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Strange Interlude
Production: Early February 1932 - Late April 1932;
Premiere: Not Available;
Released: December 30, 1932;
Production/Distribution Companies: Metro Goldwyn Mayer/Loew's Inc.;
Runtime: 112 min;
Country: USA;
Language: English;
Color: Black and White;
Sound Mix: Mono (Western Electric Sound System);
Available on VHS;
Cast: Norma Shearer as Nina Leeds Evans; Clark Gable as Dr. Ned Darrell; Alexander Kirkland as Sam Evans; Ralph Morgan as Charlie Marsden; Robert Young as Gordon, as a young man; May Robson as Mrs. Evans; Maureen O'Sullivan as Madeleine; Henry B. Walthall as Professor Leeds; Mary Alden as Maid; Tad Alexander as Gordon, as a child;
Production Credits:
Produced by: William Grimes; Robert Z. Leonard; & Irving Thalberg;
Directed by: Robert Z. Leonard;
Writers: Bess Meredyth; C. Gardner Sullivan;
Gowns by: Adrian;
Editing: Margaret Booth;
Reviews:
“In the difficult role of Nina, Norma Shearer lives her lines, gives her greatest performance. It is unquestionably her picture. Clark Gable, as her lover, Darrell, is a new person-intensely sensitive. Alexander Kirkland as Same, her husband is convincingly Rotarian. Ralph Morgan, as Marsden, who has a mother complex, is sharply amusing. You won’t forge them.”
Motion Picture, October 1932
“Norma Shearer takes her place among the great artists of her day. Clark Gable does his finest technical screen work as he ages over a period of forty years. Ralph Morgan, Alexander Kirkland and Robert Young share honors.”
Photoplay, September 1932
“Norma Shearer has given several noteworthy performances in recent motion pictures, particularly her portrayal in the film Private Lives, but in this present offering she easily excels anything she has done hitherto.”
Mordaunt Hall in the New York Times, October 15, 1932
“Miss Norma Shearer, apparently filled with reverence at the thought of the classic lines she is reciting, but, at the same time, understanding so little about them, makes Nina Leeds, the neurotic heroine, a good, healthy normal, young woman, who ages prettily and isn’t bothered much by her tragedies.”
Richard Watts, Jr., in the New York Herald Tribune, October 15, 1932
“For once Hollywood has dared to produce a picture that deals with life in terms of adult intelligence. But though the courage thus shown deserves every credit, the outgrowth of this courage, the film itself, is hardly a feather in the producer’s cap. It confirms faithfully to its Hollywood type of an uninspired crossbreed of the stage and screen, and it is badly miscast in its two principal parts. Neither the beautiful but cold Norma Shearer, nor the uncouth Clark Gable are the actors for the parts of Nina and Darrell.”
Alexander Bakshy in The Nation, September 28, 1932
“Norma Shearer is a lovely picture as Nina, but lacks all sense of greatness-as does the altered play itself. Clark Gable, who plays the Ned Darrell, is capable in the earlier scenes, but utterly lacks the ferocious bitterness in the latter part which Glenn Anders seemed to bring from the depths of his soul. Ralph Morgan is an excellent Charles Marsdan, but the temper of the screen play has robbed the character of Charlie of its meaning. He now becomes comedy relief.”
Richard Dana Skinner in The Commonweal, October 5, 1932
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