Riptide
Directed by Edmund Goulding
Written by Edmund Goulding and several uncredited writers
1934/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Mary: No man’s gonna let me or not let me do anything ever again.
Mary (Norma Shearer) plays a freethinking woman with a “wild past”. She meets aristocrat Lord Rexford (Herbert Marshall, falls in love, and marries him. She tells him about her wicked ways and he swears he can forgive and forget. Three years later, they have a happy marriage and live in style with their adorable little daughter. He must travel to New York without her.
Mary takes the opportunity stay with her aunt Hettie (Mrs. Patrick Campbell) in her Riviera home. There she meets Tommy (Robert Montgomery), with whom she shares a past. He now drunkenly attempts to woo her but Norma stands strong. A paparazzi gets a photo of an innocent kiss and Herbert refuses to believe it was innocent and files for divorce. The couple separates and Tommy arrives in New York to continue his seduction campaign. Can a happy ending be pulled out of this situation? Do you have to ask?
Shearer seems to have made the same movie over and over. She reforms her wild ways through love. But her husband doesn’t understand her. There’s always Robert Montgomery around to get dumped. This is not the best of the films with this plot but it is quite watchable. As always, Shearer looks fabulous in her gowns by Adrian.
