The Divorcee

Directed by Robert Z. Leonard for MGM, this film follows Jerry, who learns in the third year of her marriage that her husband has been unfaithful and answers it by spending a night with his closest friend, telling him she has balanced their accounts. He is then the one who wants a divorce, and the film's sharpest line sits right there: loose women are great, but not in the home, eh. Norma Shearer won an Oscar for the role, but getting it is a story in itself. Her husband, producer Irving Thalberg, did not think she had enough sex appeal and had another actress in mind. Shearer arranged a private session with an independent photographer and had a series made that cut against her established image, and on seeing the results Thalberg changed his mind and gave her the part. The same session launched another career: Thalberg hired that photographer as MGM's official portrait photographer. The source novel was so scandalous it had been published anonymously, and the censors forbade MGM from using its title in the credits. This plot would have been unmakeable once the Production Code began to be strictly enforced four years later. Who it's for: Fans of pre Code Hollywood and of films that take the sexual double standard head on. Who it's not for: Not for viewers expecting uncensored nerve, since the film still carries the softenings its era imposed.