Riptide (1934) User Reviews (24)

Sheer Soap.

[nycritic · 5/10 · 26 August 2005]

RIPTIDE boasts one of the most interesting first scenes I've seen in a long time. Both Norma Shearer and Herbert Marshall appear dressed in insect costumes as they prepare to go to a party. The sight of both of these actors in silly outfits was enough to make me rip into uncontrollable laughter. Now, if only the rest of the movie would have stayed as a comedy, maybe I would have enjoyed it a little more.

This is not a bad movie by far but the soap elements are a little too cloying at times, but then again, this was the what the public wanted from Norma Shearer -- melodrama that told similar stories of her liberated women behaving in ways that some "representatives of moral conduct" would find offensive. As a matter of fact, her melodramas and Joan Crawford's were mainly the same, with the crucial difference that Crawford's heroines came from humble beginnings and Norma Shearer's heroines were independent women from the upper crust. That's all. That Crawford couldn't see the essential similarities of her films and Shearer's is strange, but it's possible that the social status of Shearer's characters is what Crawford longed for instead of variations of shop girls. And, of course, the Oscar nomination, but that's another story and I'm digressing.

Whatever the case, this is standard soap in which Norma plays a married woman with a past who finds herself courted by a former lover and after their clandestine affair is discovered she finds herself on the hot seat with her husband who doubts her fidelity (and wouldn't you?). Complications ensue, veer close to divorce (which would have made her one of the few actresses to play more divorced women in the 30s as noted in PRIVATE LIVES, THE Divorcée, and THE WOMEN) but eventually she decides to stay with her husband since they do have a daughter, and of course, that means saving the family.

Is the plot credible? No. Norma's Mary is somewhat inconsistent in true soap-opera tradition as she is asked to put her own feelings into judgement. Marshall is too unattractive a presence, and Robert Montgomery would have been the choice to play main leading man since they were well matched in PRIVATE LIVES. Nothing to marvel about, since Norma would tackle a meatier role in THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET only months later.

Norma and Montgomery in another precode potboiler

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 25 May 2006]

Norma Shearer teams up with Robert Montgomery again in "Riptide" which also stars Herbert Marshall as part of a love triangle. There isn't too much special about this, but the beginning scene, with Marshall dressed as an huge insect and Shearer as a spider is very funny. Having just finished Shearer's bio by Gavin Lambert, it speaks of figure problems she had, particularly with her legs, and how hard she worked at being in shape. It paid off. She is absolutely beautiful in this film.

It's always difficult to realize that evidently, Herbert Marshall was once considered a romantic leading man, but given this movie and "Girls Dormitory," which I saw recently, I guess he was. In this, he sweeps playgirl Shearer off of her feet; they marry and have a daughter. After five years of wedded bliss, he goes on a business trip. While he's away, Norma meets old friend Montgomery at a party. He's always been crazy about her. They get drunk, kiss, and she runs for it. The next thing she knows, he's fooling around outside her window and throws himself off of her balcony. Scandal. Hubby comes home to headlines. Doesn't know if he can believe that nothing went on since the scripts hints that she was a slut while she was single. Marriage strained. Etc.

This kind of story is a little hard to take these days, but Shearer and Montgomery are very good. In comparison to their lively performances, Marshall is rather dull - which is the point, so it's appropriate.

The amazing thing about "Riptide" is an appearance by Mrs. Patrick Campbell, a theater icon. She's excellent as Marshall's aunt. I've often wondered if some of the early stage luminaries were as good as everyone claimed, but after seeing Campbell and the Barrymores in film, they sure were. For this reason and because it's pre-code, "Riptide" is worth seeing.

has hollywood royalty.

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 5 May 2019]

At the opening, Mary (oscar winning Norma Shearer) and Rexford (Herb Marshall) are getting ready for a costume ball. This was the mid-1930s, just as the film code was getting enforced more strictly, so it's not quite as spicy as it might have been. They get hitched, but then Rex gets sent away on business, and Mary goes to a party with old friend Tommie (R. Montgomery) . Things get steamy, things happen or don't, and now there are injuries and mis-understandings to be sorted out. Can things be set right? age old story of getting to the truth of what happened. it's pretty good. the cast list shows Walter Brennan as the chauffeur; he was doing a mix of credited and uncredited roles right up to the mid-1930s. appeared in TONS of things with john wayne! There is a smidge of humor here, between the sad and serious parts; Skeets Gallagher and Robert Montgomery both have a few funny, clever lines. Bea Tanner Campbell is naughty Aunt Hetty. her imdb bio contains amusing stories, even on her time making THIS film with Norma Shearer. only made 6 films... too bad. she was a lot of fun. It's pretty good entertainment. worth a watch.

