"Murder at the Vanities" was fun for a murder mystery. To begin with, the movie was produced in the
Hayes Code era, but I think this movie may have slipped through the cracks. They pushed the limits with outfits in this one. As a comparison, Loretta Young and Carole Lombard were shown in just their bra in "Born to Be Bad" (1934) and "Twentieth Century" (1934) respectively, yet the outfits in "Murder at the Vanities" were skimpier than anything I've seen pre-1935. In one scene the women were using only their hands to cover their breasts, and other outfits were showing plenty of side boob.
That was about as spicy as the movie got. As a murder mystery, it was standard fare. A producer named Jack Ellery (Jack Oakie) was putting on a big production called The Vanities. His two leads, Eric Lander (Carl Brisson) and Ann Ware (Kitty Carlisle) were engaged to be married which upset another main character named Rita Ross (Gertrude Michael).
Rita Ross was a mean one. She was bitterly jealous of Eric and Ann even though she and Eric were no longer an item, and she was abusive to her hired help, Norma (Dorothy Stickney). Jack was having a difficult enough time handling the three personalities without murders happening on his set, which is what happened backstage.
A female private eye was killed in the rafters where dangerous items had been falling from near Ann (Eric's fiance). Jack was trying to keep the show going while also allowing the police to investigate. It was a tough juggling act.
Rita Ross would be killed before the movie ended. I only bring it up because she was killed by a bullet while a prop gun was being fired. It's the same thing that was done in "The Death Kiss" (1932), "The Crime of Helen Stanley" (1934), and "Journal of a Crime" (1934).
What truly differentiated "Murder at the Vanities" from other murder mysteries was Jack Ellery doing his level best to prevent the cops from shutting down his production before it was over. He had to do a lot of convincing and it made for some comedic scenes.
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That was about as spicy as the movie got. As a murder mystery, it was standard fare. A producer named Jack Ellery (Jack Oakie) was putting on a big production called The Vanities. His two leads, Eric Lander (Carl Brisson) and Ann Ware (Kitty Carlisle) were engaged to be married which upset another main character named Rita Ross (Gertrude Michael).
Rita Ross was a mean one. She was bitterly jealous of Eric and Ann even though she and Eric were no longer an item, and she was abusive to her hired help, Norma (Dorothy Stickney). Jack was having a difficult enough time handling the three personalities without murders happening on his set, which is what happened backstage.
A female private eye was killed in the rafters where dangerous items had been falling from near Ann (Eric's fiance). Jack was trying to keep the show going while also allowing the police to investigate. It was a tough juggling act.
Rita Ross would be killed before the movie ended. I only bring it up because she was killed by a bullet while a prop gun was being fired. It's the same thing that was done in "The Death Kiss" (1932), "The Crime of Helen Stanley" (1934), and "Journal of a Crime" (1934).
What truly differentiated "Murder at the Vanities" from other murder mysteries was Jack Ellery doing his level best to prevent the cops from shutting down his production before it was over. He had to do a lot of convincing and it made for some comedic scenes.
Free on Odnoklassniki.