I'm sorry, but the scenes with Norma Shearer and Fredric March simply fall flat. Shearer's "fey" acting style is contemptible at the best of times, but her overacting in every single scene simply destroys the fabric of this otherwise well written melodrama. Who saves the day? Charles Laughton of course! His is truly the only performance which shines in this movie. Uno O'Connor and a ravishingly beautiful Maureen O'Sullivan try their best to keep the project afloat, but Norma Shearer absolutely ruins the movie. There is some welcome comic relief given by Mary Clayton Anderson, an actress who really should have been given more screen roles in Hollywood. Frederic March is wooden and over-the-top at the same time. I never believed for one second that he was in love with the main character.