The legendary Mrs Patrick Campbell in a talking movie

[zpzjones · 12 April 2004]

This movie may come off dull to some when first seeing. But you have to understand movie & theatre history to appreciate a film like Riptide. For me it was seeing a legendary and famous lady actually acting and speaking in one of her very few films. In this case Mrs Patrick Campbell(Stella Beatrice Tanner Campbell). Like Mrs Leslie Carter, another famous Mrs, Mrs Pat, in her youth, was a famed actress from the theatre of the 1890s and 1900s. Her relationship with writer George Bernard Shaw is legendary amongst Shaw or Broadway Theatre fans. Mrs Pat didn't seem to make any silents and for posterities sake made three or four talkies in the 30s as a novelty of which Riptide is the only one I've viewed. Thank goodness! because at least many of us fans, generations down the road, can get to hear and see what she sounded like and perhaps get a glimpse of her acting and appreciate her legend. This is what's great about film. Preserving the performances of a once famous actress like Mrs Patrick Campbell. If only other theatre Greats had done movies like Mrs Pat. Ie: Maude Adams(the original Peter Pan), Julia Marlowe(famed American Shakesperean actress), John Drew(uncle of the three Barrymores).

This story is a typical Norma story of the day. Much like those that she had played in earlier films of the early 30s. She's caught between two men. In this case Herbert Marshall & Robert Montgomery. She marries Marshall, has a daughter with him and then he's gone away much of the time and she starts to take up with the younger Montgomery. The rest of the film is a series of adventures for Norma as Aunt Hetty(Mrs Pat) and others take her to St Moritz, Monte Carlo etc to help her find herself. Marshall was himself an interesting actor. He, like Ronald Colman and Basil Rathbone had seen action in WW1. In Marshall's case he lost a leg and even though a suave/textured leading man here, as well as in other films, he's walking around ably on a wooden leg. All in all I quite enjoy the treats this film offers. Norma was a very sexy woman with a nice shape. She wears some nice(and Pre-Code) form fitting gowns and looks fetching. Silent screen star Lilyan Tashman makes her next to last appearance in a supporting role as one of Norma's friends. She died soon after this was made. And of course the ultimate treat of this movie, seeing theatre great Mrs Pat Campbell and hearing her act. Wonderful!

Norma Shearer was the best

[AaronPK · 6/10 · 7 September 1999]

She was incredible. This movie quickly jumps forward in time, but the dialogue between Mary (Norma) and Trent was great. If only she had kept making movies and not ended so abruptly.

No movies today compare to Riptide (which was controversial at the time)

Decent film, but dated as well

[xan-the-crawford-fan · 7/10 · 10 October 2021]

A free-spirited young woman named Mary (Norma Shearer) meets a stuffy English aristocrat named Philip (Herbert Marshall) at a costume party. They fall in love and get married on a whim, but are soon a happy husband and wife, with a daughter. However, the wife embarks on an affair with a charming young man called Tommie (Robert Montgomery), despite her initial refusal. The man falls from a balcony to his death, causing scandal for the woman and leaving people wondering if it was an accident, murder, or suicide.

I watched this film a while ago, so I don't remember the exact details. It's pretty much a paint-by-numbers Norma Shearer Pre-Coder, complete with an unwelcome moralistic happy ending at the end. Norma had pretty much entirely grown out of her silent movie mannerisms by this point, so her performance is more palatable than usual (for non-fans) here. Herbert Marshall is his usual, boring, stuffy self, and Robert Montgomery-

I feel bad for Robert Montgomery's characters in his Norma Shearer films. He's always so in love with, and clearly a much better fit for her (and much better looking) than the man she is lusting after (Marshall, Chester Norris, Rod la Rocque, you name it), yet after a quick affair, she always tosses him aside and goes after the dull-as-dishwater leading man she had initially done away with. Ah, morals.

The plot, as I mentioned above, is predictable, and doesn't hold up well today, giving the film a sort of time capsule feel ("Oh, look at the quaint little antique, because after all, film history started with The Godfather!"). All stars have done better, but in this film, they are passable entertainment. The beginning is amazing- Herbert and Norma in insect-man suits (!)- but the film gradually peters out and is rather dull by the time it ends. I hate to say this, but most of Norma Shearer's Pre-Coders haven't held up well.

Yet if you only see one of these "Norma Shearer plays a classy, slutty free soul who ends up with the same guy she ditched in the beginning" films, let it be Riptide. One question, though- why did she often play characters named Mary?

