Private Lives

I just saw this movie this morning on TCM. I absolutely loved it! So funny! Norma was great and so was Robert Montgomery. I enjoyed their bickering, and after a bit, could TELL when it was coming just by a remark made. It was actually very modern in it's depiction of a marriage, as that really doesn't change. I found this movie to be very delightful, and full of wit. Their fight scene is the best! When Amanda shrieks and screams and cries, it is priceless! I recommend it highly. I have recently discovered Norma Shearers' movies, and she is so good it is a joy to watch her. I saw "The Women" and "Marie Antionette" as a child, but it is wonderful to be able to watch movies like "Private Lives" now. It is hard to believe it was made in '31, it is not dated at all.

Probably not for everyone. It's stylised but stylish. It thinks it's so frightfully amusing but actually is genuinely funny. The acting is terribly theatrical but completely engaging. It's affected and pretentious but nevertheless sophisticated and intelligent.

I watched this immediately after watching Russel Brand in the rather different GET HIM TO THE GREEK - which is hilarious. Maybe that put me in a chilled, receptive mood but I watched this smiling from beginning to end. Yes, this is obviously very different to Brand's film, it's definitely not a laugh out loud movie but I enjoyed it just as much. It exemplifies everything you expect from Noël Coward. It's witty, biting and sarcastic but also cleverly endearing.

Unlike his DESIGN FOR LIVING, which was completely changed from a stage play into a fantastic film by the great Ben Hecht, this is pure Noël Coward. Having watched a few films however actually starring Mr Coward, I'm glad he wasn't in this. He may have been watchable on the West End/Broadway in the thirties but his presence on film for a modern audience can be quite grating. Instead of him, the much more personable Robert Montgomery dons the silk dressing gown and is amusing without being irritating. It's gives us the best of both worlds - a perfect blend of theatre and cinema.

Then there's Norma Shearer. Again, she's not to everyone's taste. Her silent film gestures, her stagey delivery can sometimes feel old fashioned but in this, she displays a brilliant sense of comedy. She's a natural comedian. Some 'proper actors' seemed to forget how to act if they were in a 1930s comedy but she handles this professionally creating a likeable character you can believe is absolutely a real and authentic person. She also displays that inexplicable skill she had of making you think that despite her not being particularly beautiful, she's the sexiest most alluring woman you've ever seen in your life!

If "Private Lives" was submitted for approval after the Production Code, it would violate it in about ten different ways. It's an astonishingly daring comedy, with a nasty edge. It features intense physical contact between a man and a woman who are married to other people, and by contact I mean both violent and erotic (and for those two, violence - physical and verbal - is a form of foreplay). Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery have an electric chemistry (no wonder they were paired so often on the screen). They play two very unlikable people: they treat their current spouses in a mean, inconsiderate, condescending way - and that's just on their first honeymoon night! But because they are Shearer and Montgomery, you do keep watching them. The first half of the film is little more than a filmed stage play, but the second half is a bit more cinematic. **1/2 out of 4.

British wit Noel Coward (1899-1973) is best remembered for his wickedly funny comedies. Many, myself included, consider PRIVATE LIVES his single finest work. Opening in 1930 London co-starring Coward and the legendary Gertrude Lawrence, the play not only received tremendous critical acclaim, it also ran more than one hundred performances--something largely unheard of at the time. Moving quickly, MGM snapped up the film rights long before the original run ended and released a film version in 1931.

In the "Pre-Code" era censorship was not a significant issue, and the story follows the original stage play to the letter. After divorcing each other, Elyot and Amanda find themselves honeymooning with new spouses in adjoining hotel suites--and suddenly dessert their new spouses to resume their torrid love. Unfortunately, they both remain as eccentrically combative as ever, and it isn't long before the fur begins to fly.

The great failure of the film, however, is in the dialogue. As noted, censorship was not really an issue--but MGM advisers felt the script was too British for the American market and fiddled with the lines to make them "less English" in tone. But where a Noel Coward play is concerned, it isn't so much what you say as exactly how you say it, and in altering bits of wording the screenwriters significantly blunted the razor-like quality that made the original such a great success.

Even so, the 1931 film version of PRIVATE LIVES does a credible job of capturing the Noel Coward theatrical fire in a bottle, and the thing that makes the film work is Norma Shearer. One of the few silent stars to make a full transition to sound stardom, Shearer was among the most critically acclaimed and popular stars of her era. Although most widely acclaimed as a dramatic actress, modern viewers usually find her dramatic performances highly mannered--but what now seems mannered in drama works very, very well in comedy, and PRIVATE LIVES may be her single most accessible film for modern audiences. She is excellent throughout.

The remaining cast is a mixed bag. Robert Montgomery has the look but is essentially miscast as Elyot; still, he acquits himself well by avoiding the obvious missteps, and when he and Shearer click the whole thing goes off with a bang. Reginald Denny is quite expert as the stuffy Victor, and while Una Merkle seems as miscast as Robert Young she too renders a solid performance. Like most MGM films of the 1930s, the production values are top of the line from start to finish, slick, glossy, and attractive, and director Sidney Franklin (noted for his skill with actresses) keeps the film moving at a smart pace.

PRIVATE LIVES has had numerous revivals on stage with stars that range from Tallulah Bankhead to a memorable teaming of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and it remains a staple of world theatre; perhaps in the future there will be yet another film version that bests this one. But even so, this 1931 film will more than do until that wished-for-one comes along. Presently available to the home market via VHS only. Recommended.

Gary F. Taylor, GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Noel Coward dialogue. What can be bad? Norma Shearer does a star turn and is *very* funny. Her clothes are wonderful. She is obviously "meant for" Robert Montgomery, and they leave the partners they are engaged to and escape with each other on an around-the-world trip. Their physical fights are hilarious.