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Chicago  /  Applause

Chicago (1928)
December 18, 2015 - 7:30 pm
Billy Wilder Theater

Live musical accompaniment provided by Cliff Retallick for the silent portion of this program.

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by the Cecil B. DeMille Foundation.

Chicago  (1928)


Before becoming a Broadway musical and an Oscar-winning film, the story of Roxie Hart was a 1926 play by Maurine Watkins, based on true events, which in turn inspired this film version.  Phyllis Haver plays notorious Roxie Hart, a spoiled flapper who pumps her sugar daddy full of lead after he gives her the air, and now depends on mercenary lawyer Billy Flynn for her only chance at acquittal.

35mm, b/w, silent, 102 min.  Production: DeMille Pictures Corp.  Distribution: Pathé Exchange, Inc.  Director: Frank Urson.  Based on the play by Maurine Watkins.  Screenwriter: Lenore J. Coffee.  Cinematographers: Peverell Marley, Frank Westerberg.  Editor: Anne Bauchens.  With: Phyllis Haver, Victor Varcont, Virginia Bradford, Robert Edeson, Eugene Palette.

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures with funding provided by Universal Pictures and the University of California.

Applause  (1930)


Applause is a showcase for the acting and singing talents of 29-year-old Helen Morgan in her film debut, playing a faded burlesque queen.  Also making his screen debut was director Rouben Mamoulian, whose depiction of the vulgar, entertaining realities of burlesque is as impressive today as it was in 1929, when it established his reputation as an innovative film director.

35mm, b/w, 80 min.  Production: Paramount Famous Lasky Corp.  Distribution: Paramount Famous Lasky Corp.  Producer: Monta Bell, Walter Wanger.  Director: Rouben Mamoulian.  Based on the novel by Beth Brown.  Screenwriter: Garrett Fort.  Cinematographer: George Folsey.  Editor: John Bassler.  With: Helen Morgan, Joan Peers, Fuller Mellish Jr., Jack Cameron, Henry Wadsworth.

Part of: 
Archive Treasures: 50th Anniversary Celebration