Movie Reviewed: Pivate Lives (1931), starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery

Movie Reviewed: Pivate Lives (1931), starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery

Amanda Vs Elyot

This is a tale of Amanda (Norma Shearer) and Elyot (Robert Montgomery) who really care for each other but are divorced and re-married to others. They end up in the same hotel for their honeymoons in adjoining rooms. It doesn't take long to discover that they are next door to each other. Not long after that they end up in Switzerland. This another controversial pre-code film that MGM brought from theater, this time it is Noel Cowards highly successful " Private Lives." Well directed by Sidney Franklin and good script writings by Hans Kraly, Claudine West and Richard Schayer makes the film interesting. But it is the theme of the story that makes it controversial. Amanda and Elyot being married to others, live in "sin," so to speak for a 1931 movie. Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery coped zestfully with Coward's rapid-fire repartee. Reginald Denny and Una Merkel played the thankless roles of their dull spouses.

At times, this movie reminds me of 1937 movie, "Awful Truth'" starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne especially when Shearer and Montgomery start bickering. It is fast paced movie and as always, it is a pleasure to watch Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery together.