B‘way play, silent & sound film, B’way Musical, Film Musical, plus 22 years (and counting) for the current B’way revival, Maurine Dallas Watkins’ CHICAGO, on how sexy/cynical Roxie Hart uses publicity & the press to get away with murdering her lover, has had quite the run. But this version, written by Nunnally Johnson & directed by William Wellman, often held as the standard telling, is a major disappointment. Not because it finesses the murder angle to squeeze past the Hollywood Production Code, but because everyone winks their way thru, defanging the material. Ginger Rogers, in odd, unbecoming makeup, is a soft-edged Roxie, spoofing her gum-chewing character and about as dangerous as a feather pillow. As the newbie newsman who falls for her, George Montgomery is a pleasant blank in the Flashback section, but does have some fun aping Clark Gable in the wraparound segments. Adolphe Menjou gets closer to the spirit of the thing as Roxie’s lawyer of expedience, but adds little to his tough, wily editor in THE FRONT PAGE/’31. Same goes for Lynne Overmann, who might as well be filling in for Lee Tracy who played THE FRONT PAGE lead reporter in it’s B’way premiere. Disappointing.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: Rogers gives a tip-top comic perf this year in THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR/’42. And for a taste of the Real McCoy, Criterion’s newly restored edition of THE FRONT PAGE/’31. OR: This story in the Oscar®-winning film musical CHICAGO/’02.
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