A Bill of Divorcement

Katharine Hepburn's film debut and already she's out-shining the great John Barrymore! She was such a breath of fresh air. Strong and independent like no other. And that's not a put-down on Barrymore's performance as the insane daddy who returns. They were both great here and carries this movie so well together. Billie Burke in her first sound picture was a bit too wooden. But Barrymore & Hepburn take care of business and gives this the life the other actors are unable to give it.

An actually quite thoughtful if "of its moment" melodrama from 1921 catches up to the year in which it is set. Barrymore and Hepburn have wandered into rather stodgy stage company, he with his mad act and she with her mod act, but the contrast plays well to their benefit in various ways, as this is their acting showcase after all (and quite the debut for Hepburn); and ultimately them being so set apart from everything else harmonizes perfectly with where the plot—and our sympathies—are headed.

I feel like the dialogue is a bit stiff at times but Barrymore and Hepburn are great here and really add a lot of gravitas to it all. It's just a very sad film and while I don't really agree with some of it's statements about mental illness because hey they just haven't aged that well, the performances are so earnest that I definitely teared up here.

Inevitably dated melodrama is really an excuse to showcase Hepburn's incandescent film debut, as well as providing Barrymore with a sad and poignant foil which, while hampered by era-appropriate scenery chewing, is still remarkably affecting. Interesting to contrast these two against their co-stars Burke and Manners, who seem ill-at-ease with performing in the "new fangled" talkies. Still thoroughly engrossing on its own terms and without.

I wonder if Hong Sang-Soo ever watched this. One because John Barrymore's sad pathetic man is basically the mold for his protagonists and two because it kind of tries to de-center men from heterosexual relationships the same way Hong does in Our Sunhi. The stuff about mental illness is handled clumsily, but the tight (yes, theatrical) presentation does fit with Barrymore and Hepburn's anxiety. Maybe "uncinematic" but that's how it should be.

61.000

Man, that Hepburn sure could act. As far as I know this is her earliest film, yet she was such a natural even at that young age. Barrymore was great, as well and the two of them make this a good movie. Unfortunately, the short length is a disservice to a very interesting story and I feel as though some of the other characters didn't get as much time to breath compared to the two leads. The ending was pretty great, though.

Poignant performances by Barrymore and a very young Katharine Hepburn.