A Bill of Divorcement

The film is a very far-fetched tale about a woman whose husband has been insane for about two decades and in an institution. When she decides to finally re-marry, the man escapes and shows up with most of his faculties finally intact (this part is the tough to believe part). Naturally, this throws everything into chaos and it has a HUGE impact on his wife and daughter. It is very obvious when you watch this that A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT was originally a play. This doesn't severely damage the impact of the film, but it IS a tad static and slow because it's confined just to a few rooms in a house. If you are able to look past this, it is a very interesting and thought-provoking film that offers up an interesting moral dilemma. Also, the film is worth seeing for film buffs because it's Katherine Hepburn's first film--and is A LOT better than some of her subsequent films (such as SPITFIRE and SYLVIA SCARLET). Finally, John Barrymore, as usual, is mesmerizing at times--his performance was the best of the film. The best part of his performance was when he realized his wife was marrying again and he cried and begged her to take him back as her husband (when he arrived he had no idea she'd divorced him and thought they'd pick up where they'd left off years earlier). It's a very moving and intense scene.

Not just a vehicle for Hepburn, Billie Burke nearly steals the show. If you are a fan of this actress, you'll be pleased with this one. Still in her 40's, she is a believably a woman torn by her desire to start a new life with a new love, but saddled by her responsibilty to her daughter's father. By the way, she was billed above Katherine Hepburn and right below Barrymore

At 25, fourth-billed Katharine Hepburn bursts off the screen with her characteristic persona already fully formed in her screen debut as Sydney, the headstrong daughter of WWI veteran Hilary Fairfield, in this antiquated 1932 melodrama. Fifteen years earlier, Hilary was shell-shocked triggering a latent mental instability, which required his wife to institutionalize him. On the day his wife Meg files for divorce, he escapes the asylum in a docile state little realizing how much time has elapsed. In fact, he mistakes Sydney for Meg, as ironically, both Meg and Sydney are soon to be betrothed, The crux of the drama lies in Hilary's insanity and how his sudden appearance forces Meg and Sydney to make life-altering decisions. Directed by George Cukor, the film already shows his innate ease with larger-than-life actors like Hepburn and John Barrymore. However, the screenplay by Howard Estabrook and Harry Wagstaff Gribble (adapted from an earlier British play by Clemence Dane) is severely dated in its attitude toward familial self-sacrifice, and the film is further hampered by a stilted feeling of staginess throughout. Already in career descent from his alcoholism, Barrymore gives a poignant performance as Hilary giving into heated theatrical fervor in just a couple of key scenes. In what was likely her most substantial role, Billie Burke (later Glinda the Good Witch in "The Wizard of Oz") makes Meg's dilemma palpable, while Elizabeth Patterson (later babysitter Mrs. Trumble on "I Love Lucy") is surprisingly dour as self-righteous Aunt Hester. Hepburn's destiny seems assured from the very first scene, and this was to be the start of her remarkable 47-year professional relationship with Cukor. As of March 2008, the film is not available on DVD.

It is obvious from the moment that Katharine Hepburn walks towards the stairwell towards her English family home that motion pictures have found an amazing new find. And when she first encounters John Barrymore and says, "I think I am your daughter", there is no doubt about it. While the idea of Hepburn playing a young British lady might seem bizarre, she truly pulls it off. Barrymore, having spent many years in a mental institution (apparently for shell shock), has arrived home just as his ex-wife (Billie Burke) is preparing to marry another man. He has no idea that during the time of his stay, Burke divorced him because he seemed to have no chance of recovery. Now, Hepburn learns from psychiatrist Henry Stephenson that she may have inherited the potential of having a mental illness, or that her offspring might have it as well. She is engaged to handsome (but dull) David Manners and must make a decision of what to do. Burke, too, has doubts about what the right thing to do is, and Barrymore's over protective sister (Elizabeth Patterson) isn't any help. With the exception of Manners, the entire cast is excellent. You really feel the pain and guilt everyone surrounding Barrymore feels, particularly Hepburn and Burke. Known mostly for his sometimes hammy performances and flamboyant personal life, Barrymore gives a wonderful theatrical performance that works in this case because of the nature of the character he plays. Even Patterson's meddlesome aunt has understandable motivation, which makes her really likable rather than a pain in the neck if played incorrectly. Nobody will ever confuse Burke's sympathetic wife and mother with her most famous role as Glinda in "The Wizard of Oz" or her later feather-brained matrons. When given a serious role, Burke could deliver a very touching performance and keep the helium like sounds she had in lighter parts out of it. Hepburn's voice, too, is not the imitatable one she had in "Morning Glory" or "Stage Door" (especially every time she had to utter the simple word "really") or the shaky matronly voice of "The Lion in Winter" or "On Golden Pond". She is almost Garbo-like in her looks and demeanor, American royalty on celluloid. No wonder America had a love affair with her on screen for over 60 years!

