INDECENT / VANITY FAIR

Myrna Loy as Becky Sharp

INDECENT (aka Vanity Fair/1932). Director: Chester M. Franklin.

"I do hope I'm going to give satisfaction." -- Becky.

Becky Sharp (Myrna Loy), who has beauty and brains but no money, gets a taste of the good life when she is taken in by her wealthy friend, Amelia (Barbara Kent). Amelia's brother Joseph (Billy Bevan) has a yen for Becky, but while she almost tricks him into marriage, he manages to get out of the trap. Becoming a governess for Sir Pitt Crawley (Lionel Belmore), Becky is caught between the lustful advances of Sir Pitt and the more refined passes of Crawley's son, Rawdon (Conway Tearle), whom she marries. But things don't go smoothly for the couple after Rawdon is disinherited by his jealous father. And things get worse after that ...

Billy Bevan and Myrna Loy

Indecent is a credible, updated version of Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" which revises things due to the change in locale and time period -- there are no references to Napoleon or Waterloo in this version -- but remains fairly faithful to the basic events and spirit of the story. Although not as bombastic as Miriam Hopkins in the later Becky Sharp, Loy gives a very good performance in this, and she has a host of talented if lesser-known co-stars. There is some inventive camera work in the film, which is not that slow-moving, and the finale, with Loy facing her older self in the mirror, is quite grim.

Verdict: Entertaining pre-code drama. ***.