Becky Sharp

Although the three-strip Technicolor technique had been used previously in short and animated films and in sequences in feature films, Becky Sharp was the first complete feature-length film to be shot with the process. In an essay, which was published in the December 1938 Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, H. T. Kalmus, a Technicolor pioneer, describes the history of the three-strip process: "...Technicolor had persisted in its research and development work so that by May, 1932, it had completed the building of its first three-component camera and had one unit of its plant equipped to handle a moderate amount of three-color printing. The difference between this three-component process and the previous two-component process was truly extraordinary. Not only was the accuracy of tone and color reproduction greatly improved, but definition was markedly better." (For the three-strip Technicolor process, a yellow strip was added to the cyan and magenta strips of the two-color or Cinecolor process.)
       Encouraged by the tremendous success of La Cucuracha, an award-winning three-strip Technicolor short distributed by RKO, John Hay "Jock" Whitney and his cousin, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, formed Pioneer Pictures to produce color films. Kalmus describes the relationship between Technicolor and Pioneer Pictures: "Early in 1933 Mr. Merian C. Cooper [RKO production executive and friend of Whitney] and Mr. John Hay Whitney began to show a practical interest in Technicolor. After thorough investigation of the Technicolor situation by Mr. Whitney and his associates, and as a result of many conferences, a contract was signed between Technicolor and Pioneer Pictures, Inc., on May 18, 1933, which provided for the production of eight pictures, superfeature in character and especially featuring color."
       An August 1934 Hollywood Reporter news item announced that Pioneer's first Technicolor production was to be Becky Sharp, not The Three Musketeers, as originally planned. (The Three Musketeers was filmed in black and white by RKO later in 1935.) The same article mentions that Dwight Taylor was assigned to write the screenplay. Taylor is listed in Hollywood Reporter production charts as a co-screenwriter with credited writer Faragoh. The exact nature of Taylor's contribution to the final film is not known, however. August and September 1934 Daily Variety news items stated that because Miriam Hopkins and RKO could not agree on a salary, she was dropped from the project, and both Myrna Loy and Claudette Colbert were put into consideration for the lead. Displeased with the script, Colbert turned down RKO's offer. In mid-September 1934, Hopkins and RKO came to terms, and Hopkins was re-instated in the production. Hopkins was later nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award.
       Rehearsals and testing of the color process were completed by mid-December 1934, according to Film Daily. Lowell Sherman began as director of the production but died of double pneumonia on December 28, 1934. Hollywood Reporter notes that Sherman refused to abandon the picture even after his illness had become serious. After Sherman's demise, Rouben Mamoulian reshot the entire story from scratch, according to Hollywood Reporter. Pauline Garon, Sherman's wife at the time of production, was given the role of Fifine following his death.
       According to Variety, Whitney spent $950,000 to make Becky Sharp. According to Hollywood Reporter, Doris Lloyd replaced Elsie Ferguson in the cast after Ferguson became ill. Hollywood Reporter news items add Billie Bellport, Montague Shaw, Gaston Glass, Creighton Hale (Lon Chaney, Jr.), Keith Kenneth and Joan Arnold to the cast, while Hollywood Reporter production charts add Mrs. Leslie Carter to the cast. The participation of these actors in the final film has not been confirmed. Joan Arnold is described in Hollywood Reporter as a former Camel cigarette model. Some pre-production news items referred to the film as Vanity Fair. Actor George Hassell's surname is spelled "Hassele" in the onscreen credits.
       Modern sources note that while experts predicted that Becky Sharp would launch a boom in color films, its poorly written script kept box office receipts down, and the picture did not significantly promote Technicolor. Modern sources also state that after preview audiences complained that the film's audio was unintelligible, RKO re-recorded the entire soundtrack by re-recording their Photophone track on Western Electric's rival process. The re-recorded Western Electric track was then transferred back to RKO's Photophone system for the release prints. In 1984, Becky Sharp was restored to its almost original three-color look by the UCLA Film Archives. According to modern sources, in 1943, Pioneer Pictures sold all rights to the film to Film Classics, Inc., which in turn re-issued it in a cheaper two-color process. Although Film Classics' 16mm prints of the film were full-length, their 35mm prints were cut to 66 minutes. After Film Classics went out of business, the film rights changed hands several times, and after a time, only 66-minute, black-and-white 16mm prints were in circulation. The restored version includes 64 minutes of three-color footage, and 24 minutes of two-color footage of varying quality. For information on other versions of Thackeray's story, see listing below for the 1932 film Vanity Fair.