Though this is the second screen version of Clemence Dane's play A Bill of Divorcement, it's the version that we all remember because it is the film that gave us the director/actress combination of George Cukor and Katharine Hepburn who would then rack up nine more joint ventures in almost fifty years. Sad to say the play is an old fashioned melodrama that dates pretty badly and it's not really good screen material with the nearly the whole short 70 minute film taking place on only one set. Neither Cukor or Hepburn have quite mastered the screen technique. But the talent and charm were there and it's no wonder Kate had the lengthy career she did. Though he enters the film when it's nearly a third over, when John Barrymore comes in, he dominates the proceedings. He's a shell shocked World War I veteran returning home after years in an asylum. By that time his wife Billie Burke is in love with another man, Paul Cavanaugh, and is ready to serve Barrymore with divorce papers, hence the title. Barrymore seems cured, but it doesn't take much to set his fragile psyche out of kilter. What are both Burke and Hepburn to do as it comes out that insanity is prevalent in Barrymore's family tree? Though the story is very dated, the power of the performances will keep you interested. Quite a lot is packed into a classic film that has an unusually short running time.

A touching, very well done movie. Of course it sounds and looks stagy. Of course the acting seems melodramatic. This is the very early years of talkies, and the material is a play that was already 10 years old in 1932! That gives us some idea of how desperately Hollywood was searching for material with which to make talking pictures. John Barrymore, as other people have said, was on the slippery slope of alcoholism and lived only 10 more years, each more debilitated than the previous one. Yet he never lost his ability and it is a shame he didn't get to be in better films. He could always act! And he knew that his style was dated. He said that his was a 'middle' generation of stage acting, between the florid romantic style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the more naturalistic style that followed. Any time he worked with actors and directors he respected: Marie Dressler, Greta Garbo, Hepburn, Billie Burke, Carole Lombard, George Cukor, Howard Hawks --Barrymore turned in an excellent performance.

When Hollywood was madly casting the ingénue in "A Bill of Divorcement," they saw many, many tests of actresses but still weren't satisfied. Katharine Hepburn took a look at the test scene and realized immediately why no actress was acceptable - it was a terrible scene. So she did another one and won the role. Let's just say that Hepburn started her amazing career with amazing good fortune. Her director was the excellent George Cukor, marking the beginning of their marvelous collaboration; and she had the great John Barrymore as a co-star. The story concerns a man who comes home from an insane asylum only to discover that his daughter has grown up, his wife has divorced him, and she is about to marry someone else. He's as much in love with her as he has always been and can't bear the thought of her leaving him. Based on a play by Clemence Dane, "A Bill of Divorcement" doesn't hold up today. It's very talky, done in a stagy manner, and melodramatic. Some of the performances are melodramatic as well - it was the beginning of talkies, and many of the actors had not yet adapted to the technique of acting on film, Billie Burke especially. My big quibble with the story is that, due to the times, it can't distinguish between "insanity" and emotional problems or chemical imbalances, which makes the Hepburn character's ultimate sacrifice seem unnecessary. You can really see in this movie how Katharine Hepburn would have been so unusual to audiences with her angular, athletic body, high cheekbones and austere looks. She once said of Angela Lansbury, "She was unusual in the wrong way, and I was unusual in the right way." It's certainly true. She's quite beautiful and interesting-looking. Ultimately she would tone down her acting. For a first film, she's wonderful. The star is John Barrymore, who gives a timeless, heart-wrenching performance. What a wonderful actor and what a loss that his last film was made in 1941 and as early as 1938, he was playing his roles drunk. Recommended definitely for Hepburn aficionados and to see the great John Barrymore being the magnificent actor he was capable of being.

A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT is only one of the problems to confront a man returning to his family after fifteen years in an insane asylum. Although this George Cukor-directed soap opera is chiefly remembered now for Katharine Hepburn's film debut, its other strengths should not be overlooked. The film was primarily crafted to be a showcase for the histrionic talents of John Barrymore and he certainly does not disappoint his audience. Charging his way through the range of emotions from giddy elation to utter despair, Barrymore, left profile firmly planted towards the camera, gives a wonderful master class in ham acting. This is in no way to disparage his performance -- he makes leaping a bit beyond the bounds terrifically entertaining. Hepburn is a sensation, of course, very fresh & unspoilt, giving real urgency to the plight of a headstrong girl who must make a wretched decision during a domestic upheaval. The viewer cannot help but think of the many decades to come in which she would continue to delight moviegoers. The trouble is that Kate's excellence makes it somewhat easy to forget the film's real female lead. In a rare serious role, Miss Billie Burke gives a splendid portrayal of a good woman torn between duty to a man she no longer loves and the possibility of joy with the man she now adores. In the scene where Barrymore forces her to make a commitment to him, Burke's body language painfully communicates the agony of her breaking heart. A fine supporting cast adds to the film's enjoyment: sensitive David Manners, one of the ablest young actors of the era, as Hepburn's loyal boyfriend; gentlemanly Paul Cavanagh as Burke's fiancé; waspish Elizabeth Patterson as Barrymore's strict sister; and elderly Henry Stephenson as the wise family doctor. Movie mavens will have to look fast to spot the excellent young English actor, Bramwell Fletcher, unbilled as the fellow at the Christmas party who opens the windows for the carolers.

source: A Bill of Divorcement

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