Best Pictures #29: 1929-30 (3rd) Academy Awards, My Pick for Outstanding Production

by A.J.

Best Pictures #29: 1929-30 (3^rd) Academy Awards

My Pick for Outstanding Production

The first time in which all Academy members voted on the selection of nominees and winners, instead of a 5-member selection board as with the first two awards ceremonies, was at the 3^rd Academy Awards. The ceremony was held in November to be closer to the end of the qualifying year (August 1^st, 1929-July 31^st, 1930). Though still in its nascent stages, the Academy Awards at this time already feels like the modern awards. There were 5 Best Picture nominees (then called Outstanding Production) that included a big budget epic, a feel good musical romance, a historical biopic, a sociopolitical drama, and a daring portrayal of adult relationships.

The films themselves feel as though they have come a long way since the switch from silent to sound just a couple years prior. The sound quality of all of the nominees is greatly improved from the 2^nd Academy Awards nominees—the sound quality of which depended on how close the actors were to a hidden microphone. Improvements with camera and microphone technology meant that actors did not have to huddle around that hidden microphone and the camera did not have to be far away and motionless—in some cases sealed in a soundproof booth—so the microphone would not pick its noises. The camera and actors could move more freely which allowed for more interesting cinematography and staging. There is still that ambient hiss that pervades throughout early sound films, but there’s no need to crank up the volume. Every sound in these films is clearly audible and the sound design and effects are used to help and enhance the story, not just dazzle the audience as a novelty. These films seem to have learned that dialing back on sound and using just images is still as effective as it was with silent movies. All Quiet on the Western Front, The Big House, The Divorcee, and The Love Parade all have memorable scenes which use the lack of dialogue for effect on the audience. The sound quality of movies with outdoor scenes is greatly improved from the 1^st outdoor talkie, In Old Arizona. With these films sound is now just another element of movies, like costumes and music. It works in the background to help tell the story. The silent era was now indeed just that, an era with beginning and end dates. There were not “talkies” anymore, there were only movies.

The films of this qualifying year seem to be more aware of and willing to deal with social issues. Every film from the birth of sound until the summer of 1934 is a Pre-Code film, made before the enforcement of the Hays Code which strictly regulated the content and subject matter of films. All Quiet on the Western Front and The Big House make their audiences confront the realities of groups of people society sends away and doesn’t think about too much afterwards. I can understand why the Academy voters selected All Quiet on the Western Front as the Outstanding Production of that year. The Great War was a major event that still weighed large on that generation. It was a daring portrayal of war that mass audiences likely had not seen and showed what veterans likely would not readily share. It is a fine classic war film, though dated, but I would cast my vote differently.

My Pick for Outstanding Production of 1929-30: The Divorcee(1930)

The film from this group of Outstanding Production nominees that I would most want to see again and would most readily recommend to anyone, classic film fan or not, is The Divorcee. The best thing about the film is its main character, Jerry, and Norma Shearer’s Oscar winning performance. I do not think the film judges Jerry for “living it up” after her divorce or for not waiting for men to come to her, but it does treat that behavior as an aberration. Jerry never becomes immoral, she only wants equality. Having a character like this as the star of a movie, no matter how the film ends, is an accomplishment of sorts. Another accomplishment The Divorcee makes is finding the right balance between social consciousness and entertainment. 

The Divorcee begins and ends as a romance, has drama in between, and never feels uneven. Whether with fun scenes of lavish parties or serious scenes between Jerry and her sister, the film maintains a steady pace. The male characters that surround her (Ted, Don, and Paul) are entertaining characters as well. The comedy in The Divorcee certainly holds up and, along with the performances, makes it a lively film. Certain camera shots and sequences keep it visually interesting too.

A modern viewer might be disappointed in The Divorcee’s view of divorce as an unacceptable social ill, but I also think a modern viewer will be far more sympathetic and understanding of Jerry and her actions. The film does not take a stand against double standards and unfairness and inequality toward women, but in simply acknowledging that such things existed The Divorcee was bold and daring for its time. Its values may be dated, but The Divorcee is no less entertaining.