Simple but entertaining

[HotToastyRag · 6/10 · 12 May 2021]

It's a case of "don't leave your wife alone" in Riptide. Herbert Marshall and Norma Shearer are happily married, until he leaves on a business trip. She meets up with an old flame - quite by accident - and manages to resist his charms. That's quite a feat, since the ex-boyfriend is played by the ultimate 1930s playboy Robert Montgomery! But when Herbie comes back, he doesn't believe Norma that nothing happened between them because she "was the kind of girl who didn't stop with a kiss," even when they were courting.

This pre-Code drama is actually quite funny. It makes us giggle now to see what got sneaked through before heavy censorship was put in place; but imagine how hard the audience was laughing in 1934! "He's in bed with his miseries," Norma laughs about Bob sulking in his room after she's rejected him. "With who?" Mrs. Patrick Campbell asks in all seriousness. Euphemisms are used: trembling, fluttering, and volcanos, and in-tact. Norma's loose ways are openly discussed, and her past indiscretions are thrown back in her face when she's caught in an embarrassing situation with Bob. To find out how embarrassing, or whether or not Norma and Herbie can find truth and peace, you'll have to rent this entertaining old flick. I recommend it!

Norma's Last Pre-Code Picture

[EightyProof45 · 10/10 · 4 October 2003]

The story is a bit difficult to comprehend for some viewers, but the general gist of it is pretty racy. This was one of the final pre-Code motion pictures made in Hollywood, and the last one Norma Shearer made. Being the `Queen' of pre-Code film, it is not only enormously entertaining, but also significant for this reason.

Norma Shearer's Mary has lead a pretty racy life in New York, and, as her husband finds out later, `doesn't stop with a kiss.' However, when she meets Lord Rexford, she is willing to give up this carefree existence for a new life and family in England with him. She succeeds for five years, not philandering or smearing his family's name in any way. Then, however, Lord Rexford goes on a business trip to America. Knowing his wife's past in New York, he decides to play it safe, so to speak, and leave her at home. However, his delightfully decadent Aunt Hetty (played by theatrical legend Mrs. Patrick Campell, in one of her rare screen appearances), brings Mary to Cannes, where she runs into an old `friend' named Tommie (Robert Montgomery, Shearer's greatest on-screen co-star) whom she knew from her New York days. At a party late one night, Mary and Tommie seclude themselves and he takes advantage of her. Outraged at him, she storms back to her hotel, Tommie following. She locks herself in her room, and Tommie tries to gain entrance from his balcony across from hers. He misses, and crashes through a canopy. He winds up in the hospital. Feeling somewhat guilty about the fall, Mary visits him. He claims that her kiss will help him immensely, and seeing no harm in that, Mary grants him his wish. Unfortunately for her, though, a newspaper man snaps a picture at that exact moment, and although there was absolutely no romantic attachment on Mary's part whatsoever, the picture is placed on every newspaper cover imaginable. Her husband returns some time later, and is outraged himself at what his wife has done. After some contemplation on his part, he decides to get a divorce. What can Mary do, seeing as she really has done nothing? There is not proof whatsoever to give Lord Rexford his grounds. So Mary, in a risqué pre-Code manner, gives her husband his grounds by actually participating the acts the newspapers claimed she did. She has a fling with Tommie, and is about to tell her husband so he can go through with the divorce, when he decides he loves her after all. Uh oh! Now she must hide the tryst from her husband, which seems to be simple until Tommie decides he too loves Mary and is unwilling to give her up. With some help from Aunt Hetty and sister Sylvia, Mary is able to finally straighten out her situation and return to a happy life with her husband.

Riptide is blessed with a scintillating script, fine direction, and lovely sets. Apart from fantastic acting, however, the production is further blessed with two absolutely fantastic elements: Adrian's glorious costumes and Ray June's stellar camera work. Norma Shearer was never more lovely than in this picture, thanks to Adrian and June. The costumes are the finest she ever wears (with a possible exception being Marie Antoinette). The cinematography is perhaps the finest of the thirties, with beautiful contrast between skin tones, sets, and wardrobe. Every frame is set up as a wonderful painting, and it is perhaps the finest example of what they mean when they say `in glorious black and white.' The picture, much like real life, is never quite sure whether or not it is a comedy or a drama. The M-G-M/UA Home Video writers who wrote the summary on the back of the box tried to push the comedic elements; many modern review anthologies, such as Leonard Maltin and Videohound, tend to label it with terms like `solid drama' and `soaper.' Whether the film succeeds or not tends to rely on which you choose. The first time I watched it, I believed what I had read elsewhere and found it a strong drama. As such, I was a little bored with it, but Shearer was always worth watching. The second time I viewed it, I decided to take the comedic approach. And boy was I glad I did. As a comedy, this film is amazing. Its unbelievability seem not to matter, and one gets caught up in the romance and wit. Each time I watch it, I see more and more humor, and I truly believe that all involved saw this humor beneath the surface. The cast and crew must have filmed it thinking it was a comedy. Don't watch this as a dramatic soap opera, like The Divorcée or A Free Soul. Savor it for what it truly is: a gentle and satirical farce about sexual relationships and attraction. As such, you will be at an advantage.

