Breaking the Commandments - Pre-Code Hollywood: The Divorcee (1930)
Norma Shearer catches hubby Chester Morris in the arms of another woman and decides it’s time to get even, and how. Joan Crawford, Metro’s resident bad girl, was rightfully steamed when producer Irving Thalberg assigned the role of Jerry — “a great girl with a man’s point-of-view” — to the more ladylike Shearer. “What do you expect?,” Crawford famously quipped. “She sleeps with the boss.” Crawford was right. Shearer took home that year’s best actress Oscar. With the aid of aptly-named co-screenwriter Nick Grinde (Hitler--Dead or Alive), undistinguished studio warhorse Robert Z.(-z-z) Leonard nails the camera to the floor, fourth row center, and opens up the Ursula Parrott novel upon which this is based in a manner reminiscent of canned theatre. Did you ever have the feeling that the performers on screen were having more fun than anyone in the audience? See this early MGM talkie and learn that just because a film’s Pre-Code doesn’t mean it’s good. — Scott Marks