Best Pictures #26: 1929-30 (3rd) Academy Awards Outstanding Production Nominee, The Divorcee (1930)

by A.J.

Best Pictures #26: 1929-30 (3^rd) Academy Awards Outstanding Production Nominee

The Divorcee (1930)

The Divorcee’s nomination for Outstanding Production shows that the Academy’s interest in controversial but popular films existed since its early years. This film is based novel The Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott, which was also popular and controversial when it was released. The controversy of the novel and film stems from its subject matter: marital infidelity and divorce. MGM was hesitant to be associated with the racy novel, so the title of the film adaptation was changed to The Divorcee, a classier way to say “ex-wife” I suppose. This would not be a racy or controversial film today, but it remains quite entertaining. The Divorcee has interesting characters, good performances, and a good sense of humor and drama. The Divorcee was released on DVD in the TCM Archives Forbidden Hollywood Collection Volume 2, but this set has since gone out of print making tracking down a copy slightly difficult and expensive (it currently sells on Amazon.com for $130). However, it airs occasionally on TCM, and I very much recommend watching it should it be on the schedule.  

MGM may have acted like they did not want to court controversy, but is seems as though they didn’t put great effort into making The Divorcee any less controversial. The Divorcee may be tame and even conservative by 21^st century standards, but modern viewers should keep in mind that this was a time when the subject of divorce, let alone female sexuality, made for impolite and improper conversation. This movie pushed boundaries, addressed the double standards of male vs. female infidelity, and, most of all, it had a good, well-developed, strong, and interesting female character as the lead.

I had been looking forward to watching The Divorcee since I haven’t seen many Pre-Code movies. Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the brief time period after the advent of sound films until the strict enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934. At this time films were not protected under the First Amendment because of a Supreme Court ruling in 1915, which declared films were purely commercial and not art. That unfortunate and idiotic decision would be overturned in 1952. The Hays, or Production Code, was actually created in 1930, but it was not enforced until the summer of 1934 when every film was required to have a Production Code seal of approval before it could be released. The Production Code severely regulated and limited a film’s content and subject matter. Before then movies were free to contain violence, risqué subject matter (like infidelity and divorce), and, most notable of all, highly suggestive innuendo.

The coveted title role of The Divorcee went to Norma Shearer, but it did not come easy to her even though she was married to MGM production chief Irving Thalberg. He originally wanted to cast Joan Crawford. At that time, Shearer was known for playing “lady-like” characters, so Thalberg thought she lacked the sensuality the role would require. To prove her husband wrong, Shearer had a series of photos taken of her posing provocatively in a revealing dress. Her plan worked. Thalberg cast her and she won Best Actress at the next Oscars. Shearer’s nomination, however, was for The Divorcee and her performance in another film, Their Own Desire (1929). When she was announced as the winner, only The Divorcee was specified and the reason for this remains unknown even to Academy historians.

The film begins with a group of friends having a getaway party at a country house. Jerry (Norma Shearer) announces her engagement to Ted, played by Chester Morris, much to the poorly hidden disappointment of her other suitors, Paul (Conrad Nagel) and Don (Robert Montgomery). Paul gets very drunk but still drives a car full of people, including Jerry’s sister, Dorothy, down a winding road. The car crashes and Dorothy is disfigured. As Jerry marries Ted in a pretty ceremony in a church, Paul marries Dorothy out of pity in a hospital room. After three happy years, Jerry discovers that Ted has been unfaithful and responds by having an affair of her own, with Don. Jerry and Ted divorce, and then Jerry decides to live it up.

I was worried that The Divorcee would be tonally uneven with the first half being light and romantic and the second half being mostly dramatic, such as with The Crowd (1928) and The Love Parade (1929). Like those films, it does begin as a light romance, then becomes a drama but never becomes too heavy to be entertaining. Though the second half of the film is where all of the drama and tension lies, it is not devoid of comedy. The Divorcee has a good sense of humor and delivers laughs at a steady, consistent pace. In a scene late in the movie, Don runs into Ted in New York. Ted is a mess from the divorce. The scene grows tense as Ted describes to Don what he’d do if he ever found the man with whom Jerry had her affair. It’s an awkwardly funny and tense scene that is capped with a good visual punchline from Montgomery.

