| Roxie Hart | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Roxie_Hart_-_1942_-_Poster.png) 1942 theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | William A. Wellman |
| Screenplay by | Nunnally Johnson |
| Based on | Chicago by Maurine Dallas Watkins |
| Produced by | Nunnally Johnson |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | George Montgomery |
| Cinematography | Leon Shamroy |
| Edited by | James B. Clark |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 74 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.1 million (US rentals)[1] |
Roxie Hart (also known as Chicago or Chicago Gal) is a 1942 American comedy film directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou and George Montgomery. A film adaptation of a 1926 play Chicago by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a journalist who found inspiration in two real-life Chicago trials (Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner) she had covered for the press. The play had been adapted once prior, in a 1927 silent film. In 1975, a hit stage musical premiered, and was once more adapted as the Oscar-winning 2002 musical film.
The screenplay by Nunnally Johnson focuses on a Chicago showgirl who confesses to a murder in hopes the publicity will help her faltering show business career. In the original play, and its other adaptations, Roxie was guilty but was acquitted. However, in order to conform to the Motion Picture Production Code, which regulated moral guidelines for Hollywood films at the time, this adaptation portrays Roxie as innocent but misguided in her attempt to achieve fame.[2]