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CHICAGO The Original 1927 Film Restored
Actors: Phyllis Haver, Eugene Pallette, Victor Varconi, Robert Edeson
Director: Frank Urston Cecil B DeMille
Genres: Classics, Comedy, Drama, Mystery & Suspense

PG 2010 2hr 0min

Sexy, jazz-loving and dressed to kill, Roxie Hart (Phyllis Haver) has a doting, handsome husband in Victor Varconi; not to mention a gold-digging affair on the side with Eugene Pallette, who pays and pays, eventually with ... more »his life. Put on trial for murder, Roxie secures lawyer Billy Flynn (Robert Edeson), equal part mob 'mouthpiece' and publicity agent. When Roxy hits the headlines, the courtroom theatrics begin. Like the musical Chicago that won the Best Picture Academy Award and five other Oscars in 2002, this original 1927 version descends from a 1926 hit Broadway play by Maurine Watkins. It s a terrifically entertaining mix of humor and melodrama as well as a pungent critique of trash journalism. Frank Urson signed Chicago as director, although it is substantially the work of Cecil B. DeMille and his A-list technical staff. (DeMille apparently judged it unseemly to take full credit for this cynical and secular story while his religious spectacle The King of Kings was still in theatres!) Chicago is silent filmmaking at its peak, with an outstanding score for this edition by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. The 1927 Chicago was long believed a lost film, but a perfect print survived in Cecil B. DeMille s private collection. Restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive in 2006, it has since been widely performed to rapturous audiences. This deluxe Flicker Alley 2-disc collection also includes two excellent bonus films: The Golden Twenties (1950), a compilation documentary feature produced by The March of Time from authentic footage of the era; and Oscar-winning Lauren Lazin's The Flapper Story (1985), in which several self-declared children of the roaring twenties look back across the decades on their youthful lives. A Note on This Edition Chicago is mastered in high definition at 25 frames per second directly from Cecil B. DeMille s original nitrate print, through the courtesy of the DeMille Estate. The Golden Twenties is also mastered in high definition from a 35mm duplicate negative and magnetic sound track, while The Flapper Story is mastered from a composite print by arrangement with producer-director Lauren Lazin. All three films are produced for DVD by David Shepard. Included are a brochure by Thomas Pauly on author Maurine Watkins and the factual background of Chicago, notes by Robert S. Birchard, author of Cecil B. DeMille s Hollywood, and a special documentary supplement, Chicago; The Real Roxy Hart by Jeffery Masino and Silas Lesnick.

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Movie Details

Actors: Phyllis Haver, Eugene Pallette, Victor Varconi, Robert Edeson
Director: Frank Urston Cecil B DeMille
Genres: Classics, Comedy, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Sub-Genres: Silent Films, Satire, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Studio: Flicker Alley LLC
Format: DVD - Full Screen
DVD Release Date: 07/06/2010
Original Release Date: 01/01/1927
Theatrical Release Date: 00/00/1927
Release Year: 2010
Run Time: 2hr 0min
Screens: Full Screen
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaDVD Credits: 2
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 3
MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Languages: English