jacobs-greenwood Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this average silent drama was based on a Noel Coward's play. It's a typical story about a woman, Larita Filton (Isabel Jeans), whose reputation is besmirched per an (implied?) extra-marital liaison. Whether Larita ever had an affair with portrait artist Claude Robson (Eric Bransby Williams) is besides the point; it leads to his suicide and her divorce from Mr. Filton (Franklin Dyall). What follows next is predictable - Larita meets another young man, John Whittaker (Robin Irvine), on holiday, the two fall in love and marry impetuously, shocking his proper family who eventually learns of her secret past. John's proposal and Larita's answer occurs over the telephone, heard by the receptionist (Benita Hume, uncredited) whose expressions tell the audience all they need to know.Ian Hunter (the third and last time he would work with the director) plays Mr. Filton's divorce attorney who, despite the fact that he's a longtime family friend of the Whittakers, is not the source of the disclosure. Violet Farebrother plays John's disappointed mother; Frank Elliott his father. Dacia Deane and Dorothy Boyd plays John's elder and younger sisters, respectively. Enid Stamp-Taylor plays Sarah, the young lady that the Whittakers always thought John would marry; ironically, she serves as Larita's primary support within the Whittaker household.

kidboots Alfred Hitchcock was the most exciting directorial find to come out of British cinema in the 1920s but even though "The Lodger" was an atmospheric, moody thriller of things to come, the Hitchcock of the twenties and early thirties tried his hand at a number of styles. Before Hitchcock, British cinema was in the doldrums - it's most prestigious film had been "The Rat", heavily inspired by German Expressionism and with an attempt to capture some of D.W. Griffith's lyricism - even to the extent of using Ivor Novello as it's leading man (he had just appeared in Griffith's "The White Rose")."Easy Virtue" came between "The Farmer's Wife", a comedy romance and "Champagne", a "spoiled heiress" comedy tailored to show off the charms of Betty Balfour, at the time Britain's top actress. "Easy Virtue" was Hitchcock's try at Noel Coward (the play had already had a New York run (1925) of 147 performances with Jane Cowl as the scandal plagued Larita). 1927 seemed to be Coward's cinema year - "The Vortex" with it's themes of incest and drug addiction and the much more sedate "Easy Virtue". And William K. Everson points out that the direction of the two films were poles apart with Hitchcock making his film in a far more interesting and exciting way than the other one with it's much more juicier subject matter.The first part of the film was opened out from the play and from the first scene Hitchcock is trying out innovative camera shots - the judge's eye glass becomes the camera lens and singles out the plaintiff's counsel (a youthful Ian Hunter - a Hitchcock regular by the early 1930s) as he tries to blacken the name of Larita (beautiful Isabel Jeans) who, as the decanter is grasped, thinks back to the scene of the scandal. Married to a drunken brute of a husband she is caught up in a messy scandal when a young portrait painter shoots her husband before turning the gun on himself. As he has already willed Larita his fortune, the public, lapping up the lurid headlines, believe her guilty of misconduct.Trying to forget on a Mediterranean holiday and under an assumed name Larita's vivid personality and a misplaced tennis serve brings her to the attention of young John Whittaker who falls under her spell and arranges for her to visit his family home - as his wife!! There are more nice touches - when John rings her to see if she accepts his marriage proposal, all the viewer sees is the switchboard girl (that's Benita Hume) but her expression tells the whole story.The marriage gets off to a shaky start - his family is stand offish (except the dad) and his mother has quickly invited Sarah, one of John's old flames, over for the weekend. But Sarah is a good sport and the only person at the weekend do who genuinely wants them both to make a go of it. When all seems lost, Larita musters up all the charm and magnetism that attracted John in the first place and wows the stuffy gentry at the evening dance. But it is a last hurrah and in a surprise ending Larita, walking down the court house steps bravely says to the press "Shoot!! There's nothing left to kill"!! Hitchcock apparently hated the ending but I found it confronting and unsettling. For poor Larita, who is completely destroyed by yet another scandal, there was going to be no happy ending.

Christopher Evans I am a HUGE Hitchcock fan and have every DVD currently available. The version I have of Easy Virtue is very poor. It is an exceptionally poor picture with a zoomed in shot which chops off parts of the picture! The silent Hitchcocks which have been restored/well mastered onto DVD are hugely more enjoyable so I sincerely hope someone gives Easy Virtue a restored DVD release soon. The poor DVD quality detracts from my enjoyment of the film and may cause my appreciation to be less than fair but so far I would say Easy Virtue is my least favourite of his films I have seen.The film has some great shots and some fine moments but overall it has too many parts which lack interest or drama. That is mainly due to it being a silent film of a Noel Coward play. Imagine seeing a Coward play on the stage where the actors do not speak! The highlight of Coward's work is the dialogue so apart from lines like "Shoot! There's nothing left to kill!" (which may be from the play and is a good line) the sharp, witty dialogue is a real loss to the story's presentation. Even the young, great Hitchcock cannot quite keep a comedy drama of social morals interesting enough when the vital dialogue is removed. It is far from a disaster, I would rate it a very good 7/10, but for Hitchcock it is below his extremely high standards.

kai ringler This is my first Hitchcock silent film. this film grew on me as i watched it, i thought it started out slow . but slowly developed into something very interesting. i was upset that i missed Hitch's cameo.. he's a sneaky one. this is my 4th silent film that i have watched, and this one compares almost to the other ones, but the others are classics.. phantom, Dr Jekyll, and hunchback. so this one kinda had some unfair competition. like i said before it started slow, but it quickly engrossed me after the part where she goes to his parents house to meet the family.. i thought her character was unfairly judged by his family to the point where i was glad she didn't marry him, i admired her character for standing up to the mother in that one,, what s really awful mother in law. without ruining the ending for those who haven't seen this early Hitchcock gem,, i loved the ending.