This is a sound remake of the silent film "The Circle" from 1925 that is mainly remembered for being Joan Crawford's screen debut, which in turn was an adaptation of Somerset Maugham's play.
Elizabeth (Catherine Dale Owen) is married to Arnold (Tyrell Davis), but she's fallen in love with the visiting Canadian farmer Ted (Paul Cavanagh). From the start Catherine had my sympathy because Arnold is insufferable. He's stiff, rude to the servants, and is only interested in his career in Parliament. He goes on and on about a Chippendale chair that has just arrived but tells his wife when she complains that they've grown apart that, after three years of marriage, they should consider their romantic days behind them! Compliments to Tyrell Davis, because he manages to play Arnold as the most unattractive and unsympathetic man imaginable.
Arnold's mother, Lady Catherine, left his father thirty years ago for another man, Lord Porteous, and they have been visiting England, so Elizabeth invites them over. She does this because Arnold hasn't seen his mother since he was five, but she's also curious as to how this arrangement has worked out since she is entertaining doing the same to Arnold. She only did this because Arnold's father (Lewis Stone) is in Paris and thus the three won't inadvertently run into one another. But then, moments before Arnold's mother and Lord Porteous are to arrive, Arnold's father unexpectedly returns. Complications ensue.
For an early sound film missing about seventeen minutes of what was originally shot, I thought this was a pretty good early talkie effort. For sure the plot kept me engaged as to what choice Elizabeth would make - To stay because of morality and duty or leave because of love? For sure the older generation is making a case for her staying. Arnold's mother herself talks about how she has no security in her relationship with Lord Porteous (Ernest Torrence) because they are not married, and how she has had to endure affairs on his part and having no financial security.
The cast is marvelous. Catherine Dale Owen could be as stiff as a board - It's why she didn't last past the very early days of talking film once more lively actresses arrived on the scene. But here she is very authentic. Ernest Torrence is marvelous as Lord Porteous, Lady Catherine's longtime lover who has turned into the original grumpy old man with bad dentures. What confused me is what part Mary Forbes was playing in all of this. If not for the major plot point of Arnold's mother having abandoned him when he was five, I would have guessed her to be his mother. She certainly feels confident that it's her place to tell him to stand up straight and stop whining. An aunt perhaps who filled the void after Arnold's mother left? It's never said.
Technically speaking it's a bit dialogue heavy given there is really only one thread to the plot, and I liked the way the title music segues into the opening horse-riding scene and the scene with photo album come-to-life.
It never drags and there are much worse ways to spend an hour.
