In 1929/1930 a few directors such as Rouben Mamoulian etc. Made pictures which are comparable with whatever is being made today. APPLAUSE (1929) for example is as fresh and watchable now as it was when it was made. You can enjoy these rarities as movies, not just as weirdly acted interesting period pieces demonstrating the uneasy transition from silents to talkies. THE DIVORCÉE is not one of those rarities. In terms of production it's fine, in fact better than fine. The imposition of sound did not handicap director Robert Leonard's flair for innovative photography, fluidity and energy one iota - visually, this film is as sumptuous and professional as anything from the late silent era. It's definitely not one of those atrocious early talkies where the actors remain stationary slowly enunciating their lines in turn into a bunch of flowers. No, this actually looks really good - after all its star is the wife of Mr MGM himself so they weren't going to put her in anything shoddy!
What "spoils" this is the acting. It's not bad acting - on the contrary, it's very good but it's 'theatrical acting' not 'talking pictures' acting. A year later in 1931 most film actors had learned to speak as though they're speaking to each other rather than to the back row of an auditorium but this picture it's definitely old school. This presents a huge massive hurdle to watching this just as a piece of entertainment.
I am pretty sure that anyone who watches this will only be doing so if they are interested in the evolution of motion pictures. It is however fascinating how it reflects the attitudes of the late 20s - that popular misconception that the late twenties was populated entirely by sexually liberated flappers is shown here as being as realistic as everyone in the late sixties being hippies. Norma Shearer's character is 'modern' for the time but the condemnation for her perceived sexual immorality and misogynistic hypocrisy is Victorian. Even watching this today makes you angry and of course only a well-made film can affect your emotions but it's that stagey feel and theatrical delivery is such a barrier to being able to watch this just as a film. Another problem is that everyone has that same annoying made-up-for-the-theatre 'mid-Atlantic' accent, they all dress the same and all have the same hairstyle - it makes it difficult to follow who is who.
Just a year later Norma Shearer made A FREE SOUL - what a difference a year makes! I would suggest that if anyone is wanting to discover who 'The Queen of MGM' was they should watch that instead because unlike this one, that looks like, feels like and sounds like a proper movie and is surprisingly engaging film. Her character in that and indeed the story is not too dissimilar to Jeri in this but whereas in THE DIVORCÉE you're watching a good actress, in A FREE SOUL you're watching a real person. One thing she does in both films (but more so in A FREE SOUL) is demonstrate what a brilliant actress she was because although she's certainly no beauty (some may say 'plain') when you're watching her, she makes you feel that you're looking at an incredibly seductive, absolutely jaw-droppingly attractive woman.
What "spoils" this is the acting. It's not bad acting - on the contrary, it's very good but it's 'theatrical acting' not 'talking pictures' acting. A year later in 1931 most film actors had learned to speak as though they're speaking to each other rather than to the back row of an auditorium but this picture it's definitely old school. This presents a huge massive hurdle to watching this just as a piece of entertainment.
I am pretty sure that anyone who watches this will only be doing so if they are interested in the evolution of motion pictures. It is however fascinating how it reflects the attitudes of the late 20s - that popular misconception that the late twenties was populated entirely by sexually liberated flappers is shown here as being as realistic as everyone in the late sixties being hippies. Norma Shearer's character is 'modern' for the time but the condemnation for her perceived sexual immorality and misogynistic hypocrisy is Victorian. Even watching this today makes you angry and of course only a well-made film can affect your emotions but it's that stagey feel and theatrical delivery is such a barrier to being able to watch this just as a film. Another problem is that everyone has that same annoying made-up-for-the-theatre 'mid-Atlantic' accent, they all dress the same and all have the same hairstyle - it makes it difficult to follow who is who.
Just a year later Norma Shearer made A FREE SOUL - what a difference a year makes! I would suggest that if anyone is wanting to discover who 'The Queen of MGM' was they should watch that instead because unlike this one, that looks like, feels like and sounds like a proper movie and is surprisingly engaging film. Her character in that and indeed the story is not too dissimilar to Jeri in this but whereas in THE DIVORCÉE you're watching a good actress, in A FREE SOUL you're watching a real person. One thing she does in both films (but more so in A FREE SOUL) is demonstrate what a brilliant actress she was because although she's certainly no beauty (some may say 'plain') when you're watching her, she makes you feel that you're looking at an incredibly seductive, absolutely jaw-droppingly attractive woman.