Tonight's movie was "The Divorcee" (1930), a very early pre-code "talkie" that is part of my six film "Forbidden Hollywood Volume Two" collection. It was made so early in the sound era that a poster for the movie - seen on IMDB - touts it as an "all talking picture". Norma Shearer, the original First Lady of MGM, stars as a free-spirited young woman about to marry her sweetheart, a former college jock turned businessman (played by Chester Morris). The couple are part of an "in-crowd" of young people living in New York. The movie opens at a party thrown by one of the friends, at which much 1920s-style revelry is going down. There is music, dancing, drinking, young men in tuxedoes and top hats, young ladies in silk dresses and glittered shoes. They seem like the kind of young people who might have been from upper class families, probably attended Yale or Harvard. They party like crazy but have futures that are all planned out. Except for the marriage aspect, and that is what "The Divorcee" is all about. The business lives of the protagonists are not examined, only the relationships, and as is often the case, there are a lot of factors that come into play (i.e. outside influences) that affect the couple's chances for happiness just as much as their love for one another.
Right away, at the opening party, after the engagement of Shearer and Morris is announced, it is clear that there are two other chaps on hand who are very disappointed. One is the devil-may-care playboy Robert Montgomery, a tall, callow youth who straight up tells Shearer she should have married him, instead. She laughs him off in a good natured way because, though rich and handsome, he is not to be taken seriously. He doesn't even take himself that way, usually playing the role of jester to the rest of the friends.
Shearer's other unlucky suitor is more despondent. Hearing the engagement announcement, he gets progessively more drunk. When the party ends, he insists on driving his date home, though everyone in the car tries to talk him out of it. Of course, this ride ends in disaster. No one dies, but a crash leaves the girl disfigured. Paul, the suitor who was in love with Norma Shearer, ends up marrying the unfortunate girl out of pity.
Now we jump forward and have several situations in play. We have the Happy Couple (Morris and Shearer), about to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. We have the Unhappy Couple, married literally by "accident" (car), and we have Robert Montgomery, the rich boy, still single, always on the make if it suits him, but generally not seen as a threat.
Another party is taking place, the celebration of the Shearer/Morris anniversary. All is merry and the party is in full swing until an unknown woman shows up. She has been brought along as a guest of some other friends, and she seems to know Chester Morris, the seemingly Happy Husband.
The look in her eyes and her body language tell the story as Morris tries frantically to get rid of her. But she will not leave so easily. She wants her man. Norma Shearer walks into the kitchen just in time to see The Other Woman with her arms around Morris, her husband.
Norma tries to put on a brave face as the anniversary party continues, but the Happy Marriage of the couple has from that moment become a facade. Her husband is a cheater.
Last night I revealed a great deal of the plot for "Panique", because it did not matter as much as did the moral implications of the story. This time, I will stop where we are, because the plot creates the moral. The two go hand in hand and anything more I might say could act as a spoiler.
While in pre-code terms, there is not any skimpy dressing or sexual innuendo, there is some very frank talk about infidelity, both from the male and female point of view. It is interesting to see that after all these years (almost 90 since the movie was made), that the rationalizations of the husband and wife for their indiscretions are likely no different in their respective ways than would be those of a modern married couple.
Norma Shearer won the second ever Best Actress Oscar for her lead performance in "The Divorcee", and in my opinion it was well deserved, even though I am not aware of the performances of her competitors. It is hard to see, though, how her portrayal of the forsaken wife who fights fire with fire could have been bested by another actress in any role from any other movie released that year.
She was known for her roles of liberated women, and in "The Divorcee", her characterization and acting technique could be considered a template for all of the future portrayals of independent women that came decades later.
The film has the feel of a stage play. All the actors seem to be emoting and expressing themselves in that manner of broad and ebullient gestures, playing to the back row as it were. The cinematic technique is still barely evolved from the Silent Film era, and in Chester Morris' case, he is still doing some of the Silent Movie mugging for the camera, but all in all this is one of the best pre-code films we've seen so far, mainly because of Norma Shearer, a really great and underrated actress. ////
Two Very Big Thumbs Up for "The Divorcee", with it's Oscar winning performance by Shearer.
See you in the morning. A ton of rain is supposed to fall, but it pales in comparison to the amount of love sent. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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