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
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