Children of Divorce

Seems as though everyone's in love with everyone else in this soaper from what ultimately became Paramount Studios. There are good performances from all concerned, even from Gary Cooper in his first starring role. It is summarized by the reviewer from the Library of Congress above, and is a jumble of love shuffled among the various characters. The nominal star is Clara Bow, who here plays the 'heavy', but all eyes are on Gary Cooper, who subsequently became a huge Hollywood star. Esther Ralston has the supporting actress role and she is beautiful in a sympathetic part.

The film is what amounts to a polemic on the hazards of divorce but is not without merit. There are several poignant, sentimental moments which hold up due to some very competent performances, even by Cooper himself in his first big part. The year is 1927 and the film holds some very outdated views of marriage and divorce but, as often with silents, they must be viewed with a sense of atavism, as when one goes to a museum - or, in this case, a film festival. (Capitolfest, Rome, N.Y., 8/12/16.

The Frank Lloyd directed film, April 1927's "Children of Divorce," opens at a Catholic divorce colony where recently-single parents who can't afford to raise kids by themselves drop off their children on a temporary basis. The children actors playing the three leads form a close bond, with Ted (Cooper) promising to marry Jean (Ralston) when they grow up while Kitty (Bow) looks on. But as adults, flapper Jean gets Ted drunk at a party and marries him, much to the consternation of intended lover Jean.

Ralston claims being on the set with the 22-year-old Clara was both enjoyable and scandalous. She recalls Bow describing in detail where and how she and her actor boyfriend Cooper made love, causing cast members to experience a red glow on their faces listening to such escapades. Bow also saved Cooper's budding career by intervening on his behalf when Lloyd threatened to release the young actor for constantly not remembering his movements in a early scene. Cooper's visibility in "Children of Divorce" catapulted his screen presence, launching him towards Hollywood stardom.

As for Clara, "Children of Divorce" provided her with one of the most dramatic scenes in her growing portfolio. Near the film's ending, Bow's character swallows poison because she realizes she can't marry a prince. She lays in bed comforted by her childhood friend Jean, who forgives her for her past indiscretions. The dramatic sequence's atmosphere required more than director Lloyd provided. So Paramount brought in young director, Josef von Sternberg, who was gaining a reputation for his expert lighting, to reshoot Kitty's final moments. His genius was to provide the shadow of a curtain sweeping over her as the nun lowers the wondow drape, emphasizing the end of Kitty's tempestuous life.

This tragic silent movie completely lives up to its title. The beginning of the movie shows a school for children whose parents are busy getting a European divorce. One mother drops her daughter off without a care in the world, and the lonely child quickly gets taken under the wing of a more experienced girl, whose mother is on her fourth divorce. The girls become very close, but a boy comes between them.

The older girl sees a boy at the "orphanage" and vows to marry him when she's older. She grows up into Esther Ralston, and the younger girl grows up to become Clara Bow. The boy is Gary Cooper, and while he and Esther have feelings for one another, Esther isn't as pushy as the beautiful flapper. Clara is impulsive and doesn't let a little thing like friendship stand in her way. After all, how can a child of divorce really respect and value marriage?

You've been warned: this is a heavy movie, and you'll probably shed a tear by the time it's all over. But if you love watching Clara Bow movies or want to see Gary Cooper in a silent movie, you can give it a chance.

'Children of Divorce' is about a love quadrangle: childhood friends Kitty (Clara Bow) and Jean (Esther Ralston) on the one side, Vico (Einar Hanson) and Ted (Gary Cooper) on the other. Kitty and Vico love each other, as do Jean and Ted, but what looks straightforward is a receipe for tragedy. This is because Kitty has been taught by her mother that a woman needs to marry wealth - at least when she marries for the first time - and unfortunately Vico is not wealthy. He is the scion of impoverished (that's a relative term) European nobility and expected to do his duty by his family and marry wealth himself. Ted is wealthy and is altogether a bit of a playboy. Tragedy strikes when Jean puts off marrying him until he has got a proper job. Kitty uses the time in order to organise a raucous party, and on the morning after Ted wakes up to discover that, in a drunken stupor, he has married her rather than his true love Jean.

The highlights of the picture are Clara Bow and Gary Cooper. Cooper playes his role evenhandedly. He is remarkable rather because of his later stardom than because his acting here is particularly outstanding. Bow, by contrast, is outstanding. She starts out as a careless flapper and ends as a desparately unhappy woman who sees suicide as her only way out, and every detail and moment of this transition is absolutely convincing. The plot is obviously pretty convoluted and heavy on morals. It does lay it on rather thick, I must say. The viewers are clearly expected to take away the message that divorce was to be avoided at all costs (Kitty's, Jean's and Ted's parents are all divorced, and it is Kitty's divorced mother whose idea of marriage is at the bottom of all the trouble). I am generally no fan of films that try to educate the audience in such a way, but in this case Clara Bow's performance makes up for the deficiencies, at least to a very large extent. All in all, the upsides of 'Children of Divorce' (meaning her and Cooper) outweigh the downsides by quite a bit. In sum: good film.

Early in the 20th century, divorced ex-pat Americans living in Paris dropped their unwanted children at the local convents and visited them only when their busy schedules permitted. Kitty and Jean were among these lonely children, and the pair quickly become friends. One day, a young boy, Edward, who was also a child of divorced parents, appears, and both girls are smitten with him. Years pass, and the three meet up again in the U.S., where a romantic triangle develops, which expands into a square, when a gold-digging prince enters the scene. "Children of Divorce," which was written by Adela Rogers St. Johns from a novel by Owen McMahon Johnson, is a sudsy melodrama, whose dated appeal lies, not in the story, but in the stars.

The "It" girl herself plays the adult Kitty; vivacious Clara Bow is wonderful as the sexually aggressive woman, who needs to marry well. Jean, Kitty's protector as a child and now described as the richest woman in America, has grown into lovely Esther Ralston. Ralston, who seems to have been largely forgotten, gives a naturalistic performance as a caring understanding woman, who is capable of self sacrifice. However, Jean's money is like catnip to the impoverished Prince Ludovico, played by Einar Hanson, and his uncle, Duke Henri, played by Norman Trevor. But the Prince and his uncle have to compete with tall lanky Gary Cooper of the piercing blue eyes, who captivates both Jean and Kitty. As the adult Edward, Cooper has it all: startling good looks, wealth, education, and lack of ambition. Besides the three stars, Hedda Hopper as Kitty's self-absorbed mother also makes an impression, although the rest of the cast has unfortunately fallen into obscurity.

Besides the melodramatic plot, a few aspects of this silent film may be off putting to general audiences. While the sets are convincing, they are so tall they disappear into the clouds, and the gargantuan doors dwarf the performers. Although a few flourishes of the grand style intrude, the acting is generally natural and underplayed. The film is short, even shorter if the inter-titles are taken into account, and director Frank Lloyd maintains a good pace. However, "Children of Divorce" will likely appeal primarily to silent-film buffs. Already attuned to both the limitations and the pleasures of pre-sound movies, aficionados of silent cinema can overlook the unconvincing drama and relish the luminous stars. Indeed, they had faces then, and Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, and Esther Ralston provide ample evidence herein.