Divorce

Kay Francis co-produced and starred in three movies made in 1945 for B-movie studio Monogram pictures, two of which were made with the silent era actor-turned-director William Nigh and the screenwriter Harvey H. Gates, including this movie. I think Francis was having a bit of fun at the expense of her own tarnished Hollywood image by casting herself as a four-times divorced woman (which she would soon be IRL) looking to steal a fifth husband (played by Bruce Cabot) from a happily married friend from her childhood, portrayed by Helen Mack. This movie isn't very good (few pictures from Monogram were), but Kay Francis, after being mistreated by the Warner Brothers studio (for demanding too much money, apparently, ultimately being replaced by an inarguably better actress, Bette Davis), at least was in charge of her own destiny by the mid-1940s; that's something, I guess. 4/10.

"Divorce" opens with a crawl condemning divorce as certain to produce misery. It follows with a scene in family court in which a judge refuses to grant one divorce (thus forcing a couple who hate each other to stay together). He reluctantly grants a second despite the obvious collusion involved. The judge preaches against divorce as purely a product of selfishness and bitterness. In the second case, the wife is the oft-married Diane Carter who is a pure gold digger. She isn't present to hear the judge's opinion of her character.

Diane then returns to her home town where she quickly establishes herself as a world class home wrecker. With little effort, she breaks up the happy marriage of Bob and Martha. Diane offers Bob unlimited investment money for his struggling business and a lot more excitement than Martha and their two loving kids. When she catches on, Martha insists on a divorce and rejects all support, taking a humble job in a department store to support herself and the children. The children suffer badly from their dad's absence. Meanwhile, Bob discovers that Diane is no bed of roses.

Viewers of this film must understand that divorce was one of those forbidden subjects under the Hays Code. Filmmakers simply were not allowed to make a serious, balanced film about divorce. The Hays Code was written by a priest and a prominent Catholic layman (Daniel Lord and Martin Quigley). From 1934 on, the Code was firmly administered by a prominent Catholic layman (Joseph I. Breen). One of the reasons the industry accepted self censorship was to ward off boycott threats from the Catholic church. So it is no surprise that the Hays Code firmly embodied Catholic moral teachings--especially including absolute opposition to divorce. Broadly speaking, the only kind of divorce movies that got made during this period were romantic comedies (like "The Awful Truth") in which couples get divorced early in the picture but remarry in the end.

"Divorce" is a serious movie on the subject of divorce that could easily have been produced by the Catholic church to impress teenagers or young married couples at weekend retreats. It puts divorce on the level of genocide in the moral firmament. Its preachiness is incredible and its dramatic value is nil. Needless to say, Breen approved of this film without any reservations. (The censorship files are preserved at the Motion Picture Academy's Herrick library in Beverly Hills).

Give Kay Francis some credit - she went where she could find work. After sticking out a Warners contract where all Warners wanted was to get rid of her, Francis did some films for Monogram, a few notches down from Warners, MGM and the like. "Divorce" was one such vehicle.

The story concerns a four-time divorcée, Diane Carter(Francis) who goes back to her home town. She meets an old beau of hers (Bruce Cabot), a happily married man, and she agrees to back him in a business opportunity.

His wife (Helen Mack) feels threatened by Diane, becomes jealous, and when her husband lets her and their two children down a few times, they divorce. Then he really does take up with Diane.

I didn't think this film was good. For one thing, that marriage went sour mighty quickly, and the wife didn't fight for her husband at all. She just gave up. They have two small children who adore their father, and both husband and wife allow the divorce to take place. Ridiculous.

Also, the wife tears up the alimony checks and goes to work. Fine, but again, what about the kids? She didn't need money for them? Pride can only be taken so far.

The movie doesn't flesh anything out - was the guy just dazzled by Diane's glamor, flattered by her attention, so engrossed in business he let things slide at home? Or did he just no longer care for his wife?

I think he was still in love with his wife and needed a kick in the rear. As for Diane's motives - well, it looked to me like once she saw an opening, she went for it.

I didn't like anyone in this film except those poor kids, and I didn't care what happened to Diane, her ex-boyfriend or his wife. No wonder Kay Francis retired.

This is not a "bad" movie on divorce it makes it's point- the kids are the real loosers in the process. Overall the movie is well written in the 30's, 40's & 50's style of tying things together for the sake of the work rather than attempting to show "realism". An early shot of Bob Phillips (Bruce Cabot)performing a "Court Marshall" for home discipline comes back to haunt him in his final scene as his two boys act as the judge & jury. I have no problem with Kay Francis in her role as the worldly woman stealing away a restless husband returning from WWII. This was a common theme following the war because it was a common problem (& again to point out it's timeliness- it is still a problem). But for pure acting the one to watch was Helen Mack as Martha Phillips. Her dialog delivery and timing are a delight to watch even when the writing does not quite live up to the best of the "golden age" of movie making.

DIVORCE (1945) was Monogram's interpretation of the problems of Divorce. This subject that would become very relevant in the post-war period. There were many quickie marriages when the boys went off too war (WWII) that did not hold up after the conflict was over. The general drift of the film was unfavorable to Divorce. No doubt needed to get through the Censors and the Production Code of 1934.

THE NUTS; Returning veteran Bob Phillips (BRUCE CABOT) comes home to loving Wife Martha (HELEN MACK) and adoring Children, Michael and Robby. Enter former flame Diane Carter (KAY FRANCIS) fresh from her Divorce and loaded with loot and connections, promptly using her influence to lure Bob away from Martha. This provokes the titled 'DIVORCE' which finally results in a 'Code' resolution. Film is well done and moves quickly and would not disgrace a 'B' level production from any of the majors or middle tier studios.

MONOGRAM PICTURES CORPORATION (1931-1953) was referred too as a 'poverty row' studio. Cranking out cheap programmers usually budgeted for less then $100,000.00 each and shot in less then two (2) weeks. In some ways they could be consider REPUBLIC Jr. without good musical scores or special visual effects by the LYDECKER Brothers. Nor with any name Stars featured and thats where this film is different.

DIVORCE featured some real (and former) name Stars. KAY FRANCIS, WARNER BROTHERS, BRUCE CABOT and HELEN MACK, RKO. Plus character actors JEROME COWAN, MARY GORDON, JONATHAN HALE, ADDISON RICHARDS and others who appeared in major and middle tier studios efforts. Both in 'A' and 'B' productions. Nobody remember ADDISON RICHARDS as 'Crofton' in NORTHWEST PASSAGE (1940) M.G.M.? The rest have similar impressive credits, check them out. The question to be asked is what did these people do with their money when the going was good so they did not end up at MONOGRAM? Perhaps some of them just liked the work.