A Bill of Divorcement (1932, George Cukor)

Despite a great cast, there is very little to recommend here. It is an awfully dated melodrama of importance today because it marked the film debut of Katharine Hepburn. Once again, I caught George Cukor sleeping on the job. This is a filmed play, nothing more. A trained monkey would have done a better job. Cukor doesn’t even handle the actors well. Although Hepburn’s performance is not bad, she has an irritating stiffness that characterizes her early RKO phase. John Barrymore is touching as a Hepburn’s father but near the end of the film, he has a tendency to overplay during big dramatic moments. However, he is nowhere as hammy as Billie Burke, whose overacting is unintentionally funny. David Manners is his usual anemic self. There are some strange continuity problems too. Hepburn’s make up changes from take to take. It’s mostly for curious cinephiles who want to see Hepburn’s first movie.

~ by gelpi2008 on Friday, June 19, 2009.