Chicago (Blu-ray)

Sexy, jazz-loving, and dressed to kill, Roxie Hart (Phyllis Haver) is living a life of drama (if not stardom). She has a doting, handsome husband (Victor Varconi); a rich lover whose pockets are never quite deep enough (Eugene Pallette); and, soon, a full-blown murder charge. When Roxie secures the services of lawyer Billy Flynn (Robert Edeson) equal part mob "mouthpiece" and publicity agent and starts to make national headlines, the courtroom theatrics begin. Like the musical CHICAGO that won the Best Picture Academy Award and five other Oscars in 2002, this original1927 silent film descends from the 1926 hit Broadway play by Maurine Watkins. It's a terrifically entertaining mix of humor and melodrama, as well as a pungent critique of trash journalism. Frank Urson is the credited director of CHICAGO, although it is substantially the work of Cecil B. DeMille and his A-list technical staff. (DeMille apparently judged it unseemly to take full credit for this cynical and secular story wh