Private Lives (1931)

Director:

Sidney Franklin

Writers:

Noel Coward (play)
Hanns Kräly (writer)

Release Date:

12 December 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Elyot and Sibyl are being married in a big church ceremony. Amanda and Victor are being married by a French Justice of the Peace...

Plot Keywords:

Rekindled Romance | Ex Husband Ex Wife Relationship | Hotel | Quarrel | Newlywed

Cast

Norma Shearer	...	Amanda Prynne
Robert Montgomery	...	Elyot Chase
Reginald Denny	...	Victor Prynne
Una Merkel	...	Sibyl Chase
Jean Hersholt	...	Oscar
George Davis	...	Bell Hop

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Franklin Canyon, Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Glacier Bay Park in Montana doubled for the Swiss Alps in the film's mountain climbing scene.

Quotes:

Amanda: I was brought up to believe it was beyond the pale for a man to strike a woman.
Elyot: A very poor tradition. Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs.

Movie Connections:

Version of Amants terribles, Les (1936)

Soundtrack:

Someday I'll Love You

The witty dialog is completely overshadowed by the constant bickering of the characters.

Noel Coward's very witty and often revived play is a mixed bag. On the one hand you have one of the master wits of the century, on par, say, with George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde, and on the other you have characters which I place near the top of my list of people I don't want to meet. Amanda and Elyot are those people. In a very clever premise, they play an ex-married couple, each newly married to another the very same day, each accidentally spending their honeymoon in the same French city, in the same hotel, on the same floor, and in fact in adjoining rooms. They meet on the adjoining terraces, reminisce over old times and decide it was a mistake to divorce. Leaving notes to their spouses (Reginald Denny and Una Merkel) they run off to a St. Moritz, Switzerland chalet, with their mystified spouses swiftly following to find them. My problem with the film is their persistent and maddening bickering - verbal violence - which they recognize they're guily of, and which each try to stem by using the expression "Solomon Isaacs" to remind the other to stop. It doesn't always work, and it sometimes results in physical violence too.

The acting is uniformly good, even by the supporting players, who also get in their share of shouting. The script of the film was changed somewhat, introducing the character of Oscar (Jean Hersholt, in a small role), but omitting what I thought was the funniest line in the play when I saw it two years ago. Amanda says "Darling, do you realize that we're living in sin?" In the film, Elyot responds "We were married in the eyes of heaven and we still are." In the play he says "Not according to the Catholics." The scriptwriters must have felt that might offend too many people.