The Divorcee | Rotten Tomatoes

The Divorcee

Released Apr 19, 1930

1 hr. 23 min.

Drama

List

78%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

62%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

After three years of marriage, Ted (Chester Morris) has an affair that threatens to destroy his happiness with wife Jerry (Norma Shearer), as she returns the favor by pursuing Don (Robert Montgomery), Ted's close friend. The couple divorces, and Jerry tries to find happiness with a new man while Ted struggles with alcoholism and depression. After a series of flings, Jerry reunites with Paul (Conrad Nagel), who was in love with Jerry before she married Ted -- only to find Paul is now married.

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Louisa E

I thought the plot was very thought-provoking and highlighted the double standard of the time when it came to infidelity. There was a slow patch three-quarters of the way through, but the ending was great, and as a whole, the movie felt relatively modern. Any film with bridge in it makes me happy as it's one of my favourite hobbies. I would have had a lot of fun hanging out with this group at their guest house. My first impression of Norma Shearer is that I was underwhelmed, considering she got the Oscar for best actress for this movie. The constant giggling of the first half an hour was very annoying. By the movie's end, I could see the character progression through the acting, but her performance felt a bit flat to me. Moments of brilliance but moments of cringe too. According to trivia, Joan Crawford wanted the role; I think that would have been fascinating (and maybe a better fit?) I think Conrad Nagel did a great job, as did Robert Montgomery, and I think they were the stars of this movie acting-wise for me. I wasn't overly taken with Chester Morris in this role. I prefer him as a gangster. The special effects of the fast driving scenes are almost comical today but might have been good for the time. I kept wondering if Norma had a "good side" because we kept just seeing the side of her face, usually her left side. In the trivia I read afterwards, it said Norma was cross-eyed, and I guess maybe that is why there were so many side shots. The sets and costumes in this movie were divine. My favourites were the wedding bouquet and dress and Jerry's pants!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/08/23

Full Review

brad h

Overrated. Interesting subject matter but not much more.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Norma Shearer won the Best Actress Oscar. The topic was rather risque at the time and shows a sort of love triangle for the first time in film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Tom M

Norma Shearer is wonderful and deserved the Oscar. It's probably the era, but all three male leads are written as cads.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/05/20

Full Review

william d

Fair to middling melodrama. The most interesting thing is the subject matter. Not many movies from the '30s deal with adultery, and since The Divorcee is Pre-Code it talks about adultery pretty extensively, albeit somewhat obliquely.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Jared D

A very dated tale of the sexual double standard where the double standard wins in the end. Shearer had some memorable scenes as a more "liberated woman" once she is divorced. Despite bring a somewhat risque pre-code film, the filmmakers couldn't bring themselves to close the film with anything but a thrown together sop to the wounded husband's vanity.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/02/20

Full Review

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Robert Z. Leonard

Director

Norma Shearer

Jerry Martin

Chester Morris

Ted Martin

Conrad Nagel

Paul

Robert Montgomery

Don

Florence Eldridge

Helen Baldwin

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Eileen Jones

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Famous for its raciness and bluntly realistic honesty...

Aug 26, 2023

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John Beifuss

Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

A movie about, essentially, the perils of revenge sex (for women, at least).

Rated: 3.5/4

Jun 23, 2014

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Hysterical early talkie melodrama.

Rated: C

Mar 3, 2008

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

It's doubtful that this melodrama, in which Norma Shearer challenges society's double standards about sexual mores by flirting with several men, could have been made after 1934 due to strictures of the Production Code.

Rated: B-

Feb 16, 2008

Full Review

Pablo Villaça

Cinema em Cena

Mesmo que supostamente denuncie o machismo da poca, o prprio filme machista, moralista e repleto de personagens desprezveis, sendo verdadeiramente repugnante.

Rated: 1/5

Sep 20, 2005

Full Review

Nick Davis

Nick's Flick Picks

Refreshingly excited about female sexuality for a Hollywood movie, though pretty tame stuff all in all.

Rated: 3/5

Jun 20, 2004

Full Review

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Synopsis

After three years of marriage, Ted (Chester Morris) has an affair that threatens to destroy his happiness with wife Jerry (Norma Shearer), as she returns the favor by pursuing Don (Robert Montgomery), Ted's close friend. The couple divorces, and Jerry tries to find happiness with a new man while Ted struggles with alcoholism and depression. After a series of flings, Jerry reunites with Paul (Conrad Nagel), who was in love with Jerry before she married Ted -- only to find Paul is now married.

Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 19, 1930, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 21, 2016

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