Riptide (1934)(dvd)

Synopsis: The unusual meeting of British aristocrat Herbert Marshall and Park Avenue party girl with a past Norma Shearer leads to an idyllic love affair, then marriage and a child. However, when the wife is caught up in a scandal in Cannes, through the drunken antics of an old flame (Robert Montgomery), the husband is consumed with jealousy and wants a divorce.

Written and directed by Edmund Goulding, the film is an intriguing, but sometimes uneasy, mix of romance, farce, arch comedy of manners and moral dilemma. Shearer carries it off superbly, Montgomery (as so often) irritates, Marshall is polished and the cast includes the legendary Mrs Patrick Campbell. Very 1930s.

Cast: Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery
Runtime: 92 min