You can't have a Norma Shearer picture if she isn't long-suffering, I just threw a cheating husband ("The Women", among others), a murderous father ("A Free Soul"), a very mature teenager ("Romeo and Juliet") or a queen about to lose her head ("Marie Antoinette"). I've always said that the wicked baroness in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was an amalgamation of Shearer, Jeanette MacDonald and Billie Burke, and in this film, Shearer's performance truly emulates what Anna Quayle later did. it's ironic that cheers insect costume in the opening scene is straight out of the big costume ball in "Madam Satan", even though she never makes it to that ball to give us a glimpse of other wild and wacky costumes.
If Shearer's costume is exotic, check out Herbert Marshalls insect man costume, bug-eyed and with tentacles. This is a view of society at its most frivolous, and while Marshall's character is the most sensible of everybody, he has his moments where he seems to be one of the idle rich. Marshall and Shearer meet by accident when his car stops to pick her up, and they are soon married with a child. Shearer's old beau from New York, Robert Montgomery, pops up, and she ends up facing scandal when Montgomery drunkenly falls from her balcony into a crowded restaurant below. Montgomery doesn't believe his wife's investigation and prepares to divorce her, but soon changes his mind, leading to scherer torn between the two men as she has decided to go on with her life, unable to face it without any man present.
This film will always be remembered as one of the few screen appearances of stage legend Mrs. Patrick Campbell, playing Marshalls eccentric aunt. it's the type of role either May Robson or Allison Skipworth or Constance Collier a or Jessie Ralph or Helen Westley to play, Campbell takes on the role with gusto, hysterically revealing a private conversation she is having on the phone to everybody in the room. she is theatrical royalty, and she knows it, and she is making sure that everybody around her on the set knows. She is a delight even if her svlcenes are overplayed. The art direction and costumes for this film are superb and there is much to be satisfied by. But there is something in the overly played flamboyance that makes it a bit too silly overall which is what prevents it from being a truly good film.
If Shearer's costume is exotic, check out Herbert Marshalls insect man costume, bug-eyed and with tentacles. This is a view of society at its most frivolous, and while Marshall's character is the most sensible of everybody, he has his moments where he seems to be one of the idle rich. Marshall and Shearer meet by accident when his car stops to pick her up, and they are soon married with a child. Shearer's old beau from New York, Robert Montgomery, pops up, and she ends up facing scandal when Montgomery drunkenly falls from her balcony into a crowded restaurant below. Montgomery doesn't believe his wife's investigation and prepares to divorce her, but soon changes his mind, leading to scherer torn between the two men as she has decided to go on with her life, unable to face it without any man present.
This film will always be remembered as one of the few screen appearances of stage legend Mrs. Patrick Campbell, playing Marshalls eccentric aunt. it's the type of role either May Robson or Allison Skipworth or Constance Collier a or Jessie Ralph or Helen Westley to play, Campbell takes on the role with gusto, hysterically revealing a private conversation she is having on the phone to everybody in the room. she is theatrical royalty, and she knows it, and she is making sure that everybody around her on the set knows. She is a delight even if her svlcenes are overplayed. The art direction and costumes for this film are superb and there is much to be satisfied by. But there is something in the overly played flamboyance that makes it a bit too silly overall which is what prevents it from being a truly good film.