Settling Down with Norma Shearer

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 23 May 2009]

New York socialite Norma Shearer (as Mary) clicks with English Lord Herbert Marshall (as Philip) after they shed the weird costumes donned for a "World of the Future" ball. Though "entirely different people," they fall in love. After five years of wedded bliss, Mr. Marshall is called away on a business trip. Lonely in London, Ms. Shearer succumbs to her old ways, and goes out partying with dotty Stella Patrick Campbell (as Aunt Hetty) and prissy secretary George K. Arthur (as Bertie). In Cannes, Shearer meets boozing Robert Montgomery (Tommie), who once pursued her. A misunderstanding leads husband Marshall to believe Shearer slept with Montgomery, and divorce talk follows. Dejected, Shearer is comforted by Montgomery…

As it was released before July 1934, when the Motion Picture Association of America decided to enforce its Production Code regarding appropriate cinematic behavior, "Riptide" was able to show an adulterous woman in a fairly positive light. "The kind of girl who didn't stop at a kiss," as Marshall describes Shearer's character, was successfully replaced by a more ladylike Shearer, after this film. That it's well-produced (by MGM) and "pre-code" doesn't mean "Riptide" is excellent. The story is as silly today as it must have been upon release (when everything was still "pre-code"). Shearer and Montgomery perform well together, but Ms. Campbell (billed as "Mrs. Patrick Campbell") and the rest of the cast are more of a treat.

***** Riptide (3/30/34) Edmund Goulding ~ Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Stella Patrick Campbell, Herbert Marshall

Not so old fashioned as you think...

[kikiteka · 8/10 · 13 August 2010]

One of the things I find interesting in these comments are how many people insist that this is a terribly old fashioned story that couldn't be made today. Really? Because while watching this all I could think was that if movies could be said to have a family tree, then I think the movie The Kids Are All Right, which has been praised to the skies for being such a "modern" story, shares plenty of DNA with Riptide. There is a theory that there are really only 36 plots, and every story is just different variations on those 36. I think the key when watching these movies is asking yourself, what is the basic bare bones plot of this story? Can this story be told now and is someone telling it? The answer is almost always yes. It's fun to realize the progression.

There were a couple of really great scenes in this. The bug costume scene in the beginning(that was a seriously skimpy spider costume!) and the scene where she gets drunk with Trent and jumps into the pool. I did wish the film would have followed up a bit more with her husband's secretary, who was clearly in love with her. They just showed him mooning over her the whole movie, but never went anywhere with that. It seemed a bit random. I think if you're not going to do anything significant with something like that, don't include it in the movie.

Poor Script, Overbearing Acting by Shearer

[tr-83495 · 4/10 · 17 April 2019]

Poor script and overbearing acting by Shearer. You want to shake her and ask "Why can't you just be yourself?" Hopefully, the affected and effete presence she portrays in every film is not the real person.

There is no chemistry here between any of the actors and only the opening scene is funny, but it has no relevance to anything that is to come.

Thalberg should have shut this down as soon as he realized this was bad. Wouldn't reading the script do that?

Worth seeing just to see Herbert Marshall in his Insectman costume!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 21 November 2015]

This film brings up an interesting dilemma...and oddly I haven't seen any movies like it even though it came out in the 1930s. When the film begins, Phillip (Herbert Marshall) meets Mary (Norma Shearer) and they fall in love. Soon they have been married for four years and have a cute kid. Phillip goes abroad on a business trip and during this time, Mary accepts a fateful invitation to travel to Cannes. There she meets up with an old beau, Tommy (Robert Montgomery). Tommy gets drunk and misbehaves and EVERYONE notices. Soon Phillip has heard about it and he starts doubting his wife's fidelity. Even though he says he still loves her, it's obvious he's not sure and this is destroying the marriage. What's next? See the film.

This film is worth seeing for the interesting script and fine acting. But the biggest reason is to see Herbert Marshall dressed up as an Insectman for a costume party. Bizarre is a HUGE understatement! See this film!

Norma is a precious jewel

[rosalita · 7 September 1999]

Norma Shearer's emotional range and charm is always a delight. Her costumes in shiny silk charmeuse and deep dark velvet translate so well in vintage black and white, and the topic of a woman's "decency" in the 30's and small minds is dramatic and poignant. I love this decade of movies for the history and social culture they often evoke.

