A showcase role for the young (really young) Joan Collins as Evelyn Nesbit
Like a lot of people I first learned the story of Evelyn Nesbit from the movie version of "Ragtime," because I did not read "Ragtime" the novel. However, when it comes to calling Nesbitt "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing," that is something that I associate with "Ragtime - The Musical." A century later we look back at Nesbit as having been at the heart of what is clearly the first "trial of the century," and can trace a clear line from it through the Scopes Trial, the Lindbergh baby case, the O.J. Simpson trial and a host of others. Nesbit was married to Harry K. Thaw, a rich playboy who had become infamous for such antics as riding a horse up the steps of an exclusive New York club. But Thaw was obsessed by the fact that Evelyn had once had an affair with Stanford...
"Shoot the moon!"
Ripped from a turn-of-the-century scandal, THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING is a fascinating movie starring Joan Collins as Evelyn Nesbit, the young showgirl who found herself at the center of the infamous Thaw/White murder trial.
Evelyn Nesbit (Joan Collins) achieves nationwide fame posing for Charles Dana Gibson (Richard Travis), and later becomes romantically linked with famous architect Stanford White (Ray Milland). Unwilling to create a scandal by divorcing his wife, Stanford instead enrols Evelyn in an exclusive boarding school where Evelyn, heartbroken, suffers a nervous breakdown.
Salvation comes in the form of millionaire playboy Harry Kendall-Thaw (Farley Granger). Seeing no other option, Evelyn reluctantly marries him; but his vicious imagination still believes White to be a competitor for Evelyn's love. Their violent relationship comes to a shocking climax when Thaw murders White on the rooftop of Madison Square Garden; Evelyn is then forced to...
GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING
One of Farley Granger's best performances highlights this period drama of the Evelyn Nesbit/Harry K. Thaw/Stanford White love and murder triangle. It was an early Cinemascope picture, full of vivid color; i hope the product description is in error when it says they've released it in full screen. If so, don't waste your money; it shows in a letterboxed version of the Fox Movie channel - watch that instead. Otherwise, an interesting, neglected film.
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