While Two-Color movies had been made since the early 1920s, they lacked full color as the color strips were blue-green and orange-red—resulting in a film that tended to actually look more orange and green than anything else (though there were a few exceptions where the colors actually looked pretty good—such as in the color segment in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA). Despite the major technical improvement with BECKY SHARP, it, too, looked rather muddy and orange. This is NOT due to the age of the print, as people at the time commented on its rather limited color palate. But, the process was roughly that of future full-color films and it is the first of its kind.The story features the shallow but scheming Becky (Miriam Hopkins) working her way through society in order to further her great ambitions. To do so, she lies and plots continuously and she's quite good at it! However entertaining this is, it is also the biggest problem with the film. Because Becky is generally a selfish jerk (though not always so), it's hard to care about her and the film rests mostly on its costumes and full-color. As for Hopkins' acting, it's one of her best performances—though it is a tad two-dimensional—mostly due to the writing, not her acting. Had they made Becky either MORE evil and conniving (like Bette Davis in JEZEBEL or THE LETTER) or LESS, it would have improved the film immensely.Overall, a rather forgettable costumer whose sole reason to watch it is the use of Three-Color film. Other than that, fans of Miriam Hopkins (both of them) might want to see it, as it's among her best performances—mostly because it doesn't call for a lot of restraint or subtlety.

Petri Pelkonen This film is set around the Battle of Waterloo (1815).But more than the Napoleonic wars, the film tells about a social climber called Becky Sharp and all the men she meets.Rouben Mamoulian's Becky Sharp from 1935 was the first feature film to use the three-strip Technicolor process.The film was originally going to be directed by Lowell Sherman, but he died of pneumonia early in the filming.The film is based on the play by Langdon Mitchell, which in turn is based on William Makepeace Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair.Miriam Hopkins (nominated for Oscar) does a great job playing Becky Sharp.Frances Dee plays Amelia Sedley, Becky's upper-class friend at school.Nigel Bruce portrays her brother Joseph, who has something going on with Becky.Cedrick Hardwick plays Marquis of Steyne, who also has something going on with Becky.And so does Rawdon Crawley, who's portrayed by Alan Mowbray.Alison Skipworth is Miss Crawley.William Stack plays Pitt Crawley.George Hassell is Sir Pitt Crawley.Billie Burke portrays Lady Bareacres.Also in this movie you can see Pat Nixon, Richard Nixon's wife, as Ballroom dance extra.G.P. Huntley is George Osborne.This may not represent Hollywood at its most classic, but it does have its moments.It can be comical, like when Becky starts as a governess for Pitt Crawley's wild children.Or it can be dramatic, like when the war comes to the ball.And there's some great use of shadows.