Chicago (1927)

Chicago (1927)

„Chicago“ is a 1927 silent crime comedy-drama film directed by Frank Urson. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee is based on the 1926 play „Chicago“ by Maurine Dallas Watkins which was in turn based on the true story of Beulah Annan, fictionalized as Roxie Hart, and her spectacular murder of her boyfriend.

Amos Hart, owner of a cigar stand in Chicago and husband of the thoughtless, self-centered Roxie, thinks she is the most wonderful girl in the world. The easy-going Amos is unaware that Roxie is having an affair with one of his customers, car salesman Rodney Casley. Casley and Roxie fall out over her extravagance. He tells her that it’s over between them and roughly throws her to the floor when she begs him not to leave her. As he walks out the front door of the Harts’ apartment, Roxie grabs Amos’ gun and shoots Casley. The bullet penetrates the door and kills him. In a panic, Roxie calls Amos and tells him that she has shot a burglar.

When the police arrive, Amos tries to protect Roxie, even though he found one of Roxie’s garters in Casley’s pocket, and signs a confession saying he killed Casley. The district attorney separates the pair for questioning. He deceives Roxie by lying that Amos blamed her, whereupon she incriminates herself in a fit of rage. As the police take Roxie away, a reporter assures her that she can get away with her appearance and promises to help publicize her case. Soon the whole of Chicago is reading about the glamorous Roxie. The long-suffering Amos soon hires famed attorney William Flynn to defend her, but when he can only come up with $2,500 of Flynn’s $5,000 fee, Amos sneaks into Flynn’s house and steals a large amount of cash from Flynn’s secret stash. Although he gets away after an encounter with Flynn’s butler, he inadvertently leaves behind a cheap pocket watch he bought to replace a gold watch he had to pawn to raise money for Roxie’s defense.

Flynn is suspicious when Amos pays the rest of his fee the next day. However, he can’t prove that Amos is the thief. When Roxie’s trial begins, her case is the talk of Chicago and draws hundreds of spectators to the courthouse. Under Flynn’s guidance, Roxie feigns innocence and virtue and attracts the attention of the all-male jury with her blonde curls and pinned-up skirts. Despite the district attorney’s frustrated attempts to have the case decided on the evidence, Flynn’s impassioned pleas and Roxie’s dramatic demeanor convince the jury to acquit her. When the verdict is reached, Roxie basks in the attention until another woman takes the spotlight when she shoots a man in the courthouse.

When Roxie and Amos arrive home, they are greeted by two police detectives who have been looking for Flynn’s stolen money. Unbeknownst to Amos, Katie, a good-natured maid, has found the money in a broken flowerpot and hidden it. When the detectives demand to see the pocket watch Amos bought, the same model as the one the thief left with Flynn, Katie overhears them and enters the apartment with a similar watch she bought with coupons Amos had given her moments before. Since there is no evidence linking Amos to the crime, the detectives leave, whereupon Katie gives him the money she found. After Katie leaves, Roxie tries to take the money, but Amos eventually gets his way and throws the money into the burning fireplace, saying it’s unclean money that Flynn uses to keep guilty men from the gallows. When the money is completely burned, Amos throws Roxie out of the apartment, whereupon he destroys many of her belongings, including her framed picture. On the rainy street, Roxie becomes disillusioned when she sees a newspaper with the headline about her acquittal being trampled by passers-by until it is finally swept into the gutter. She walks off alone in the rain just as Katie goes to Amos and lovingly begins to tidy up his apartment.

Cast:

• Phyllis Haver – Roxie Hart
• Victor Varconi – Amos Hart
• Virginia Bradford – Katie
• Robert Edeson – William Flynn
• Eugene Pallette – Rodney Casley
• Warner Richmond – Assistant District Attorney
• T. Roy Barnes – Reporter
• Clarence Burton – Police Sergeant
• Julia Faye – Velma
• May Robson – Mrs. Morton, Matron
• Viola Louie – Two Gun Rosie
• Emily Barrye – Woman in Cell Reading Book
• Sidney Bracey – Bill Collector
• Robert Brower – Juror
• Sidney D’Albrook – Photographer
• Jack Dean – Assistant Prosecutor
• Robert Dudley – Insurance Agent
• Jim Farley – Detective
• May Foster – Bystander Watching Fight
• Charles K. French – Man Seated in Courtroom
• Chuck Hamilton – Reporter
• George Kuwa – Flynn’s Servant
• Dick La Reno – Bailiff
• Otto Lederer – Amos’ Partner
• Walter Long – Flynn’s Thug
• Josephine Norman – Jailbird
• Edward Peil Sr. – Sketch Artist
• Hector V. Sarno – Juryman
• Fred Walton – Juror

„Chicago“ ist ein Stummfilm-Krimi-Drama aus dem Jahr 1927 unter der Regie von Frank Urson. Das Drehbuch von Lenore J. Coffee basiert auf dem Theaterstück „Chicago“ von Maurine Dallas Watkins aus dem Jahr 1926, das wiederum auf der wahren Geschichte von Beulah Annan, fiktionalisiert als Roxie Hart, und ihrem spektakulären Mord an ihrem Freund basiert.

Die wilde, Jazz liebende und saufende Ehefrau Roxie Hart tötet ihren Freund kaltblütig, nachdem er sie verlassen hat.