Directed: Lionel Barrymore

Year: 1929

Nominated: Best Director –  Lionel Barrymore, Best Actress – Ruth Chatterton

Plot in 25 Words: A cheating wife is cast aside by her scorned husband. Twenty years later her shameful past is used for blackmail. Her unknowing son forgives all.

In My Opinion: The film started a bit slow, I was struggling to see why Ruth Chatterton was nominated. She seemed very bland and did nothing to stand out, then as the film moved on so did she.

The film gradually moved forward in time twenty years. Each time we caught up with the characters, each time they had aged slightly, she had become more of a character. From the quality I couldn’t tell how they aged her but she suited it. Her older, craggy, and lived in face made her role more believable. The ‘distraught’ mother in the opening scenes seemed hysterical and overdone but the simple, heart-broken mother at the end had a brutal tragedy to it.

The actual plot I didn’t enjoy so much. It dragged on longer then it had to, and I didn’t really ‘buy’ the concept of killing a man to hide her secret. Is being divorced so scandalous? Was a wife cheating on her husband so shaming to him? It’s possible that’s the case, but if so then I am definitely still struggling to understand the social norms of the 20s!

It wasn’t a terrible film but it certainly didn’t live up to the billing of ‘world’s greatest drama’ or of a ‘tour de force heartbreaker’.

Star Performer: Ruth Chatterton, but only after half the film. Her performance grew stronger as each year on film passed. Definitely deserving of an Oscar nomination.

Overall: Yeah a pretty ‘meh’ film. No other notable performances. A plot that I struggled to believe in. Not really my sort of film.