‘When a big party ends, small parties begin.’
The marriage of Professor Josef Stock and his wife Mizzi is in stark contrast to that of Mizzi's best friend Charlotte. Charlotte is happily married to Dr. Franz Braun. Mizzi hates her husband so much that she does not even grant him a divorce. Josef is therefore forced to hire a private detective to catch his wife with another man. Meanwhile, Mizzi has set her cap at Charlotte's husband.
In 1924, when 'The Marriage Circle' was shown in the cinema, it was not so easy to divorce. If you wanted to be considered for a divorce, you had to prove that your husband or wife had done something unlawful or outrageous. In 1910 it was added that you could also divorce if there was violence in the marriage. But the most common argument given in the application for divorce was cheating. That falls within 'outrageous' behaviour. They did not really have to be caught in the act. The fact that a man and woman were alone together in the night was enough.
"1:22 a.m. Shades are Pulled Down," the detective writes in his notes. That they were still pulled down 28 minutes later and they were still inside alone was enough to reach the conclusion that Mizzi was cheating on the professor.
The fact that they also could have played cards, and that does not even have to be strip poker, was seen as very unlikely in those days. Problem at the time was that not only the reputation of the 'guilty' party was destroyed, but also that of the man or woman who was having an affair with a married man or woman. Most people were not too keen on that, of course. Professor Stock rightly notes that he appreciates that Doctor Braun, a man with such a good reputation, helps him to get rid of his wife.
Screenwriter Paul Bern wrote the scenario of the 1909 play 'Nur ein traum; lustspiel in 3 akten’ by Lothar Schmidt. And I think Bern did a good job at turning it into a feature film. The complications in which the main characters find themselves remind me a bit of the Bedroom farces that were popular in the 1920s and 1930s and had a revival in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But although Monte Blue, who plays Franz Braun, has the perfect head for it, this film has not become a farce or slapstick.
The tempo of this film is too suave for that. The danger of spinning out a play in three acts in a film of almost one and a half hours is that it can become tedious.
A play is a completely different experience than going to the cinema. When I go to a play, I experience it more as a special night out. I realise that going to the movies nowadays is a different experience than when it was in the 1920s. There was no TV, internet and that sort of thing, of course, but although you can not see the actors on stage from close by, you can see them in person. And there is always a form of interaction between the actors on stage and the audience. One audience laughs harder and longer at a joke than another audiences and the actors have to respond to that. Yet 'The Marriage Circle' does not feel boring and long-winded. Director Ernst Lubitsch has clearly gone for the smiles instead of the belly laugh.
I really enjoyed this movie and I think it was very good and therefore wonder why Lubitsch wanted to make a remake of it in 1932. What else was there to improve on? 'The Marriage Circle' also received positive reactions from the press and the public. Lubitsch perfectionism and demandingness towards the actors therefore had a positive result. It is said that Florence Vidor, who plays Charlotte, and Creighton Hale, who plays Doctor Braun's colleague, had to do the scene, where a kiss ended in a slap in the face, 39 times(!) before Lubitsch was satisfied with the result. But he also appreciated his actors. He called Marie Prevost, who plays Mizzi Stock, one of the greatest actresses he had known.
The only reason I can think of the reason why anyone would want to make a remake is that in 1932 the sound film had matured and a musical, because 'One Hour with You' is a musical, is a completely different genre. I have not seen this film, but Lubitsch proves to have surpassed himself with this remake because the film was nominated for an Oscar.
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