Pre-Code movies often get pigeonholed as sordid guttercrawls, but sometimes what makes them so unprecedented is simply acknowledging the reality of what women want. Elizabeth (Catherine Dale Owen) thought marriage would be a dream come true, but life with the self-absorbed and prudish Clive Champion-Cheney (Lewis Stone) is no fun at all. But Elizabeth finds an unlikely role model in her husband's mother, Lady Kitty (the elegant and formidable Alison Skipworth), who years ago bravely left her own dud of a husband to find satisfaction in the arms of a lover. Lady Kitty warns Elizabeth that following her passions has plenty of repercussions, but younger man Ted (Paul Cavanaugh) looks better every day to the unsatisfied bride. Based on M. Somerset Maugham's comedic play The Circle (and with additional dialogue by Sylvia Thalberg, sister of Irving), this is the sound remake of MGM's 1925 silent version.

By Violet LeVoit