The Divorcee
Directed by Robert Z. Leonard
Written by John Meehan from a novel by Ursula Parrott
1930/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Theodore ‘Ted’ Martin: I’d like to make love to you till you scream for help.
Glittering MGM production could only have been made prior to 1934.
As the film begins, the New York in-crowd is partying at a country house. Ted Martin (Chester Morris) asks career girl Jerry Bernard (Norma Shearer) to marry him and she accepts. This delivers a crushing blow to Paul (Conrad Nagle) who gets roaring drunk and has an accident which leaves his passenger Dorothy disfigured. He marries her out of pity. Another disappointed potential suitor is Don (Robert Montgomery), Ted’s best friend.
Ted and Jerry have been married for three years when she discovers he has had a brief affair with another woman. She confronts him and he excuses his behavior by saying “it didn’t mean a thing”. This rightly infuriates her. She decides what’s good for the gander is good for the goose and has a one night stand with Don. When she tells Ted she has balanced their accounts, he divorces her.
Jerry then becomes a real party girl. Later, she begins an affair with Paul. But when she realizes what she is doing to Dorothy she breaks up with him and heads to Paris in search of Ted.
This is really one hell of a movie! I’m not a big fan of Shearer but she sure could wear clothes and her gowns are fabulous as is the art deco decor. The film as a whole is a fine example of Hollywood glamor and sharp screenwriting.
Norma Shearer won the Best Actress Oscar. The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.
