8 Movies Starring Norma Shearer

He Who Gets Slapped

He Who Gets Slapped

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1924-12-22

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

95 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.8 (1825 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Leonid Andreyev (adapted from the play by)

Carey Wilson (adapted for the screen by)

Victor Sjèstrèm (adapted for the screen by)

Marian Ainslee (titles)

Fullplot:

Story of an inventor who, suffering betrayal in life, makes a career of it by becoming a clown whose act consists of getting slapped by all the other clowns. He falls in love with another circus performer, and those who betrayed him enter his life yet again.

The Divorcee

The Divorcee

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1930-04-19

Languages:

English, French

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

84 min

Rated:

PASSED

IMDB Ratings:

6.9 (1740 Reviews)

Genres:

RomanceDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Ursula Parrott (based on a novel by)

Nick Grinde (treatment)

Zelda Sears (treatment)

John Meehan (continuity and dialogue)

Fullplot:

Jerry and Ted are young, in love, and part of the New York 'in-crowd'. Jerry's decision to marry Ted crushes a yearning Paul. Distraught Paul gets drunk and wrecks his car, disfiguring young Dorothy's face in the process. Out of pity, Paul marries Dorothy. Years later, the apparent perfect marriage of Ted and Jerry falls apart from infidelity on both sides. Inwardly unhappy, popular Jerry lives a party life while Ted sinks into a life of alcoholism. Jerry then runs into Paul, who still loves her. After spending time together with Jerry, Paul plans to divorce Dorothy. When Jerry sees Dorothy again, she has second thoughts about where her life is heading.

A Free Soul

A Free Soul

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1931-06-20

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

93 min

Rated:

PASSED

IMDB Ratings:

6.7 (1417 Reviews)

Director:

Clarence Brown

Cast:

Writer:

Adela Rogers St. Johns (from the book by)

John Meehan (dialogue continuity)

Becky Gardiner (adaptation)

Fullplot:

Stephen Ashe, an upper class alcoholic defense attourney, successfully defends local mobster Ace Wilfong in a murder case. After his daughter Jan Ashe breaks her engagement to polo player Dwight Winthrop and starts an affair with Wilfong, she finds that the liason is not easily severed when she wants out. Winthrop earns Miss Ashe's true affections by killing Wilfong to break his grip on her. Now the question is, can Stephen Ashe save Winthrop with an impassioned defense speech to the jury?

Smilin' Through

Smilin' Through

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1932-09-24

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

98 min

Rated:

APPROVED

IMDB Ratings:

(546 Reviews)

Director:

Sidney Franklin

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

Jane Cowl (play)

James B. Fagan (dialogue)

Jane Murfin (play)

Donald Ogden Stewart (dialogue)

Ernest Vajda

Claudine West

Fullplot:

John has lead a solitary life for thirty years since the death of Moonyeen Clare. But now Owens, a close friend, insists that he care for his niece, Kathleen, orphaned when her parents were lost at sea. Kathleen is five, but the years pass and now she is a young woman who is the image of Moonyeen. Willy wants Kathleen for his wife, but Sparks fly when she meets Kenneth Wayne one dark and stormy night. John is horrified for it was Wayne's father who shot Moonyeen dead on her wedding day and John has never found him or forgiven the family. When Ken goes off to war, John forbids any marriage and Ken agrees, while Kathleen does not. When Ken returns four years later when the war is over, he is crippled. He conceals his condition and makes plans to leave for America.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1934-09-21

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

109 min

Rated:

PASSED

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (1003 Reviews)

Director:

Sidney Franklin

Cast:

Writer:

Rudolph Besier (from the play by)

Ernest Vajda (screen play)

Claudine West (screen play)

Donald Ogden Stewart (screen play)

Fullplot:

In 1845 London, the Barrett family is ruled with an iron fist by its stern widowed patriarch, Edward Moulton-Barrett. His nine grown children are afraid of him more than they love him. One of his rules is that none of his children are allowed to marry, which does not sit well with youngest daughter Henrietta as she loves and wants to marry Captain Surtees Cook. Of the nine, the one exception is his daughter Elizabeth, who abides faithfully to her father's wishes. Elizabeth does not think too much about the non-marriage rule as she has an unknown chronic illness which has kept her bedridden. She feels her life will not be a long one. With her time, she writes poetry, which she shares by correspondence with another young poet, Robert Browning. Elizabeth's outlook on her life changes when she meets Mr. Browning for the first time, he who has fallen in love with her without even having met her. She, in return, falls in love with him after their meeting. With Mr. Browning's love and support, Elizabeth tries to get well and enjoy life, this all against the thoughts of her father, who physically and emotionally traps Elizabeth and by association all of his children, all in the name of protecting her and them in the name of God.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1936-09-03

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

125 min

Rated:

PASSED

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (1149 Reviews)

Director:

George Cukor

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

William Shakespeare (play)

Talbot Jennings (adaptation)

Fullplot:

The Montagues and the Capulets, two powerful families of Verona, hate each other. Romeo, son of Montague, crashes a Capulet party, and there meets Juliet, daughter of Capulet. They fall passionately in love. Since their families would disapprove, they marry in secret. Romeo gets in a fight with Tybalt, nephew of Lady Capulet, and kills him. He is banished from Verona. Capulet, not knowing that his daughter is already married, proceeds with his plans to marry Juliet to Paris, a prince. This puts Juliet in quite a spot, so she goes to the sympathetic Friar Laurence, who married her to Romeo. He suggests a daring plan to extricate her from her fix. Tragedy ensues.

Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1938-08-26

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

149 min

Rated:

PASSED

IMDB Ratings:

7.6 (1988 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Claudine West (screen play)

Donald Ogden Stewart (screen play)

Ernest Vajda (screen play)

Stefan Zweig (based in part on the book by)

Fullplot:

The life of Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) from betrothal and marriage in 1770 to her beheading. At first, she's a Hapsburg teenager isolated in France, living a virgin's life in the household of the Dauphin, a shy solitary man who would like to be a locksmith. Marie discovers high society, with the help of Orleans and her brothers-in-law. Her foolishness is at its height when she meets a Swedish count, Axel de Fersen. He helps her see her fecklessness. In the second half of the film, she avoids an annulment, becomes queen, bears children, and is a responsible ruler. The affair of the necklace and the general poverty of France feed revolution. She faces death with dignity.

The Women

The Women

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1939-09-01

Languages:

English, French

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

133 min

Rated:

NOT RATED

IMDB Ratings:

(9188 Reviews)

Director:

George Cukor

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Clare Boothe Luce (from the play by)

Anita Loos (screen play)

Jane Murfin (screen play)

Fullplot:

Wealthy Mary Haines is unaware her husband is having an affair with shopgirl Crystal Allen. Sylvia Fowler and Edith Potter discover this from a manicurist and arrange for Mary to hear the gossip. On the train taking her to a Reno divorce Mary meets the Countess and Miriam (in an affair with Fowler's husband). While they are at Lucy's dude ranch, Fowler arrives for her own divorce and the Countess meets fifth husband-to-be Buck. Back in New York, Mary's ex is now unhappily married to Crystal who is already in an affair with Buck. When Sylvia lets this story slip at an exclusive nightclub, Crystal brags of her plans for a still wealthier marriage, only to find the Countess is the source of all Buck's money. Crystal must return to the perfume counter and Mary runs back to her husband.

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