
Looking at Madness
2026
A theatre actress in Chicago struggles due to the pressures of her career goals and deteriorating mental health.
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1935 · drama · Kenneth Macgowan, Rouben Mamoulian · Pioneer Pictures Corporation
Becky Sharp released in 1935 and based on the play of the same name by Langdon Mitchell, which in turn is based on the William Makepeace Thackeray's novel "Vanity Fair". It tells the story of a lower-class girl who insinuates herself into an upper class family, only to see her life and the lives of those around her destroyed. The ruthless, self-willed and beautiful Becky is one of the most famous characters in English literature. After the tremendous success of the short La Cucaracha in 1934, John Hay Whitney and his cousin Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney formed Pioneer Pictures to produce color films, of which this was the first. Being the first Technicolor film, the color at the time did not look too realistic; one critic commented that the cast looked like "boiled salmon dipped in mayonnaise".
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