Even at her most frivolous, Norma Shearer always overdid the nobility.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 11 May 2020]

You can't have a Norma Shearer picture if she isn't long-suffering, I just threw a cheating husband ("The Women", among others), a murderous father ("A Free Soul"), a very mature teenager ("Romeo and Juliet") or a queen about to lose her head ("Marie Antoinette"). I've always said that the wicked baroness in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was an amalgamation of Shearer, Jeanette MacDonald and Billie Burke, and in this film, Shearer's performance truly emulates what Anna Quayle later did. it's ironic that cheers insect costume in the opening scene is straight out of the big costume ball in "Madam Satan", even though she never makes it to that ball to give us a glimpse of other wild and wacky costumes.

If Shearer's costume is exotic, check out Herbert Marshalls insect man costume, bug-eyed and with tentacles. This is a view of society at its most frivolous, and while Marshall's character is the most sensible of everybody, he has his moments where he seems to be one of the idle rich. Marshall and Shearer meet by accident when his car stops to pick her up, and they are soon married with a child. Shearer's old beau from New York, Robert Montgomery, pops up, and she ends up facing scandal when Montgomery drunkenly falls from her balcony into a crowded restaurant below. Montgomery doesn't believe his wife's investigation and prepares to divorce her, but soon changes his mind, leading to scherer torn between the two men as she has decided to go on with her life, unable to face it without any man present.

This film will always be remembered as one of the few screen appearances of stage legend Mrs. Patrick Campbell, playing Marshalls eccentric aunt. it's the type of role either May Robson or Allison Skipworth or Constance Collier a or Jessie Ralph or Helen Westley to play, Campbell takes on the role with gusto, hysterically revealing a private conversation she is having on the phone to everybody in the room. she is theatrical royalty, and she knows it, and she is making sure that everybody around her on the set knows. She is a delight even if her svlcenes are overplayed. The art direction and costumes for this film are superb and there is much to be satisfied by. But there is something in the overly played flamboyance that makes it a bit too silly overall which is what prevents it from being a truly good film.

Will Mary's "Past" Ruin Her Future?

[cdale-41392 · 8/10 · 18 June 2019]

Lord Rexford (Hebert Marshall) is an English aristocrat visiting Manhattan, and he meets Park Avenue party-girl Mary (Norma Shearer) when they share a ride to a costume party. They hit it off immediately, ditch the party, and start a Vacation Romance.

The Vacation Romance turns serious when the Lord is supposed to go back to the UK and he asks Mary to marry him. It's made clear that they were already having sex and that he knows of her "past" flings with other men. Mary resists at first, worried how he'd feel later on about marrying a woman who has been around a few times, but gives in.

"A ring in the nose and a beating every Saturday night, please!"

A few years later we see that they are still happily in love ... or perhaps I should say -nauseatingly- in love because they lay it on thick when they get all lovey-dovey.

The Lord has to go away on a business trip to the US and can't take Mary, so he leaves her with his Aunt Heddy who lures her away to Cannes for the duration. It's there that she runs into an old flame, Tommy (Robert Montgomery), and things get complicated. They get drunk and exchange a kiss. That gets Tommy's engines going and he goes after Mary even though he knows she is married!

What follows is a bit of comedy, a bit of melodrama, and a lot of business about Mary's scandalous past (and present).

"In New York you were the kind of girl who didn't stop at a kiss!"

It's an interesting story with some great actors and clever dialogue.

Recommended!

Another love triangle for radiant Norma

[Ted-101 · 5/10 · 8 February 2001]

The opening scene of this film shows Norma Shearer and stuffy Herbert Marshall dressed up as insects for a costume party. This is the highlight of the film - it's all down hill from there. Marshall marries Shearer, even though she plays a woman whose been around the block a few times. Very big of him. Years pass, then he starts worrying about whether Norma is going to start going astray, especially when handsome Robert Montgomery shows up. As the film drags on, Marshall becomes increasingly irritable and short-tempered, while Shearer stands on her head in an effort to please him and live up to the super high pedestal that he has placed her on. The whole business has no credibility. Herbert Marshall made a living in the early 30's playing guys who comes out second to studs like Clark Gable and the like. And so he should. Marshall is a homely stuffed shirt in film after film, and there's no reason why he should ever be the first choice of the gorgeous actresses he played opposite during this time period.

Possibly the romantic film ever!

[1930s_Time_Machine · 8/10 · 11 October 2023]

Forget that this is a slushy melodrama. Forget that the acting is in that early 30s style. Forget that this is about over privileged posh people. Just let yourself soak in this enveloping romantic gorgeousness.

