mmallon4 The Divorce of Lady X stands out above other screwball comedies for three reasons. Firstly it's one of the few screwball comedies filmed in Technicolor which also helps the superb miniature work at the beginning of Trafalgar Square, even if there are a bunch of empty buses driving. Second, it's the only British screwball comedy I've come across to date. Its fun watching typical screwball situations with an entirely British cast, set in Britain with very British lines of dialogue ("You got marmalade all over your newspaper"). All in all, it's a very British affair.Third and by far most importantly in what has to rank as one of the most bizarre of pre-stardom roles, it stars Laurence Oliver. Yes, the master of Shakespearean tragedy, perhaps the most respected and dignified actor of the 20th century as a stuffy gent who at first is delightedly full of himself but soon gets into all sorts of crazy shenanigans at the mercy of a screwy dame. Merle Oberon plays one of the most manipulative characters I've seen in any film (and just for the record, that improvised cape made from a bed sheet she wears is such a brilliant touch) and yep, Oliver goes head over heels for her despite all the anguish she causes him, plus her telling him she previously has had four husbands. Of course all this is made believable, both by the abilities of these two actors but also because of the film's sexual tension and undertones.In fact the film's first act is just one big farcical sequence centered around the sexual politics of the time; the fact that an unmarried man and woman sleeping in the same room was considered scandalous. Of course as film critic Andrew Sarris defines the screwball comedy genre, "a sex comedy without the sex".

MartinHafer "The Divorce of Lady X" is a lovely color film produced by Alexander Korda--a man who had a great history producing films in the UK and US. However, compared to many of Korda's other great films, this one comes up a bit average. It has a great idea but something about it kept it from being a bit better.The film begins in a horrible London fog. It's so foggy that folks can't get home and a hotel is totally booked. The last person to get a room, Everard (Laurence Olivier), is dead tired and miffed when the management asks him to share his suite since there are so many looking for rooms. Despite this, a very pushy and determined woman, Leslie (Merle Oberon), is able to finagle a bed in his room--and here is complications arise. He thinks she's a married woman and the next day, a man comes to hire him (as he's a barrister--that's a lawyer to us Americans) to sue his wife for divorce--and the woman the new client describes sounds EXACTLY like the woman who just spent the night with him! What's he to do? He's initially afraid that he's about to be named a co-respondent but later it's more complicated when he thinks that he's falling in love with this woman--a woman he thinks has been married four times already!I nearly gave the movie a 7, so I did like it. However, sometimes I really thought they made Oberon's character too obnoxious and unlikable. Additionally, why Olivier's character would want to marry her is perplexing considering she's so obnoxious, manipulative AND he thinks she's been married many times already. Add to this a ridiculous courtroom scene at the very end, it just kept me wishing they'd edited or re-written the thing a bit.

Oct The plot of "The Divorce of Lady X" is a silly confection of misunderstandings among the London upper crust which cries out for dance interludes by Fred and Ginger. We have the crusty grandfather, a judge, with an impertinent butler; the screwball granddaughter and the stuffy lawyer at whom she sets her cap; a dotty peer; a harassed hotel manager; the de rigueur beauty parlour scene; and the eclaircissement at a stately home where a hunt is meeting.That is almost the only non-foggy exterior in a story shot in Natalie Kalmus's three-strip Technicolor. It was in its infancy in the UK: luxury hotel suites and posh flats glow in soft, rich tones. (Olivier: 'Where shall we meet? Savoy, Embassy, Claridges?')Korda had got the British industry over the longueurs of early 'teacup drama' in talkies, and the film is quietly but fluently piloted by Hollywood's Tim Whelan. It is stagy neither in blocking nor in the delivery of lines, though the cast other than Oberon (Mrs Korda) are West End veterans.Merle is skittish and fretfully British, posing as 'the wickedest woman in the world'- 'four husbands in five years and two adventures'. Binnie Barnes as the genuine adventuress was one of Britain's first Atlantic movie commuters, and sounds American: her inclusion is Korda's nod to his partners in United Artists and the US market.But the film's fascination, Technicolor apart, is to watch Laurence Olivier on the brink of supremacy: his great voice plangent or whispering, his impatience poking through. It was his last light comic role (unless you count "The Prince and the Showgirl") and he can do it asleep. He is ready for his Hollywood purple patch and the transmogrification to Shakespearean king of Britflicks which would ensue. Here he's predominantly moody and reflective, or peppery. His court outburst against the hypocrisy of modern woman (see the post below for a verbatim transcript) seems heartfelt, however; it gains piquancy from our knowing what heartache Vivien Leigh would give him. Ralph Richardson's bumbling and havering are a good counterpoint to Larry's crispness.Miklos Rozsa, then 30, was a compatriot of Korda. His sprightly score includes Gershwin pastiches. He too would soon take off for Hollywood. Unlike Larry, he stayed there..

marxi Spoilers Ahead Weak and tiresome story of wealthy woman and a conceited barrister who meet because she needs a room on a foggy night. The woman deceives the barrister telling him she is married when she is not and she thinks she is quite clever. She enlists acquaintances to help her with this gag and of course they all find this nonsense hilarious. Too bad the audience won't! Then, as you might have suspected, the barrister and the woman fall madly in love.Even Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon with their high brow acting techniques can't bring any life to this muddled and insipid film. 70/100.