Strangers May Kiss

1931 "Another Great Role - Another Blazing Triumph for the Winner of the 1930 Best Performance Award"
5.9| 1h21m| NR| en
Details

After years of fighting off the advances of her old flame Steve, Lisbeth settles into a steamy, casual romance with journalist Alan. Against the advice of her happily married aunt Celia -- who encourages her to demand a serious commitment -- Lisbeth continues to see Alan, even after she hears he may have a wife in France. When Alan's work sends him abroad, a lovesick Lisbeth struggles to understand her feelings.

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Reviews

Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable
Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
st-shot Fresh from her Oscar winning performance in the Divorcée (30) Norma Shearer more or less reprises the same role of the scorned woman in Strangers May Kiss. The glamorous Shearer wears a multitude of gowns, sports a few different hairdos and creakily overacts with a series of tremulous outbursts.In Strangers men behave badly as they drink, carouse, chase skirts and keep wives in the dark. Lisbeth Corbin (Shearer) vows she will not get caught up in such dishonesty, especially after witnessing one such discretion that leads to tragedy. She goes to Mexico with a married archaeologist (Neil Hamilton) and they fall in love but he leaves her for the job. Vowing she won't get fooled again she embarks on a two year spree across Europe seducing men from Paris to Madrid.Strangers gets the full MGM treatment in terms of set design and costuming. Ms. Shearer is exquisitely posed and framed but the bosses wife (Irving Thalberg) comes across shrill and smug most of the time. The films construction is disjointed and so poorly edited it has you wondering if reels are missing.Strangers May Kiss is clearly a star driven vehicle for Shearer but she breaks down often while more dependable supporting jalopies like Marjorie Rambeau and a touching Irene Rich leave her in the dust.
krdement I find much to agree with in all of the comments made about this film. The hypocritical morals are obvious. The disparity between Norma Shearer's acting style, nurtured in silent films, and Robert Montgomery's style, which does anticipate a more modern approach, is also apparent. The costumes and sets are marvelous and capture the milieu with authenticity and panache. But not being a great fan of Miss Shearer, I did, indeed, grow weary of seeing her throw her head back in laughter. I wholeheartedly agree that Robert Montgomery steals the show.The content of this film makes it racy in any era. The montage of scenes depicting Shearer with man after man makes the point clearly enough without being as explicit as a contemporary film. In fact that method of story telling is one of the key distinctions between films from the Golden Age of Hollywood and contemporary cinema. This method either appeals to an individual's tastes today or doesn't (and it is that bias which often forms the basis of comments found in forums such as this). For the record, I appreciate a less explicit approach to cinema. The only point I would like to make more explicit is that I found it impossible to see what: 1) Miss Shearer's character saw in her caddish married lover or 2) what Mr. Montgomery's character saw in Miss Shearer's character. The only person who seemed the slightest bit attractive was Montgomery's character (despite his penchant for the bottle), who nobody found desirable. Filmed today, this movie would probably explore the rejected woman's past, searching for psychological explanations for her preference of an abusive mate over a warm, caring one. This film, therefore, might have been an interesting psychological study and made a little more sense. But filmed in 1930, cinema had a long way to go before really delving into such explorations. Even Bette Davis' landmark portrayal of Mildred in 1934's "Of Human Bondage" is not so much an exploration as a portrait.
KyleFurr2 Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery made several films together and this one is not very well known. It's easily at the bottom of the films they made together like Private Lives and Riptide. This one stars off with Shearer and Montgomery as good friends and Shearer is engaged to marry Neil Hamilton. Hamilton is clearly a lowlife who doesn't even pretend to be faithful to Shearer. Montgomery knows this but Shearer won't believe it at first. Shearer then winds up going off to Mexico and then Europe where she does whatever she feels like. Hamilton finds her and tells her that he loves her and she is confused. The ending isn't very good like Leonard Maltin says in his review.
mykidsmom32001 I loved this movie! Shearer is terrific, though I could pretty much see where it was going towards the end. I thought that some of the dialogue was quite ahead of it's time. It was great fun to watch! Norma Shearer fascinates me. I think she is a wonderful actress, and Robert Young was just charming! It was amusing how no character ever really utters any specifics as to Lisbeth's behavior, but I find that refreshing! You get the message. I also liked that Lisbeth valued her lovers criticism of her "bad" behavior, even though he was pretty much of a hypocrite. She still knew what was important in a marriage. I recommend this picture to all.