After "The Moon is Blue" was released, when words like "virgin" and "pregnant" were spoken in it, movies seemed to enter a more permissive age and what better story to tell than one of the greatest sex scandal murders of the 20th century. The lurid romantic tangle involving an ageing lecherous architect and an insane wealthy playboy - the prize being one of the most beautiful showgirls of the age - Evelyn Nesbit. Gibson Girl and Flora Dora girl, Evelyn was also the victim of an unscrupulous mother who saw her daughter as a way out of the poverty that her husband's death plunged the family into. I agree with the other reviewer the movie could be remade today pulling no punches because however sumptuous the Technicolor and however flawless Joan Collin's beauty, the movie is just more Hollywood gloss, none of the principals were anything like their "real" characters (except maybe Farley Granger's interpretation of Harry K. Thaw).
Within 10 minutes the characters are established - devoted husband Stanford White (Ray Milland)is dining with his wife (Frances Fuller) when erratic Harry Thaw creates a scene because his regular table is taken. Meanwhile sweet and innocent "Gibson Girl" Evelyn Nesbit (Joan Collins) has caught the eye of a stage manager and is put in the Flora Dora lineup. The real Evelyn Nesbit served as a consultant on the film and as she always claimed that Stanford White was the love of her life, he was always going to be portrayed as a benevolent, almost kindly uncle.
Their affair begins when Evelyn takes a job jumping out of a pie at a stag party. White won't hear of her doing it (they had met before) and takes her back to his flat and the pleasures of a red velvet swing suspended from the dome like roof. White finds sexual pleasure from pushing Evelyn back and forth on the swing and the scene is one of the most eerie in the movie. Evelyn's mother is away and unaware in Pittsburgh but in reality Evelyn's mother created a scandal by leaving her in White's care (Evelyn was only 17 at the time) even though she knew what a womanizer he was. She was the original stage mother and treated her daughter horribly but good old Glenda Farrell played her in her usual tough, no nonsense way and made the audience feel a lot of sympathy for her. In one scene Mrs. Nesbit dismissed some flowers sent from "a young fellow named John Barrymore" - again in real life Evelyn and John had an affair and almost eloped but Evelyn's mother put a stop to it - she didn't think he had any prospects!!!
Back to the movie - Stanford White looks upon her more as a daughter and doesn't want to have any more contact with her in "that way", so he enrolls her at an exclusive boarding school but she pines away and who should suddenly be there to pick up the pieces but Harry Thaw!!! He marries her to everyone's amazement as it is common knowledge among New York society that he is crazy. While he is charming beforehand, on their honeymoon the recriminations start - he tyrannizes her into revealing all the sordidness of her affair with Stanford White. Things come to a head when Thaw murders White at the Madison Square Garden (ironically one of the many buildings that White designed) for ruining his young wife as he proclaims to the crowd. The subsequent trial shows how the wealth and might of the Thaw family is able to help Harry avoid the death penalty by reason of insanity. Evelyn's taking the stand against advice of her friends and having her character blackened certainly helps his family in seeking a more lenient sentence but they soon desert her and at the end Evelyn is left with nothing but a seedy vaudeville contract to become the "Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" to leering patrons.
Reading with horror that first Marilyn Monroe, then Sheree North, of all people had been considered for the role - Joan Collins at least looked similar to the real Evelyn Nesbit, although no star could match Evelyn's astonishing beauty.
Within 10 minutes the characters are established - devoted husband Stanford White (Ray Milland)is dining with his wife (Frances Fuller) when erratic Harry Thaw creates a scene because his regular table is taken. Meanwhile sweet and innocent "Gibson Girl" Evelyn Nesbit (Joan Collins) has caught the eye of a stage manager and is put in the Flora Dora lineup. The real Evelyn Nesbit served as a consultant on the film and as she always claimed that Stanford White was the love of her life, he was always going to be portrayed as a benevolent, almost kindly uncle.
Their affair begins when Evelyn takes a job jumping out of a pie at a stag party. White won't hear of her doing it (they had met before) and takes her back to his flat and the pleasures of a red velvet swing suspended from the dome like roof. White finds sexual pleasure from pushing Evelyn back and forth on the swing and the scene is one of the most eerie in the movie. Evelyn's mother is away and unaware in Pittsburgh but in reality Evelyn's mother created a scandal by leaving her in White's care (Evelyn was only 17 at the time) even though she knew what a womanizer he was. She was the original stage mother and treated her daughter horribly but good old Glenda Farrell played her in her usual tough, no nonsense way and made the audience feel a lot of sympathy for her. In one scene Mrs. Nesbit dismissed some flowers sent from "a young fellow named John Barrymore" - again in real life Evelyn and John had an affair and almost eloped but Evelyn's mother put a stop to it - she didn't think he had any prospects!!!
Back to the movie - Stanford White looks upon her more as a daughter and doesn't want to have any more contact with her in "that way", so he enrolls her at an exclusive boarding school but she pines away and who should suddenly be there to pick up the pieces but Harry Thaw!!! He marries her to everyone's amazement as it is common knowledge among New York society that he is crazy. While he is charming beforehand, on their honeymoon the recriminations start - he tyrannizes her into revealing all the sordidness of her affair with Stanford White. Things come to a head when Thaw murders White at the Madison Square Garden (ironically one of the many buildings that White designed) for ruining his young wife as he proclaims to the crowd. The subsequent trial shows how the wealth and might of the Thaw family is able to help Harry avoid the death penalty by reason of insanity. Evelyn's taking the stand against advice of her friends and having her character blackened certainly helps his family in seeking a more lenient sentence but they soon desert her and at the end Evelyn is left with nothing but a seedy vaudeville contract to become the "Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" to leering patrons.
Reading with horror that first Marilyn Monroe, then Sheree North, of all people had been considered for the role - Joan Collins at least looked similar to the real Evelyn Nesbit, although no star could match Evelyn's astonishing beauty.