RIPTIDE boasts one of the most interesting first scenes I've seen in a long time. Both Norma Shearer and Herbert Marshall appear dressed in insect costumes as they prepare to go to a party. The sight of both of these actors in silly outfits was enough to make me rip into uncontrollable laughter. Now, if only the rest of the movie would have stayed as a comedy, maybe I would have enjoyed it a little more.
This is not a bad movie by far but the soap elements are a little too cloying at times, but then again, this was the what the public wanted from Norma Shearer -- melodrama that told similar stories of her liberated women behaving in ways that some "representatives of moral conduct" would find offensive. As a matter of fact, her melodramas and Joan Crawford's were mainly the same, with the crucial difference that Crawford's heroines came from humble beginnings and Norma Shearer's heroines were independent women from the upper crust. That's all. That Crawford couldn't see the essential similarities of her films and Shearer's is strange, but it's possible that the social status of Shearer's characters is what Crawford longed for instead of variations of shop girls. And, of course, the Oscar nomination, but that's another story and I'm digressing.
Whatever the case, this is standard soap in which Norma plays a married woman with a past who finds herself courted by a former lover and after their clandestine affair is discovered she finds herself on the hot seat with her husband who doubts her fidelity (and wouldn't you?). Complications ensue, veer close to divorce (which would have made her one of the few actresses to play more divorced women in the 30s as noted in PRIVATE LIVES, THE Divorcée, and THE WOMEN) but eventually she decides to stay with her husband since they do have a daughter, and of course, that means saving the family.
Is the plot credible? No. Norma's Mary is somewhat inconsistent in true soap-opera tradition as she is asked to put her own feelings into judgement. Marshall is too unattractive a presence, and Robert Montgomery would have been the choice to play main leading man since they were well matched in PRIVATE LIVES. Nothing to marvel about, since Norma would tackle a meatier role in THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET only months later.
This is not a bad movie by far but the soap elements are a little too cloying at times, but then again, this was the what the public wanted from Norma Shearer -- melodrama that told similar stories of her liberated women behaving in ways that some "representatives of moral conduct" would find offensive. As a matter of fact, her melodramas and Joan Crawford's were mainly the same, with the crucial difference that Crawford's heroines came from humble beginnings and Norma Shearer's heroines were independent women from the upper crust. That's all. That Crawford couldn't see the essential similarities of her films and Shearer's is strange, but it's possible that the social status of Shearer's characters is what Crawford longed for instead of variations of shop girls. And, of course, the Oscar nomination, but that's another story and I'm digressing.
Whatever the case, this is standard soap in which Norma plays a married woman with a past who finds herself courted by a former lover and after their clandestine affair is discovered she finds herself on the hot seat with her husband who doubts her fidelity (and wouldn't you?). Complications ensue, veer close to divorce (which would have made her one of the few actresses to play more divorced women in the 30s as noted in PRIVATE LIVES, THE Divorcée, and THE WOMEN) but eventually she decides to stay with her husband since they do have a daughter, and of course, that means saving the family.
Is the plot credible? No. Norma's Mary is somewhat inconsistent in true soap-opera tradition as she is asked to put her own feelings into judgement. Marshall is too unattractive a presence, and Robert Montgomery would have been the choice to play main leading man since they were well matched in PRIVATE LIVES. Nothing to marvel about, since Norma would tackle a meatier role in THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET only months later.