My, my, my, the scandal! The outrage! Murder at the Vanities arrives just at the finish line for the pre-Code era, the very year that the Code began to be enforced by the Hays Office. And what a send-off for a very different type of Hollywood. Very scantily clad showgirls, songs about marijuana, murder, all the sins and vices are here. So much so that it's clear the crew simply assumed this film would coast by on its lurid material alone and thus didn't really need a good story at the core. The backstage musical at this point was becoming very oversaturated and the murder mystery part of it doesn't provide anything new. At this point, Murder at the Vanities functions best as a curio of pre-Code extravagance but even its second-rate Busby Berkeley numbers can't make the film more interesting beyond that.
My, my, my, the scandal! The outrage! Murder at the Vanities arrives just at the finish line for the pre-Code era, the very year that the Code began to be enforced by the Hays Office. And what a send-off for a very different type of Hollywood. Very scantily clad showgirls, songs about marijuana, murder, all the sins and vices are here. So much so that it's clear the crew simply assumed this film would coast by on its lurid material alone and thus didn't really need a good story at the core. The backstage musical at this point was becoming very oversaturated and the murder mystery part of it doesn't provide anything new. At this point, Murder at the Vanities functions best as a curio of pre-Code extravagance but even its second-rate Busby Berkeley numbers can't make the film more interesting beyond that.
