Before Ruth Chatterton lost her child as Frisco Jenny, she lost her child to her husband as Marjorie Lee. The manner in which she lost her child was rather contrived and had a lot to do with the social mores of the day, but I could see something similar happening.
She was in SouthAmpton enjoying a swim in the beach when she began drowning. A big strapping lifeguard saved her and when she came to she began laughing. It was like a nervous tick ala Joaquin Phoenix's version of the Joker.
The other lifeguards saw an opportunity to play a joke on their coworker. They convinced him that Mrs. Lee was interested in him and would want to see him. Well, this idiot snuck into her room through the fire escape and attempted to get into bed with her. Right then a maid entered the room (apparently maids didn't knock before entering back then) and blabbed to the resort manager who then kicked Marjorie (Ruth Chatterton) out of the establishment. The whole thing made news and Marjorie's husband, Hector Lee (Raymond Walburn), divorced her as a result.
Hector got his lawyer Daniel Farr (Clive Brook) to pillory Marjorie on the stand which caused her to also lose her child as she was seen to be unfit. Marjorie then set out to get her revenge--not on her philandering husband (he was seeing someone else while accusing his wife of infidelity)-- but on Daniel Farr. How could he say such nasty things about her when he doesn't even know her?
I thought going after the lawyer was a waste, but I was for it so long as she got around to hurting her ex-husband as well. Well, she never did get around to the ex (he wound up being stung by his mistress) and she went soft on the lawyer. He proved to be a nice guy and she couldn't bring herself to ruin his reputation after all.
Oh the nice guy and how women swooned for them. Don't misunderstand me, I think it's excellent that women prefer nice guys to bad guys, but the way they depicted it in the 30's was that all a guy had to do was be nice to a woman once and then she was in love. Even if he'd been a complete jerk towards her for years, one moment of niceness would turn her heart. I wanted more commitment from Marjorie to inflict harm and less 1930's female predictability.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
She was in SouthAmpton enjoying a swim in the beach when she began drowning. A big strapping lifeguard saved her and when she came to she began laughing. It was like a nervous tick ala Joaquin Phoenix's version of the Joker.
The other lifeguards saw an opportunity to play a joke on their coworker. They convinced him that Mrs. Lee was interested in him and would want to see him. Well, this idiot snuck into her room through the fire escape and attempted to get into bed with her. Right then a maid entered the room (apparently maids didn't knock before entering back then) and blabbed to the resort manager who then kicked Marjorie (Ruth Chatterton) out of the establishment. The whole thing made news and Marjorie's husband, Hector Lee (Raymond Walburn), divorced her as a result.
Hector got his lawyer Daniel Farr (Clive Brook) to pillory Marjorie on the stand which caused her to also lose her child as she was seen to be unfit. Marjorie then set out to get her revenge--not on her philandering husband (he was seeing someone else while accusing his wife of infidelity)-- but on Daniel Farr. How could he say such nasty things about her when he doesn't even know her?
I thought going after the lawyer was a waste, but I was for it so long as she got around to hurting her ex-husband as well. Well, she never did get around to the ex (he wound up being stung by his mistress) and she went soft on the lawyer. He proved to be a nice guy and she couldn't bring herself to ruin his reputation after all.
Oh the nice guy and how women swooned for them. Don't misunderstand me, I think it's excellent that women prefer nice guys to bad guys, but the way they depicted it in the 30's was that all a guy had to do was be nice to a woman once and then she was in love. Even if he'd been a complete jerk towards her for years, one moment of niceness would turn her heart. I wanted more commitment from Marjorie to inflict harm and less 1930's female predictability.
Free on Odnoklassniki.