Riptide

Watching Norma Shearer makes me think of the Hollywood crowd at the time always out on the town or at a party at Pickfair or The Thalberg beach house or next door at Marion Davies place. Somebody always playing piano or singing, entertaining each other. The Rathbones, Lady Silvia, Irene Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford. Joan Crawford. They might have overacted a bit but it's entertaining. Mrs Patrick Campbell is reason enough to catch this one and she doesn't disappoint stealing the scene even as Norma pushes to keep up with her. For my money it's these Golden Age Hollywood Stars that make these movies interesting.

She was incredible. This movie quickly jumps forward in time, but the dialogue between Mary (Norma) and Trent was great. If only she had kept making movies and not ended so abruptly. No movies today compare to Riptide (which was controversial at the time)

Poor script and overbearing acting by Shearer. You want to shake her and ask "Why can't you just be yourself?" Hopefully, the affected and effete presence she portrays in every film is not the real person. There is no chemistry here between any of the actors and only the opening scene is funny, but it has no relevance to anything that is to come. Thalberg should have shut this down as soon as he realized this was bad. Wouldn't reading the script do that?

When producer Irving Thalberg fell ill in 1932, he and his wife, Norma Shearer, left Hollywood and went on an extended tour of Europe. Returning to M-G-M in 1933, he produced this film under his new contract and cast Norma in the lead role. It was not the hit Thalberg had hoped for, but the public was grateful to see Norma Shearer again, despite the weak script.

Norma Shearer's emotional range and charm is always a delight. Her costumes in shiny silk charmeuse and deep dark velvet translate so well in vintage black and white, and the topic of a woman's "decency" in the 30's and small minds is dramatic and poignant. I love this decade of movies for the history and social culture they often evoke.

The first scene, with Norma Shearer and Herbert Marshall dressed as insects, is hilarious. The plot is old fashioned, but Norma looks so beautiful that you tend to forget it.

This film brings up an interesting dilemma...and oddly I haven't seen any movies like it even though it came out in the 1930s. When the film begins, Phillip (Herbert Marshall) meets Mary (Norma Shearer) and they fall in love. Soon they have been married for four years and have a cute kid. Phillip goes abroad on a business trip and during this time, Mary accepts a fateful invitation to travel to Cannes. There she meets up with an old beau, Tommy (Robert Montgomery). Tommy gets drunk and misbehaves and EVERYONE notices. Soon Phillip has heard about it and he starts doubting his wife's fidelity. Even though he says he still loves her, it's obvious he's not sure and this is destroying the marriage. What's next? See the film. This film is worth seeing for the interesting script and fine acting. But the biggest reason is to see Herbert Marshall dressed up as an Insectman for a costume party. Bizarre is a HUGE understatement! See this film!