A romantic melodrama, certainly one with Norma Shearer is not something I'd normally watch. If like me, you prefer your 30s movies gripping and gritty or realistic and edgy, this is the last thing you'll think you want to see. Just forget what you think you like and watch this because it's absolutely brilliant! Since none of you know me, I can admit to you all that this actually made me cry. I have either lost my mind or this is an outstanding emotional piece of cinema!

The story itself is hardly original, it's just your typical love triangle but it's done so well with so many unexpected twists: and turns. The script is a little over the top at times but the English language has rarely been used so beautifully to evoke such emotion. Although, unless you're a member of the aristocracy, there's nobody in this you think you will be able to relate to, everyone is surprisingly engaging - and that engagement happens instantly. It lasts a little longer than a lot of 1930s pictures but you will want it to keep going, it's very entertaining.

What you will discover, if you didn't already know, is what a truly fantastic actress Norma Shearer was. If you look at photos of Norma Shearer you'll think: the only reason someone so plain as that could be a big star was because she was married to the boss. She is not what you'd call pretty, or even moderately attractive. You can't imagine how someone with her looks could be a romantic lead.....but then she moves, then she speaks and it's it's like you're under a magic spell. You've got to see her in action because it's impossible to describe but this very ordinary looking woman transforms before your eyes into the most sensual and erotic epitome of sex you'll ever see. The level intimacy which she portrays with both Herbert Marshall and Robert Montgomery sometimes makes you feel almost uncomfortable - you feel like you've walked in on something private, something you think you shouldn't be seeing, something very real. The acting is outstanding.

It's directed by Edmund Goulding who also wrote this so he invested all his considerable directorial talent into making his little story as perfect as he could. He seems to be the ideal director to make such a picture about the love lives of the upper echelons of society but despite his outward persona as the archetypal refined English gentleman, he was anything but. This guy was THE party animal of Hollywood hosting parties which were infamous as being virtual orgies. If you've seen BABYLON you'll know what I mean. Whilst watching this you can't help wondering what would be going on in the bar after the filming was over.

Overall, even if you don't think you'll like this, if there's a small pilot light of romance in you, give this a go, it's a beautiful film.

Dull and uninteresting

[qualityguyftl · 3/10 · 3 August 2011]

I loved Norma Shearer in The Women,Marie Antoinette and The Divorcée. However I'm finding her other films to be one disappointment after another and Riptide is no exception. Costarring the overused Robert Montgomery, Norma stars as yet another NY party girl (she was now a bit old to be playing these giddy socialite parts) who of course meets a Lord, gets married and then a misreported adventure with a former bf causes scandal and she is faced with divorce. The pace of the film is about as slow as watching paint dry, Montgomery is his usual annoying self as the drunken bf who almost kills himself because of his love for Norma (after not seeing her for years he does this in one evening). The plot is stale, Norma overacts and Montgomery is just annoying. Herbert Marshall is totally miscast as a leading man, as he seems the most boring man on earth, why would Norma's character even like him? I found myself falling asleep during the pivotal (it's divorce!) scene. For die hard Norma fans only.

Norma Shearer has never been more beautiful on the screen.

[Pat-54 · 8/10 · 30 September 1998]

The first scene, with Norma Shearer and Herbert Marshall dressed as insects, is hilarious. The plot is old fashioned, but Norma looks so beautiful that you tend to forget it.

Barely A Ripple These Days

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 12 August 2010]

Riptide is a film that sad to say has not worn well, especially for its stars Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, and Herbert Marshall. It's so old-fashioned that I can't see how a remake could ever be possible from the material.

Park Avenue socialite Shearer and titled English earl Marshall meet in costume sharing a limousine ride to a costume party. Both are in insect costumes and they're pretty funny. On an impulse they marry. Would the rest of the film have been as hilarious as the beginning.

After five years of marriage in which Marshall and Shearer now have a daughter, they're getting in a rut, especially for Norma. So much so she's easy prey for the attentions of old friend and Broadway playboy Robert Montgomery. I think you see where this is all going.

Edmond Goulding directed Riptide and two years earlier he had given MGM Grand Hotel which still holds up as a cinema classic. Goulding's next greatest hit was for 20th Century Fox with Nightmare Alley where Tyrone Power shed his matinée idol image. But in writing and directing this film, Goulding came up short of the standard set by those other films.

Riptide was the fifth and final film that Robert Montgomery and Norma Shearer did, the most prominent being Private Lives and The Divorcée. Those hold up better than Riptide.

It's a terribly old-fashioned type of story that creaks along. Would that it was as good as it started out.

