leifhelland

Every time I see Norma Shearer in a film, it baffles me how for years her reputation as a star was in the dumpster. This is only the second silent film I've seen with Miss Shearer, but in both films (this and The Waning Sex), she radiates beauty, intelligence, poise and acting talent.

This is just a trifle, a piece of fluff about a small town girl who comes to the big city, ends up on stage, becomes an overnight sensation, gets upstage, falls to the bottom of her profession and must work her way back up. Norma is enchanting, wears a lot of gorgeous clothes and makes the lighthearted film a joy to watch.

Credit must be given to director Monta Bell, who - beginning with Broadway After Dark (1924) - built Norma's starring career through a series of five films (six if you count her extended cameo in Pretty Ladies), of which this is their fourth (or fifth) collaboration. He was in love with her and their films together are supposed to be expressions of his love (according to Seductive Cinema by James Card). Of course their working together ended when she started dating Irving Thalberg. All in all, a fascinating bit of Hollywood trivia that adds another layer of interest to their collaborations.

Since the plot of THE WANING SEX has been throughly detailed in other reviews, I'm just going to share my thoughts as I watched the film.

In her first scene, Norma Shearer is gorgeous, with shorter hair than she would wear in her better known 30s pre-codes. Also, this is a proto-feminist comedy, rather than the dramas I'm used to seeing Norma in. Norma is a lawyer and Conrad Nagel is the district attorney. He loves her and wants her to give up her career and marry him. She proposes a contest of three events and best two out of three sets the marriage terms.

Conrad Nagel as a leading man left a lot to be desired in my book ... rather bland looking and in this film a bit of a wimp, totally overshadowed by Norma's dedicated career woman. Nagel certainly had a successful career, particularly in the silent era as leading man to such glamorous women as Gloria Swanson (The Impossible Mrs. Bellow, 1922), Leatrice Joy (De Mille's Saturday Night, 1922), Bebe Daniels (Nice People, Singed Wings, both 1922), Pola Negri (Bella Donna, 1923), Aileen Pringle (Elinor Glynn's notorious Three Weeks, 1923), Marion Davies (Lights of Old Broadway, 1925), Dolores Costello (Glorious Betsy, Tenderloin, both 1928), and Garbo (The Mysterious Lady, 1928; The Kiss, 1929). He easily survived the transition to sound but his career faded as the decade progressed.

Back to the film, Norma next appeared in a bathing suit modeled after those worn by men in the 20s, bike shorts-like bottoms with a muscle shirt top, that Norma adds a matching headscarf to cover her hair. Very attractive and it underscores Norma's gentleman-like character. In addition, Norma performs on-camera one of her favorite party tricks in real life-diving into a pool from a standing on her head postion on the diving board. Impressive! The first contest is a swimming race, which Nagel wins.

The second contest is a trial with the lovebirds on opposite sides. There's one of those symbolic scenes that periodically turn up in 20s films ... this time Norma and Conrad trying to tip an enormous statue of the scales of justice in their own favor, symbolizing the trial to come.

Speaking of the trial, Norma verbally skewers Conrad while dressed in a mannish black suit with a skirt, featuring a white shirt, bow tie and a jaunty white carnations in her buttonhole. Norma isn't above using her feminine wiles to sway the jury to the side of her client. Norma handily wins the second contest.

Next we see Norma at her most feminine, brushing her longer, loose hair; dressed in satin evening pajamas and a striped robe before she changes into a stunning white beaded & fringed cocktail dress. A political group shows up at her home and wants her to run against Nagel for district attorney. This almost becomes the third challenge in the marriage contest but after some good natured back and forth, Nagel declares they will get married and be equal partners.

THE WANING SEX is less a battle of the sexes and more a detailed plan on how a weak man can nab a strong, confident woman. It's easy to see why Norma was one of the top MGM stars of the twenties, she's gorgeous and capable in every way scene. The print I saw on YouTube was very washed out, but at least it had a piano score, rather than an organ. It's not a big, important picture, more of a standard romantic comedy meant to be enjoyed and forgotten. It's worth a look.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Ann-Margret and thought she was fabulous in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, Made in Paris and (don't hate me) The Swinger. As her career progressed, her films built her up more and more as a fashion icon, but by the time Murderer's Row was released the fashion and hairstyles were out of control. Since the Matt Helm movies were satires of 007-like spy thrillers, perhaps Ann's clothes were meant to satirize 60s fashion trends. I doubt it, but anything is possible.

