classicsoncall Discovering IMDb about a decade ago has sent me off in various directions to derive my movie entertainment, and one of my goals is to sample work from as many of the principal actors and actresses through the ages as possible. This was my first look at Norma Shearer and though I came away satisfied with her performance here, I thought the story was rather incredible; translate that as not credible at all. I just can't get over the idea that the close of the story had her character walking out of the theater with a guy who was such a cad throughout the picture. Not that her morals were any better, but gee, what were the odds things were going to get any better once the lovebirds became a couple? My summary quote offered by Lisbeth's (Shearer) friend Geneva may have been offered in a different context, but the sentiment still holds true.I don't think I'll dwell on the story too much because other reviewers here have done so already, and I found some other interesting elements that caught my attention. Starting out, did anyone notice in the opening scene when Lisbeth and Alan got off the plane together - where was the pilot? There didn't seem to be much room in the compartment when they got out, and there wasn't anyone else visible in the plane! How does that work? And say, how about the crowd at the football stadium for 1931! It matched the view of the arena from last night's Super Bowl game as I write this (Denver 24, Carolina 10), and it just stunned me that so many people would be attending a ball game in the Thirties.And finally, when was the last time anyone has seen a fur coat with the animal's head still on it? I always thought that was rather disgusting from an aesthetic point of view. When Lisbeth shows up at a Paris night club she's wearing one that looked like it might have been a fox. An elderly aunt of mine had one once (decades ago) and it was fashioned so the mouth latched on to one of the legs to snap it in place and it just grossed me out.So just getting back to my original point, it was totally frustrating for this viewer to see how Alan kept giving Lisbeth the brush off and she kept rolling with the punches. Finding out about the wife in Paris would have found most mortal women going through the roof and she simply regarded it with general equanimity. For his part, the long put off and put upon Steve (Robert Montgomery) should have read the tea leaves long ago and moved on, but then I guess we wouldn't have had this troublesome dynamic. Interesting that Alan and Steve never came to blows over their respective relationships with Lisbeth, another plot element that doesn't stand up to scrutiny in the human nature department.

st-shot Fresh from her Oscar winning performance in the Divorcée (30) Norma Shearer more or less reprises the same role of the scorned woman in Strangers May Kiss. The glamorous Shearer wears a multitude of gowns, sports a few different hairdos and creakily overacts with a series of tremulous outbursts.In Strangers men behave badly as they drink, carouse, chase skirts and keep wives in the dark. Lisbeth Corbin (Shearer) vows she will not get caught up in such dishonesty, especially after witnessing one such discretion that leads to tragedy. She goes to Mexico with a married archaeologist (Neil Hamilton) and they fall in love but he leaves her for the job. Vowing she won't get fooled again she embarks on a two year spree across Europe seducing men from Paris to Madrid.Strangers gets the full MGM treatment in terms of set design and costuming. Ms. Shearer is exquisitely posed and framed but the bosses wife (Irving Thalberg) comes across shrill and smug most of the time. The films construction is disjointed and so poorly edited it has you wondering if reels are missing.Strangers May Kiss is clearly a star driven vehicle for Shearer but she breaks down often while more dependable supporting jalopies like Marjorie Rambeau and a touching Irene Rich leave her in the dust.

blanche-2 This is a precode movie starring Norma Shearer, who looks gorgeous in all the gowns (and is that the way people dressed for a football game in the '30s?). Shearer plays a free spirit who doesn't believe in marriage and instead cavorts and travels with a reporter. Of course, she's kidding herself, and she wanted the wedding ring all along - when he announces he's been married the whole time and then breaks up with her, she takes up with every man she meets. This is never actually stated, which makes it kind of fun. Robert Montgomery says, "Boy, what I heard about you in Paris." Shearer: "You didn't believe it, did you?" Montgomery: "Not the first 6 or 700 times." Montgomery easily steals the movie as her funny, charming, ever-drunk good friend. It's the best role and holds up today. The other roles don't - the story is too melodramatic, acted in an old-fashioned, hand on the forehead style that dates it.Added to that, the reporter character of Alan, played by Neil Hamilton, is despicable, making the film a frustrating experience for the viewer.As an artifact and for the clothes and sets, you can't beat it, though.

Patrick-96 This movie was pure soap opera for 1931 audiences. Today it's rather "talkie" and the moral standards of the film by today's liberal standards are laughable. But the great Norma Shearer is always fun to watch, and Norma never looked better on the screen. Her Adrian designed gowns are breathtaking and she is nothing short of ravishing.