Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) In Alfred Hitchcock's Easy Virtue, a woman has some explaining to do when the family of her second husband finds out there was a first husband. That's because back in the day, divorced women were considered damaged goods, and upstanding families would steer well clear of such flighty harlots. Easy Virtue's tagline asks "Can she be blamed for a past she didn't create?" And the answer is yes, because she did create her past when she started making eyes at the man painting her portrait. But perhaps I am getting a little ahead of myself.Larita Filton (Isabel Jeans) is married to an unnamed guy. Well, he probably has a name, but the movie doesn't tell us. Anyway, they're rich, and she's having her portrait done by a professional artist. One day the artist notices marks on Larita's wrist, and she mentions that her husband sometimes drinks too much. Thus a relationship is born, at least as far as they went in the 1920s, which meant it's possible Larita and the artist smooched once. Anyway, one fine day the husband comes home to find the two of them in an embrace. A gun is presented, and a shot is fired, and the artist dies. This is all told to us in flashback at the divorce trial, where the jury quite naturally finds in favor of the husband. Larita is shamed and shunned.She finds herself chillaxing on the Mediterranean, and a chance encounter with a tennis ball leads Larita to meet John Whittaker (Robin Irvine), who's from a well-to-do family himself. They romance, yadda yadda, and soon they're wed. He brings her home to meet his parents and his two sisters for dinner. The stern matriarch is fairly sure she recognizes Larita, and eventually she pieces it together. Haughty hilarity ensues.This is a silent film, obviously very early in The Master's career, and much more of a melodrama than a thriller with a twist. There's no twist, and because there are few sight gags one must rely on the intermittent title cards to follow the mouthed dialog. That's all well and good, but there was just too much predictability afoot, and the quality of the print did the movie no favors, either. That all makes Easy Virtue a curio in Hitch's long, long career, and little more.

Michael Rhodes Easy Virtue is one of Alfred Hitchcock's best films. It follows Larita Filton who at first is married to a drunk but starts to fall for a painter. When they get filed for divorce her husband brings her to court for adultery, believing that she was cheating on him with the painter. She eventually goes to France and marries a man named John Whittaker but she also attempts to hide her past from him. But when John's family starts to find out a few things about Larita's past her relationship with her new husband starts to become strained. Does her relationship survive? So basically I find it a very interesting and entertaining plot which keeps the viewer entertained all the way until the end where the film seems to end very abruptly. This makes me wish that the film had a little bit better closure and had gone on for just a little bit longer.All of the actors in the movie do a great job with Isabel Jeans playing Larita with true excellence. She seems to act very naturally instead of the typical exaggerated expressions that you see in most silent films. John's disapproving and unhappy mother is played very well by Violet Farebrother who gets her anger and disapproval across very well. Robin Irvine manages to do a nearly perfect job as John so basically all of the actors are great including minor ones.Each and every one of the sets in this film are great and the only noteworthy special effects shot, a man firing a gun, is done very well for the time. The soundtrack for the film fits it very well even if some of it has already been used in earlier Hitchcock films.This is a movie that really caught me off guard with its high level of quality and entertainment value. The plot is based off of a 1925 play and it ends up working very well here in the movie, the film is a pretty good length although it could have used a little bit more footage at the end, the acting is stupendous, the music is great and fits the movie well, and finally the special effects are great. So this is an excellent film from the silent era and a classic that should be watched and enjoyed by everyone. Score: 9/10

Christopher Evans I am a HUGE Hitchcock fan and have every DVD currently available. The version I have of Easy Virtue is very poor. It is an exceptionally poor picture with a zoomed in shot which chops off parts of the picture! The silent Hitchcocks which have been restored/well mastered onto DVD are hugely more enjoyable so I sincerely hope someone gives Easy Virtue a restored DVD release soon. The poor DVD quality detracts from my enjoyment of the film and may cause my appreciation to be less than fair but so far I would say Easy Virtue is my least favourite of his films I have seen.The film has some great shots and some fine moments but overall it has too many parts which lack interest or drama. That is mainly due to it being a silent film of a Noel Coward play. Imagine seeing a Coward play on the stage where the actors do not speak! The highlight of Coward's work is the dialogue so apart from lines like "Shoot! There's nothing left to kill!" (which may be from the play and is a good line) the sharp, witty dialogue is a real loss to the story's presentation. Even the young, great Hitchcock cannot quite keep a comedy drama of social morals interesting enough when the vital dialogue is removed. It is far from a disaster, I would rate it a very good 7/10, but for Hitchcock it is below his extremely high standards.

kai ringler This is my first Hitchcock silent film. this film grew on me as i watched it, i thought it started out slow . but slowly developed into something very interesting. i was upset that i missed Hitch's cameo.. he's a sneaky one. this is my 4th silent film that i have watched, and this one compares almost to the other ones, but the others are classics.. phantom, Dr Jekyll, and hunchback. so this one kinda had some unfair competition. like i said before it started slow, but it quickly engrossed me after the part where she goes to his parents house to meet the family.. i thought her character was unfairly judged by his family to the point where i was glad she didn't marry him, i admired her character for standing up to the mother in that one,, what s really awful mother in law. without ruining the ending for those who haven't seen this early Hitchcock gem,, i loved the ending.