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The Divorce of Lady X, 1938
Everard Logan (Laurence Olivier) is a young lawyer staying the night at a hotel. When a thick fog rolls in, many revelers at the hotel are unable to leave, and accommodations quickly fill up. Leslie Steele (Merle Oberon) manages to talk her way into Everard’s room, despite his protests. Believing her to be married, he repeatedly tries to exile her, but eventually relents and lets her stay the night. Due to a misunderstanding, he later comes to believe she is a woman called Lady Mere (Binnie Barnes), whose husband, Lord Mere (Ralph Richardson), is seeking divorce due to infidelity. Leslie decides to amuse herself by letting Everard continue to think that she’s the unfaithful wife.
This is a light puff pastry of a romance with engaging characters and lots of whimsy.
While the whole film is charming, it’s the extended opening sequence that is probably the best stretch of the movie. After grumpily denying the hotel staff the option of letting a stranded traveler share his very large hotel room (which includes separate rooms and two different beds), Leslie simply swans in, pointing out that “Please, do not disturb” is merely a request and not a command. Honestly, the idea of someone coming into your hotel room and refusing to leave is really off-putting, but somehow the antics and physical comedy of the sequence overrode my natural irritation at Leslie’s intrusive behavior. Witness Leslie holding her body as flat as a plank as she demonstrates the impossibility of her sleeping on a couch. Watch as Everard and Leslie prove the universal truth that the fastest way to kill any sexual tension is to try and move a large piece of furniture together.
From that excellent opening, the film settles into a milder, but still pleasant, rhythm. As Everard litigates different cases, his attitude toward the women involved morphs from idealistic praise to sharp-tongued misogyny depending on how he’s currently feeling about his affair with a “married” woman. Leslie, for her part, can’t resist stringing Everard along, seeing how far he is willing to go for love.
While the movie never recaptures the magic of the beginning, it’s helped along its merry way by fun performances from Barnes, whose Lady Mere is all too happy to assist Leslie with her scheming, and Morton Selton as Leslie’s loving and wise grandfather. The relationship between Leslie, her grandfather, and their put-upon butler Slade (JH Roberts) is very sweet, and it’s very endearing that when Leslie admits to having spent the night in a hotel room with a man, they fully believe her that nothing improper happened.
And while obviously this is all meant to be light entertainment, I appreciated that the film gave Everard a chance to be actually upset when he begins to learn that Leslie has deceived him. A sticking point for me in romantic comedies often centers on the fact that one---or both!---of the people in the relationship committing ongoing deceit. It’s nice to have a film that acknowledges that having been lied to for a long period of time isn’t something you just shrug off.
Again, this is a fun and fluffy romantic comedy, a generally soft and enjoyable treat.
The Divorce of Lady X, 1938
Everard Logan (Laurence Olivier) is a young lawyer staying the night at a hotel. When a thick fog rolls in, many revelers at the hotel are unable to leave, and accommodations quickly fill up. Leslie Steele (Merle Oberon) manages to talk her way into Everard’s room, despite his protests. Believing her to be married, he repeatedly tries to exile her, but eventually relents and lets her stay the night. Due to a misunderstanding, he later comes to believe she is a woman called Lady Mere (Binnie Barnes), whose husband, Lord Mere (Ralph Richardson), is seeking divorce due to infidelity. Leslie decides to amuse herself by letting Everard continue to think that she’s the unfaithful wife.
This is a light puff pastry of a romance with engaging characters and lots of whimsy.
While the whole film is charming, it’s the extended opening sequence that is probably the best stretch of the movie. After grumpily denying the hotel staff the option of letting a stranded traveler share his very large hotel room (which includes separate rooms and two different beds), Leslie simply swans in, pointing out that “Please, do not disturb” is merely a request and not a command. Honestly, the idea of someone coming into your hotel room and refusing to leave is really off-putting, but somehow the antics and physical comedy of the sequence overrode my natural irritation at Leslie’s intrusive behavior. Witness Leslie holding her body as flat as a plank as she demonstrates the impossibility of her sleeping on a couch. Watch as Everard and Leslie prove the universal truth that the fastest way to kill any sexual tension is to try and move a large piece of furniture together.
From that excellent opening, the film settles into a milder, but still pleasant, rhythm. As Everard litigates different cases, his attitude toward the women involved morphs from idealistic praise to sharp-tongued misogyny depending on how he’s currently feeling about his affair with a “married” woman. Leslie, for her part, can’t resist stringing Everard along, seeing how far he is willing to go for love.
While the movie never recaptures the magic of the beginning, it’s helped along its merry way by fun performances from Barnes, whose Lady Mere is all too happy to assist Leslie with her scheming, and Morton Selton as Leslie’s loving and wise grandfather. The relationship between Leslie, her grandfather, and their put-upon butler Slade (JH Roberts) is very sweet, and it’s very endearing that when Leslie admits to having spent the night in a hotel room with a man, they fully believe her that nothing improper happened.
And while obviously this is all meant to be light entertainment, I appreciated that the film gave Everard a chance to be actually upset when he begins to learn that Leslie has deceived him. A sticking point for me in romantic comedies often centers on the fact that one---or both!---of the people in the relationship committing ongoing deceit. It’s nice to have a film that acknowledges that having been lied to for a long period of time isn’t something you just shrug off.
Again, this is a fun and fluffy romantic comedy, a generally soft and enjoyable treat.