The extravagantly mod fashion parade kicks off in high gear when we're introduced to Ann as she's frolicking in a pool wearing a long-sleeved (??), one-piece, striped swimsuit with a beehive hairdo featuring a long braid. The dainty little bow in her hair matched the dainty little bow on her bum but both were completely extraneous. Uncomfortable, impractical and utterly sets the audience up for the fashionable nightmare to come.

We next see Ann in a swinging 60 discotheque, which seems an older (unhip) person's idea of a swinging mod nightclub populated by college-aged kids. Of course Dean Martin as Matt Helm is there and Annie is the picture of hipness in her pink polka dot hip-hugger pants with a long sleeved, pink striped crop top. She goes into one of her wild dance routines while Dino looks on, understandably baffled.

To be fair, Ann wasn't singled out by costume designer Moss , he went overboard on villainess Camilla Sparv outfits too. In one scene, she wears a moss green checkerboard cocktail dress with a lime green ruffle that goes from her shoulder down around the hem of the outfit. But Camille does get two of the best outfits later in the film. The first is a gorgeous emerald green checkerboard outfit that is stunning and later a peachy-pink cocktail dress with side cutouts. She's lovely in both.

But Annie is the fashion-focus here and in her next scene, she shows up in the same outfit from the nightclub scene, but with an added striped hood/kerchief covering her hair and a sleeveless, fitted jacket that flairs around her hips. The matching handbag is striped on one side (matching her top) and polka-dotted on the other (matching her pants). I'm highly doubtful this outfit was ever in style.

The designer decides to take it up a notch in the next scene where Ms. Margret wears a pale blue A-line nightie (?) that ends around her hips trimmed in marabou feathers with matching backless, marabou high heeled slippers. Ann used the outfit to try and seduce Martin and he (barely) manages to keep from laughing out loud.

We next glimpse Ann in a brief scene wearing another VERY mod outfit - lime green checkerboard hip-hugger pants with a white sleeveless, stomach-bearing top lined with the same material as her pants. Her hair is more elaborate in this scene with an I Dream of Jeannie-style ponytail and eyelashes so thick I'm surprised she could see.

When we next catch up with Annie-pie, she's back at the discotheque, this time sporting a truly awful mini-dress made of some fluffy white flowers with yellow centers and a matching cap that ties under her chin. It's probably the ugliest outfit in the film, but we are treated to an out-there dance sequence complete with psychedelic kaleidoscope shots and a plethora of athletic gyrations. Luckily, Dino arrives in time to rip the dress off her before a bomb in her butterfly pin (sent by the film's villain, the great Karl Malden) explodes. Dino drags her out of the club in a sunshine yellow slip with ruffled white bottoms. They keep her in this kind of revealing outfit for the next several minutes of the film.

Annie next is seen in a motor boat, sporting a simple black & white thin striped minidress with 3/4-length sleeves but sets it off with her incredibly thick hair in unflattering pigtails. While the dress is a little chunky, the thin stripes add a touch of elegant simplicity in a sea of overblown outfits. She sticks with this dress for the next several shots.

The fashion parade reaches its climax when Ann comes out in a black & white backless checkerboard mini-dress with white pants and shoes. Terribly mod, but the real news in the scene is Ann's fantastic 60s dream girl hair, pulled back from her face with a B&W headband forming a pouf and long straight hair. From this hairstyle, I can see why Ann ended up working with stylist Cherie on several films in later in her career. Truly perfect. The B&W earrings complete the overall look but particularly set off her face.

Annie ends the fashion parade in an elaborate spaghetti-strapped, bare-midriff baby blue evening gown embellished with three bands of silver beaded fringe (under her bust partially concealing her bare midsection, around her hips and at her knees). The outfit included an enormous feathered boa which did the outfit no favors. Of course Ann's foot-tall beehive hairdo included a round bauble that matched her dress. Thankfully, the dress and boa are ruined when Dino and Ann lie down on his infamous round bed and it slid to the edge of his indoor swimming pool, tipped up, and dumped them in.

That's the fashion overview for Murderer's Row and it was quite the visual overload. As I said in my opening paragraph, I'm not sure of the clothes we're meant as satire, or if the designer simply went off the rails. It's unfortunate that Ann-Margret was shown off so poorly, both in her role and the clothes. She seemed out of step both from the Helm girls that came before and after her, but she wouldn't have made a good Bond Girl either. Her forte at this point in her career was literally romantic comedy (sort of a 60s Julia Roberts) and this was sort of the end of the first stage of her career until she came back gloriously in Carnal Knowledge five years later.