Chicago

[1927, Movie]

Chicago: Review

2 photos

The differences between this version of Maurine Watkins' blackly comic play and ROXIE HART, which was released 15 years later, speak volumes about the transformation of freewheeling, jazz-age Hollywood into a buttoned-down proponent of namby-pamby mainstream values. CHICAGO's Roxie Hart, played by tough dame Phyllis Haver, is an unrepentent adulteress and killer whose cynical, manipulative scheming is played for laughs. ROXIE HART's Roxie, played by girl-next-door Ginger Rogers, has been softened into a sassy, brassy fun-loving gal who takes the fall for her murdering husband.

Sexy, star-struck housewife Roxie (one-time Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty Haver) murders her two-timing boyfriend (Eugene Pallette) and, with the help of scheming lawyer Flynn (Robert Edeson), turns her trial into the show-business event of the year. Roxie's husband, Amos (Victor Varconi), stands by her until she's aquitted, then throws her out and announces his intention to marry the decent young housemaid he's been admiring from afar. Viewers familiar with Bob Fosse's acclaimed Broadway musical or the 2002 film starring Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones will be surprised to find that the role of Roxie's fellow murderess, Velma Kelly (Julia Faye), has been reduced to a bit part. But Faye, famous for her shapely legs and long-term relationship with director Cecil B. DeMille, whose production company financed the production, makes the most of her abbreviated screen time.