Best Actress: Norma Shearer

"I've balanced our accounts." 

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One thing I don't have in common with Joan Crawford? I absolutely adore Norma Shearer. And I absolutely adore The Divorcee. 

One of my earliest memories of Norma Shearer was seeing her face on a postcard as a part of Canada Post's celebration of Canadian actors (Marie Dressler got a postcard as well) and falling in love with her story as a Canadian talent who really became a pinnacle of the studio system in the '20s and '30s. There's a reason she was nicknamed First Lady of MGM, and, yes, it's also because of her husband's sheer power at the studio (Irving Thalberg, the boy genius, was a marvel at getting movies made), but the woman was a star and had the talent to back it up. 

The Divorcee isn't without flaws (that ending, amirite?) but Norma is pretty damn spectacular as the thoroughly modern Jerry Martin. She and her husband Ted are cosmopolitan, but when she finds out on their third wedding anniversary that he's had an affair—and that the affair partner has shown up to their party—she's devastated and consumed by an urge to settle the score.

So she has her own affair and tells Ted "I've balanced our accounts." 

Reader, this movie is called The Divorcee for a reason: Ted is so angry at the thought of his wife having an affair, even though he's done the exact same thing, and uses pretty misogynistic language to try and justify why it was okay in his case but not in hers. So they divorce. 

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The ending is nothing to write home about: Jerry and Ted wind up back together after realizing that they still love each other deep down. But I'm nothing if not a hater first and foremost, so I can tell you with absolute certainty that I would not be as loving as Jerry is. 

The Divorcee was such a departure for Norma Shearer, who'd built a career playing prim and proper goody-goodies and historical figures, that not even her MGM executive husband (Irving Thalberg) believed she could be the sexy, modern Jerry Martin. She won the part by posing in lingerie and sending the provocative photos to Thalberg, and after seeing that his wife had the parts, she got the part. Could you argue that in a era before physically transforming yourself nearly almost won you an Oscar that Norma's departure from the norm of her filmography achieved the same? In my opinion, yes.

This breezy performance is one of my favourites of the early years of the Academy Awards. Dare I say my favourite of the 1920s and 1930s? I guess we'll find out as I continue working my way through the movies. But while I adored Janet Gaynor and think Mary Pickford's first talkie is worth watching, I wouldn't recommend them the same way I'd recommend The Divorcee. This one is required viewing not only for the pulse of Hollywood at the time, but as an example of a stellar Pre-Code film.

Norma was nominated against Nancy Carroll (The Devil's Holiday), Ruth Chatterton (Sarah and Son), Greta Garbo (Anna Christie and Romance), Gloria Swanson (The Trespasser), and was also nominated separately for her performance in Their Own Desire. This quirk of multiple nominations per category would soon die out, and with the caveat that I haven't seen Their Own Desire, I think the deserved performance won. 

DID I LIKE THE DIVORCEE? Yes! I loved it and I loved Norma!

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Did you like The Divorcee? What are your thoughts on Norma Shearer's Oscar win? 

Keep up with all my Rewatching the Best Actresses posts here.