Divorce

At one time Monogram Pictures could not have afforded the services of the three leads, Kay Francis, Bruce Cabot and Helen Mack. But by 1945 all had seen their best box office days so they were working for Sam Katzman and Monogram.

At least Katzman didn't butcher this film in the editing department. The title says it all, what the subject is about. Bruce Cabot a roughneck contractor fresh home from the war falls for chic society girl Kay Francis who collects trophy husbands. She's had four and wants to make Cabot five.

Only he's slightly married to Helen Mack with two kids. No stopping Kay though as they all end up in Judge Jerome Cowan's Divorce Court.

Given the times and the omnipresent Code, Divorce follows some strict guidelines. Everyone behaves quite heroically and even Francis in the end knows she's following a path that will lead to no good.

It's all pure soap opera, but from Monogram Divorce is positively elegant.

DIVORCE (1945) was Monogram's interpretation of the problems of Divorce. This subject that would become very relevant in the post-war period. There were many quickie marriages when the boys went off too war (WWII) that did not hold up after the conflict was over. The general drift of the film was unfavorable to Divorce. No doubt needed to get through the Censors and the Production Code of 1934.

THE NUTS; Returning veteran Bob Phillips (BRUCE CABOT) comes home to loving Wife Martha (HELEN MACK) and adoring Children, Michael and Robby. Enter former flame Diane Carter (KAY FRANCIS) fresh from her Divorce and loaded with loot and connections, promptly using her influence to lure Bob away from Martha. This provokes the titled 'DIVORCE' which finally results in a 'Code' resolution. Film is well done and moves quickly and would not disgrace a 'B' level production from any of the majors or middle tier studios.

MONOGRAM PICTURES CORPORATION (1931-1953) was referred too as a 'poverty row' studio. Cranking out cheap programmers usually budgeted for less then $100,000.00 each and shot in less then two (2) weeks. In some ways they could be consider REPUBLIC Jr. without good musical scores or special visual effects by the LYDECKER Brothers. Nor with any name Stars featured and thats where this film is different.

DIVORCE featured some real (and former) name Stars. KAY FRANCIS, WARNER BROTHERS, BRUCE CABOT and HELEN MACK, RKO. Plus character actors JEROME COWAN, MARY GORDON, JONATHAN HALE, ADDISON RICHARDS and others who appeared in major and middle tier studios efforts. Both in 'A' and 'B' productions. Nobody remember ADDISON RICHARDS as 'Crofton' in NORTHWEST PASSAGE (1940) M.G.M.? The rest have similar impressive credits, check them out. The question to be asked is what did these people do with their money when the going was good so they did not end up at MONOGRAM? Perhaps some of them just liked the work.

Divorce (1945)

A direct look at divorce (and marriage) with the distinct view that divorce is a shame. In fact, the first short part of the movie is a bit of moralizing by a (male) judge, laying the guilt on a woman for using the "wrong" discipline on her son, and for complaining that her husband locked her up in her room. It's hard to take, if you take it seriously. But this prelude is really only a set-up for a plot that begins, indirectly with the same judge, about a woman who has been through quite a number of divorces.

And this woman, Diane, is played by the real great actress of the movie, Kay Francis, who also co-produces. That is, this is her movie, and she doesn't mind being a kind of charming villain, breaking into a happy family like a worldly urbane siren, apparently irresistible. She's terrific. But you worry very much about the "other" woman, Martha, the simpler but more pure one, played with real angst by Helen Mack, who I'd never heard of, but who had a full career in the 1930s. A shame to see that this was her last film.

1945 is of course the year the War ended, and this movie is an alternate take on the film noir version of the G.I. returning to a changed world, unable to adjust. Here it is not a bit fanciful or infested with crime and visual drama. No, this is the real deal, and it might strike some as a little ordinary at times, but for me this helped it enormously. The sincerity of everyone, and the straight up acting by the whole cast, is perfect for the theme. Diane, it turns out, is a true femme fatale, but made so everyday and believable you can't really call her that fairly.

The point overall is paying attention to what matters in your relationship--especially appreciating that old fashioned husband-wife relationship, with children and home and so on. It's persuasive because it sets things up to be persuasive, even though Diane is a powerhouse and a successful women, something everyone appreciates. Everyone except Martha. The man between these two women is a bit of a follower. He arrives back from fighting to his wife and children and he's still a soldier somehow, not coping, but wanting to cope. If there's a weakness here, it's him, not just the actor Bruce Cabot, but the role, which is too passive to give it life.

The movie, though, works overall. It not only makes its moral point, but it creates a sense of how the transition of men back home might have been, a kind of precursor to the more famous film about these themes a year later, "The Best Years of Our Lives."

Kay Francis co-produced and starred in three movies made in 1945 for B-movie studio Monogram pictures, two of which were made with the silent era actor-turned-director William Nigh and the screenwriter Harvey H. Gates, including this movie. I think Francis was having a bit of fun at the expense of her own tarnished Hollywood image by casting herself as a four-times divorced woman (which she would soon be IRL) looking to steal a fifth husband (played by Bruce Cabot) from a happily married friend from her childhood, portrayed by Helen Mack. This movie isn't very good (few pictures from Monogram were), but Kay Francis, after being mistreated by the Warner Brothers studio (for demanding too much money, apparently, ultimately being replaced by an inarguably better actress, Bette Davis), at least was in charge of her own destiny by the mid-1940s; that's something, I guess. 4/10.

This is not a "bad" movie on divorce it makes it's point- the kids are the real loosers in the process. Overall the movie is well written in the 30's, 40's & 50's style of tying things together for the sake of the work rather than attempting to show "realism". An early shot of Bob Phillips (Bruce Cabot)performing a "Court Marshall" for home discipline comes back to haunt him in his final scene as his two boys act as the judge & jury. I have no problem with Kay Francis in her role as the worldly woman stealing away a restless husband returning from WWII. This was a common theme following the war because it was a common problem (& again to point out it's timeliness- it is still a problem). But for pure acting the one to watch was Helen Mack as Martha Phillips. Her dialog delivery and timing are a delight to watch even when the writing does not quite live up to the best of the "golden age" of movie making.