Norma Shearer is a delight

[gbill-74877 · 8/10 · 17 June 2021]

Norma Shearer is a delight in this film, which was the last of her pre-Code appearances. She gives a very natural, charming performance in scenes that call for tenderness, temptation, flirtation, and playfulness, including those with the two leading men (Robert Montgomery and Herbert Marshall), her aunt-in-law (theater legend Mrs. Patrick Campbell), and her adorable daughter (Marilyn Spinner). She's helped considerably by the script which has a lot of life to it, something evident from the beginning, when we see Marshall in a giant 'Insect Man' costume and Shearer in a revealing 'Lady Sky bug' number, get ups designed by Adrian for a "World of the Future" ball. The story degenerates into a bit of a soap opera in its second half, but it had scored enough points with me early on that I didn't mind too much.

One thing that's great about it is its frankness with the sexuality of Shearer's character. From the dialogue, it's clear she's had premarital sex with men before meeting Marshall's character, and has sex with him too. She's content to leave it at a fling, but he wants marriage, a role reversal from what we'd traditionally see. At the same time, she's not portrayed as a tramp, on the contrary, she's sweet, funny, honest, and full of life. When they marry, though, the expectation is that she'll "settle down," which she jokingly agrees to ("From now on, a ring in the nose and a beating every Saturday night, please"). Fast forward five years, and tension comes in the form of Montgomery's character, a friend from her single days who meets her while her husband is travelling, and over drinks makes a pass at her. She rebukes him, but the story makes the newspapers, and between that, Montgomery's persistence, and Marshall judging her, she's torn between the two men from then on.

As I mentioned, it spirals a bit, but watching Shearer deal with the emotions of the character made the film for me. In one fine scene, Marshall throws her past up into her face while suspecting her of adultery, thinking of how she "didn't stop with a kiss" back in the day, calling to mind the double standard of the period. That's a little irritating, but this was the reality in 1934, and Shearer is given the power of choice, without being condemned. Eyebrows are raised by the other characters, but if she goes off with Montgomery's character they and the audience will know it's due to the thrill having faded from her marriage, and that she will survive. As she puts it, "No man is gonna let me or not let me do anything ever again."

The film drew the ire of the Father Daniel Lord, one of the authors of the Production Code, who condemned Shearer for taking the role of a "loose and immoral woman" and her husband Irving Thalberg for casting her in films like these, which in turn enraged Thalberg. Lord (and Joseph Breen's) position were more about keeping women in their place, since the behavior of Marshall's character is the same but there were no comments about a "loose and immoral man." They would soon put the shackles of the Production Code on Hollywood, which makes seeing this last Shearer film before that happened, at a time when she was quite good as an actor, special for me.

Aristocrats Are so Queer

[view_and_review · 2/10 · 29 February 2024]

I cannot find a movie starring Norma Shearer that I like. She's always mixed up with some man, or men, in an unfavorable way and it irks me. "Riptide" is another romantic mix up that was both cliche and exaggerated.

Norma Shearer played Mary Rexford, an American in England for unstated reasons. She and Lord Phillip Rexford (Herbert Marshall) fell quickly in love--so quickly that you knew something was going to go wrong.

Five years into their magical marriage Phillip had to go to America on business.

Uh oh.

One thing 1930's romances have taught me is that you never, and I mean NEVER, leave your sweetheart alone, not even for a day. Don't believe me? I have the receipts.

In "It Happened One Night" (1934) Claudette Colbert was on the way to her husband on a cross country trip and fell in love with Clark Gable.

In "The Mystery of Mr. X" (1934) Ralph Forbes went to jail for ten days and his sweetheart Elizabeth Allan fell in love with Robert Montgomery (who also happens to play spoiler in "Riptide").

In "Man of the World" (1931) Lawrence Gray went out of town on business and lost his sweetheart (Carole Lombard) to William Powell.

In "Transgression" (1931) Paul Cavanagh left his wife Kay Francis in France for a year while he was in India on business and lost her to Ricardo Cortez.

In "Dinner at Eight" (1933) Phillips Holmes went overseas for a bit and lost his fiance (played by Madge Evans) to John Barrymore.

In "Central Airport" (1933) Richard Barthelmess was a pilot and his sweetheart Sally Eilers was his parachutist. He got injured and had a two month hospital stay. Once he healed up she was married to his brother (played by Tom Brown).

So, when Lord Phillip went to America for business in "Riptide," I knew something was going to interrupt his marriage.

And something, or rather someone, did.

His wife Mary (Norma Shearer) was home alone for the first time in years so she decided to go out and have some fun. When she heard that an old acquaintance named Tommie Trent (Robert Montgomery) from New York was in the same hotel she went to his room to invite him to some revelry.

The two began having a blast, and if you ask me, they were just a little too chummy for my tastes.

