Roxie Hart (film)

Roxie Hart
1942 Theatrical Poster
Directed by	William Wellman
Produced by	Nunnally Johnson
Screenplay by	Nunnally Johnson Ben Hecht
Based on	Chicago (play) 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins
Starring	Ginger Rogers Adolphe Menjou George Montgomery
Narrated by	George Montgomery
Music by	Alfred Newman
Cinematography	Leon Shamroy
Edited by	James B. Clark
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Release date	February 20, 1942
Running time	75 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.1 million (US rentals)

Roxie Hart is a 1942 American comedy film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, George Montgomery, Nigel Bruce, Phil Silvers, William Frawley and Spring Byington. It is also known as Chicago or Chicago Gal. The film is an adaptation of the 1926 play Chicago by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a journalist who had found her inspiration in two real-life Chicago trials she had covered for the press. The play had already been adapted once before, as the 1927 silent movie Chicago, and it would later be adapted as the 1975 musical Chicago, which in turn was adapted as the 2002 film Chicago.

The screenplay, by Nunnally Johnson, focuses on a Chicago showgirl who confesses to a murder in the hope the publicity will propel her faltering show business career. In the original play, and its other adaptations, Roxie Hart was guilty but acquitted of her crime. However, in order to conform to the Production Code, which regulated moral guidelines for Hollywood films at the time, this version portrayed Roxie as innocent but misguided in her attempt to achieve fame.

As soon as Stuart Chapman (Ted North) starts his new job as a newspaper reporter in Chicago, he is pulled into a murder investigation together with his new colleague Homer Howard (George Montgomery). As they sit down in a bar having a drink after a long day, Homer starts telling about a case he reported on in 1927 - a murder case involving the young dancer Roxie Hart (Ginger Rogers).