The Trial of Vivienne Ware / Night Editor

January 22, 2016 - 7:30 pm

Billy Wilder Theater

From the Collections of The Museum of Modern Art and funded by the Celeste Bartos Fund for Film Preservation. Newly restored by The Museum of Modern Art.

The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932)

A courtroom drama told at breakneck speed, The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932) stars Joan Bennett as a woman accused of murdering her philandering fiancé. A flurry of whip pans and flashbacks unfolds as Ms. Ware’s lawyer ex-boyfriend rises valiantly to her defense, and accusations and knives fly—all reported breathlessly, in a nod to the film’s radio origins, by ladies’ correspondent ZaSu Pitts.

35mm, b/w, 56 min. Production: Fox Film Corp. Distribution: Fox Film Corp. Director: William K. Howard. Based on the novel by Kenneth M. Ellis. Screenwriter: Philip Klein, Barry Connors. Cinematographer: Ernest Palmer. Editor: Ralph Dietrich. With: Joan Bennett, Donald Cook, Richard Skeets Gallagher, ZaSu Pitts, Lilian Bond.

Night Editor (1946)

Newspaperman Crane Stewart recounts the tale of Tony Cochrane, a cop and faithless husband in thrall to vicious, ice-cold socialite Jill Merrill. A script laced with jaundiced dialogue (“You’re worse than blood poisoning,” Tony whispers to Jill) and a murder on lover’s lane add up to a sordid intrigue in which Tony must choose between upholding the law or concealing his affair.

35mm, b/w, 65 min. Production: Columbia Pictures Corp. Distribution: Columbia Pictures Corp. Producer: Ted Richmond. Director: Henry Levin. Based on the radio play by Hal Burdick. Screenwriter: Hal Smith. Cinematographer: Burnett Guffey, Philip Tannura. Editor: Richard Fantl. With: William Gargan, Janis Carter, Jeff Donnell, Coulter Irwin, Charles D. Brown.

Part of:

Out of the Ether: Radio Mysteries and Thrillers on Screen

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The Trial of Vivienne Ware / Night Editor

The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932)

Night Editor (1946)

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