The tagline for The Divorcee asked the scandalous question: If the world permits the husband to philander, why not the wife? When Jerry and Ted become engaged they agree that their marriage will be a partnership and they would be equals. The film takes subtle steps to suggest that Jerry is the equal of her male counterparts. In the novel, the main character’s name is Patricia, but— according to the DVD commentary by film historians Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta— was changed to Jerry for the film to represent gender equality. Vance and Maietta cite other elements like Jerry wearing masculine clothing (trousers) in the opening scene and her turning down Don with a polite handshake as aspects showing that Jerry would treat people and situations the way a man would, not the way society dictated a woman of the time would. I concur with their assertions. When Jerry confesses her infidelity to Ted, which she feels very guilty about, she begs him to remember what he told her about his own affair: it didn’t mean anything. As Jerry confronts Ted with this role reversal, the movie confronts the audience with the double standard towards female infidelity. Ted does not take it well. Jerry’s indiscretion is done in part as an act of revenge, but also an act of equality.

I can see why Shearer want to play the part of Jerry; it’s an interesting, well-developed, and challenging role for any actress to play. The great thing about Jerry is that even while “living it up” she is never indecent or immoral. The film’s climax is a test for her character: she runs into Paul who tells her that he still is and always has been in love with her and is ready to leave his wife, her sister, for her.

The Divorcee has everything I’d hoped to see in a scandalous Pre-Code movie. The parties the characters attend throughout the movie are big, glamourous, and ornate with balloons and streamers, and lots of alcohol, even though the movie was made during Prohibition. The parties are what you think of when you imagine parties of that era. It is interesting to see how films of the Pre-Code era managed to be risqué without being crude or crass. The Divorcee, like all Pre-Code films, implies more than it shows which ends up making certain scenes more provocative and effective. The movie shows us Jerry sitting close to Don in a taxi with a devious look on her face. The next thing we see is a shot of a window and curtains closing.

The Divorcee has a fair share of visually interesting moments beginning with a shot of everyone at the country house standing in the doorway watching Jerry and Ted. The scene of a drunken Paul driving a speeding car down a winding road is already tense enough, but the POV shots of the road speeding toward the screen intensifies the danger and suspense. Perhaps the most memorable sequence is a brief montage of Jerry meeting men after her divorce. She is dressed glamorously and her hair is done up gorgeously. The film shows us each man’s hand holding her hand. She accepts jewelry from one of the gentlemen saying, “I’ve heard of platonic love but I didn’t know there was such a as thing as platonic jewelry.” The movie leaves it up to the audience to decide what happens before or after each shot.

I found The Divorcee quite entertaining as both an attempt at social commentary and as a romance film. By addressing the real and stressful moments that often do rear their ugly head on a happy couple, The Divorcee becomes a film of substance and emotion. While its ultimate conclusion seems old fashioned or “traditional” by today’s standards, it also ends with a happy couple, which fits the tone of the movie. It’s clear to any modern viewer that the film treats divorce as something that is detrimental to everyone and seems more forgiving of male infidelity, however, The Divorce as a whole should not be disregarded because of these dated aspects. I hope that modern viewers won’t dismiss it as a quaint but unsuccessful attempt at a feminist movie. It is a glimpse at what a particular era thought of marriage, infidelity, and sexuality. It is also enjoyable to see a strong female character as the lead in a film from the 1930’s—something that remains unfortunately infrequent in films of today.

Nominee: MGM

Producer: Robert Z. Leonard

Director: Robert Z. Leonard

Screenplay: continuity and dialogue by John Meehan, Treatment by Zelda Sears and Nick Grinde, based on the novel Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott

Cast: Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Chester Morris, Conrad Nagel

Release Date: April 30^th, 1930

Total Nominations: 4, including Outstanding Production

Win: Actress-Norma Shearer

Other Nominations: Director-Robert Z. Leonard, Writing-John Meehan