Private Lives

I've lost count of the number of times I have seen this first-rate movie, and it makes me laugh every time. The plot and dialog are outstanding, and Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery are excellent. Reginald Denny and Una Merkel are a delight as well. In one of the film's many excellent scenes, Shearer shows off the acting skills she honed during her silent screen days -- hearing the musical strains of a song once dear to her and her ex-husband in happier days, her expression goes from recognition to fond remembrance to regret to resignation, all in the span of a few seconds. Although she is best known for her dramatic gifts, Norma is top-notch throughout this film, displaying an excellent flair for comedy. I've often read her performance being unfavorably compared to that of Gertrude Lawrence, but I thought Shearer was a wonder. It's hard for me to conceive that this movie was released 80 years ago -- it is still fresh, funny, and worth every moment of your time.

I had the pleasure several years ago of seeing Lindsay Duncan and Alan Rickman on Broadway in Noel Coward's durable comedy, "Private Lives," and they were magnificent.

I admit I had low expectations for a film version. I was pleasantly surprised that, though scenes were added and changed, the film keeps the tone of the play.

I actually saw part of this movie when I was about nine years old. James Card of the George Eastman House introduced it on a weekly old film program. To a nine-year-old, it seemed very foreign, given its age.

Strangely, I have always remembered the line, "We're married in the eyes of heaven" - from that TV showing! And sure enough, my memory was correct - that either says something about Montgomery's line reading, or that I had no understanding of what the line meant, or I have a weird memory. Not sure.

I thought the two stars, Robert Montgomery and Norma Shearer, portrayed the couple excellently. Shearer is so often criticized for her acting, but I'm sorry, I've seen her in some very good performances, although I grant you, she was a movie star first and foremost. The couple also has great chemistry.

I understand the apartment in Paris was changed to attract the German market, which eliminated the great part of the maid.

In the end, the film is very enjoyable and the play, of course, set the stage for many ripoffs. I agree with another of the comments, it would have been fabulous to have Coward and Lawrence preserved on film.

Noel Coward wrote and acted in this stage play in 1930 and this movie preserves the behaviour and colloquialisms of the original play in a contemporary manner - a fact we may overlook with our 20-21st century liberal mind-set. I believe there is film somewhere in the UK TV archives of Coward in the part but it is either just clips or not available on general release.

I really liked this well-paced production - even with the alterations for the North American audience (typical of studios in those days) - both Shearer and Montgomery take their parts well. I am familiar with the play but have never seen it on the stage. I thought the physical humour by Shearer very funny and could not imagine Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence as the protagonists (while wonderful with their period lethargic mannerisms) doing anything similar.

This film brings the characters brightly to life in a very warm way and it's a shame not to be able to get it on DVD.

In MGM's rendering or Noel Coward's classic "comedy of bad manners," PRIVATE LIVES, about a couple who can't live without each other but can't live WITH each other either, the best of Coward's famous lines are preserved by a generally superior cast and the film is close to brilliant for it.

It's our loss however, that Noel Coward didn't have the clout or the concern that Bernard Shaw had in the 30's to demand that he himself provide his own screenplays when his stage plays were translated to the screen. When Hans Kraly, Richard Shayer and (the uncredited) Claudine West insist on earning their "scenario by" credit, the leaden insertions stick out like proverbial sore thumbs.

Only the charming, brief coda on a train added to the film after the play script ends is a satisfying addition, but it is a nice way to finish a delightful 84 minutes.

SOME of the ham handed alterations are not the fault of the Screenwriter's Guild contract or the Studio's concern that the film "not be TOO British." The time wasting substitution of a hiker's hostel (and, later, a private chalet) in the alps and a German speaking guide (played with a twinkle but no actual laughs by Jean Hersholt) for Coward's borrowed Paris flat and hilarious French speaking maid was clearly a bid for the then thriving pre-war German film market. It doesn't seriously hurt the film, but it doesn't help it an iota either.

Top billed Norma Shearer is quite fine as Amanda (Chase) Prynne who runs away from her honeymoon with Victor with her first husband, Elyot. She even sounds remarkably like the original stage Gertrude Lawrence, when she sings. Reginald Denny is everything one could wish in the role of the dimly proper Victor Prynne that gave Laurence Olivier his start on the stage, and Una Merkel is equally fine as the air headed Sybil Chase (famously asked not to "quibble"), the new wife abandoned by Robert Montgomery's Elyot Chase.

If there is a weakness in the film's acting, it is in the merely solid performance from Robert Montgomery - playing totally American and closer to Robert Young than Noel Coward (who wrote the part for himself and originated it in the London and Broadway stages). Nevertheless, to date, PRIVATE LIVES has been on Broadway at least seven times, and with the exception of Coward's original and Brian Bedford's dazzling work opposite the Tony winning Tammy Grimes in David Merrick's 1969-70 production, Montgomery may be the best of the major Elyots. The role's insecure flippancy makes it a close to impossible one to pull off as well as it is written, and Montgomery comes very close indeed.

Coward's other immortal comedy, BLITHE SPIRIT, which kept audiences on both sides of the Atlantic laughing through most of World War II, was filmed in England (and in color) just after the war, with a cast and script even closer to the spirit of the original, but the cinematic style has not aged nearly as well as this generally excellent PRIVATE LIVES. Still, BOTH of them should be near the top of the "must see" list for any lover of classic literate comedy.

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