Eventually, Tommie saw an opportunity to kiss Mary. He thought he'd read her right, and maybe he had (she was laying on her back on the couch right beside him when she was just sitting up before that), but Mary caught herself.

"Now you've gone and spoiled everything," she said. That would've been the correct time to take her leave, but she stuck around a little bit longer--just long enough to give Tommie the idea that he could reel her in.

When Tommie went to go make a drink she ran away.

Running away in and of itself was sort of an admission. "I'm too weak to repel you because I desire you, so I will run away when you leave the room."

Tommie went searching for her and fell off of a balcony in the process. The fall landed him in the hospital where Mary went to visit him to make sure he was alright.

This is where the movie was a little extra.

When Mary went to visit Tommie she asked what she could do for him. I already knew what he was going to say because it was just too easy.

"Kiss me," he said as she sat on his bed leaning over him only a foot away from his face. I'm gonna say that was the standard way of talking on screen back then because of the limitations of the cameras. Still, it was cringey, especially when brother and sister or father and daughter spoke to each other that closely.

"Will you go to sleep and be quiet?" she asked as if the kiss she was prepared to give him was for the greater good. This is something I've seen in other movies and it always baffles me. A man will request a kiss or some affection from a woman he has no right requesting it from, and the woman will say something like, "Only if you'll leave," then kiss the guy as if it was a necessary evil. Hollywood gave women no backbones.

Mary proceeded to kiss Tommie and a cameraman JUST SO HAPPENED to be right there to take the photo. The picture made it to all the tabloids and Phillip (remember her husband?) was rightly incensed. He leaves for business one time and his wife is in another man's bed kissing him in front of cameras.

Mary was remorseful and apologetic. She did everything to try to convince her husband that "nothing had happened," and that he could trust her. She even went so far as to request Tommie to tell her husband nothing had happened, and I couldn't help but think, "Are you dumb?"

That is the last thing you should do! If you've been caught kissing another man, don't call that man up and have him explain to your husband that nothing more happened. Firstly, you've let the side-dude know that there's trouble in paradise and he may have an in. Secondly, you've let your husband know that you're still in contact with that man. Finally, that man is the last person your husband is going to want to see. He doesn't want to hear his name or see his face ever again. Lord Phillip said as much to Mary. She essentially had made a bad situation worse.

Now the movie could go one of two ways. They could divorce and Mary would naturally go to Tommie, or they could remain together, but Tommie would be a black cloud hovering over them. The one thing I did expect was for Mary to eventually get angry at Phillip for not forgiving her, run off, then Phillip would realize he loved her anyway and go after her.

That's pretty much what happened. With a little more unnecessary spice.

Phillip told Mary that he thought divorce was best. He couldn't shake the thought of her with Tommie plus she had a history that he knew about but had consciously overlooked.

Mary assumed the mention of a divorce was a death blow so she said F it so to speak. That same night she went ahead and slept with Tommie. So even if Phillip had second thoughts, she made sure to confirm his worst thoughts and fears. It was a hasty move that seemed to be incongruous with her goals, but maybe she was just an easy lay after all.

In the end, after another round of heart breaking, they remained together, proving that love is stronger than everything else. It wasn't so much a happy ending as it was a resignation. Phillip didn't want to let her go, and I'm sure if the movie ran another ten minutes he would've second guessed himself again. In my eyes, all of the mix ups and misunderstandings are because of high-society rules. Among working class folks a man's wife shouldn't be alone with another man. And if she is, it's going to be dealt with quickly, vociferously, and maybe even violently.

Aristocrats are so queer.

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Hollywood Pre-Code

[marks1356 · 9/10 · 10 June 2021]

Watching Norma Shearer makes me think of the Hollywood crowd at the time always out on the town or at a party at Pickfair or The Thalberg beach house or next door at Marion Davies place. Somebody always playing piano or singing, entertaining each other. The Rathbones, Lady Silvia, Irene Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford. Joan Crawford. They might have overacted a bit but it's entertaining. Mrs Patrick Campbell is reason enough to catch this one and she doesn't disappoint stealing the scene even as Norma pushes to keep up with her. For my money it's these Golden Age Hollywood Stars that make these movies interesting.

Norma Shearer returned to the screen after an absence of over a year!

[Pat-54 · 8/10 · 22 September 1998]

When producer Irving Thalberg fell ill in 1932, he and his wife, Norma Shearer, left Hollywood and went on an extended tour of Europe. Returning to M-G-M in 1933, he produced this film under his new contract and cast Norma in the lead role. It was not the hit Thalberg had hoped for, but the public was grateful to see Norma Shearer again, despite the weak script.