Based on a true story, two-timing boozing wife Roxie Hart kills her lover in cold blood after he leaves her, and finagles her way out being indicted.
Acting
Phyllis Haver's Roxie: giggly, ruthless, terrifyingly modern.
Direction
Frank Urson keeps it breezy despite the corpse in act one.
Production
Genuine Chicago locations, pre-Depression splendor.
Director
Frank Urson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Screenwriter Maurine Watkins covered the actual 1924 trial as a Chicago Tribune reporter; her crush on the real Roxie reportedly influenced the script's weirdly admiring tone.
This pre-Code version is franker about Roxie's sexuality than the 1975 musical — censors in 1927 were still figuring out their job, and the film slips through before the Hays Code crackdown.
US
