The Divorcee

Plot

Ted (Chester Morris), Jerry (Norma Shearer), Paul (Conrad Nagel), and Dorothy (Helen Johnson) are part of the New York in-crowd. Jerry's decision to marry Ted crushes Paul. He gets drunk and is involved in an accident that leaves Dorothy's face disfigured. Out of pity, Paul marries Dorothy. Ted and Jerry have been married three years when she discovers he had a brief affair with another woman — and when she confronts him on their third anniversary, he tells her it did not "mean a thing." Upset, and with Ted out on a business trip, Jerry spends the night with his best friend, Don. Upon Ted's return, she tells him she "balanced [their] accounts," withholding Don's name. Ted is hypocritically outraged and they argue, ending with Ted leaving her and the couple filing for a divorce. While Jerry turns to partying to forget her sorrows, Ted becomes an alcoholic. Paul and Jerry run into each other and she discovers he still loves her and is willing to leave Dorothy to be with her. Only after she meets Dorothy is Jerry forced to evaluate her decision.

Norma Shearer won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Also starring in the film are Robert Montgomery, Conrad Nagel, and Florence Eldridge.

Cast

Production

MGM production head Irving Thalberg bought the rights to Ex-Wife in the summer of 1929. Thalberg's original choice for the role of Jerry was Joan Crawford.

Norma Shearer, Thalberg's wife, was originally never in the running for the lead role in The Divorcee because it was believed that she did not have enough sex appeal; only after Shearer arranged a special photo session with independent portrait photographer George Hurrell and Thalberg saw the result, did he relent and give her the role.

Releases

The Divorcee was released on DVD by Warner Home Video on March 8, 2008 (along with A Free Soul, also starring Norma Shearer), as one of five pre-Code films in the "TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 2" DVD box set. Other movies with the same title were released in 1917, 1919, and 1969.