Julia Faye

The first film adaptation of Maurine Dallas Watkins' 1926 play Chicago, produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Frank Urson. Phyllis Haver stars as Roxie Hart, a fame-obsessed housewife who kills her lover in cold blood and, after trying to coerce her husband into taking the blame, is put on trial for murder. Victor Varconi plays her long-suffering husband Amos, who has a much more sympathetic and active role than in later adaptations. The film was a box office disappointment upon release but modern viewers praise its sharp satire and acting. The story would be adapted twice more, most famously in the 2002 Oscar-winning musical version. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Comedy · Drama · Silent

Cecil B. DeMille's first all-talking feature, made at MGM after he left Paramount. A pampered society girl will lose her trust fund if she is not married by a certain date, so she marries a condemned coal miner on death row, expecting him to be executed before the deadline. When he is pardoned at the last minute, the rough, honorable man arrives at her penthouse to claim his marital rights, upending her world. The film is packed with the class-conscious, never-quite-consummated scandal that was DeMille's specialty, complete with a polo-playing playboy, a penthouse, and a coal mine. Kay Johnson plays the socialite, Conrad Nagel her polo-playing beau, and Charles Bickford the miner. Mitchell Leisen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction for his work on the film. A silent version was released simultaneously for theatres not yet wired for sound. Published in 1929, the film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2025.

Drama · Romance