It's a case of "don't leave your wife alone" in Riptide. Herbert Marshall and Norma Shearer are happily married, until he leaves on a business trip. She meets up with an old flame - quite by accident - and manages to resist his charms. That's quite a feat, since the ex-boyfriend is played by the ultimate 1930s playboy Robert Montgomery! But when Herbie comes back, he doesn't believe Norma that nothing happened between them because she "was the kind of girl who didn't stop with a kiss," even when they were courting.
This pre-Code drama is actually quite funny. It makes us giggle now to see what got sneaked through before heavy censorship was put in place; but imagine how hard the audience was laughing in 1934! "He's in bed with his miseries," Norma laughs about Bob sulking in his room after she's rejected him. "With who?" Mrs. Patrick Campbell asks in all seriousness. Euphemisms are used: trembling, fluttering, and volcanos, and in-tact. Norma's loose ways are openly discussed, and her past indiscretions are thrown back in her face when she's caught in an embarrassing situation with Bob. To find out how embarrassing, or whether or not Norma and Herbie can find truth and peace, you'll have to rent this entertaining old flick. I recommend it!
This pre-Code drama is actually quite funny. It makes us giggle now to see what got sneaked through before heavy censorship was put in place; but imagine how hard the audience was laughing in 1934! "He's in bed with his miseries," Norma laughs about Bob sulking in his room after she's rejected him. "With who?" Mrs. Patrick Campbell asks in all seriousness. Euphemisms are used: trembling, fluttering, and volcanos, and in-tact. Norma's loose ways are openly discussed, and her past indiscretions are thrown back in her face when she's caught in an embarrassing situation with Bob. To find out how embarrassing, or whether or not Norma and Herbie can find truth and peace, you'll have to rent this entertaining old flick. I recommend it!