Watch Strangers May Kiss For Free

You won't be disappointed!

Simply Perfect

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This sort of film clearly is an example of a so-called 'Pre-Code' film--one that had story elements that clearly would not have been allowed following the enactment of the strengthened Production Code in 1934. As such, plots involving adultery, premarital sex and the like were fair game--and might be shocking to audiences today who assume that sex wasn't invented until the 1960s! "Strangers May Kiss" features a modern woman (Norma Shearer) who sees no need to marriage and carries on with two men (Robert Montgomery and Neil Hamilton)--often going on dates with BOTH at the same time. It's uncertain if the film makers were implying a ménage à trois--though it can easily be inferred. It also is one of the most cynical films when it comes to marriage and infidelity--strongly implying that conventional marriage is a sham. In this film, 'happy marriages' are those where the wife has not yet discovered that their husbands are being unfaithful!! And this is the apparent justification for Shearer's care-free lifestyle. This is a girl who clearly enjoys men (and sex) and makes no pretense about it!As far as the two boyfriends go, the casting is a bit unusual. Neil Hamilton (who usually played well-educated and erudite gentlemen) is quite the bohemian when it comes to women. He travels the world covering revolutions and the like for newspapers and has no interest in marrying Shearer--and makes this clear. Montgomery, on the other hand, is much more conventional (but a bit of a sap) and repeatedly proposed to her--and seems willing to let her have her little fling with Hamilton. It's unusual, as so often in later films Montgomery played the rogue and Hamilton the nice guy. And, Montgomery never would have played such a weak man.Eventually, Shearer makes her choice of the two men and follows Hamilton on his next assignment to rural Mexico. At first she is deliriously happy. However, her liberal-minded views on marriage are put to the test when she discovers he is already married. Considering what she's said throughout the film, this shouldn't have mattered. So how does Shearer reconcile this---does she change her attitudes to the more conventional or does she simply continue this steamy affair regardless of the consequences? Tune in and see in this interesting drama--as the answer isn't that clear until the very end.For lovers of Pre-Code films in all their sleazy glory, this film is a must-see. While it's not a great movie, it is just permeated with the sort of amoral cynicism that would shock many today and makes the movie fascinating. The bottom line is that stories like this that flaunted the moral code of the day (at least the STATED moral code) and featured in idle rich did not resonate well in middle America--though apparently city folk were more accepting of such plots. This disparity alienated many potential viewers and led to the new and rigidly enforced Code.Perhaps the moral of this movie is "be careful what you ask for...you might just get it"! That's because although the film revels in amorality, the end seems to reinforce that perhaps this sort of life isn't all it's cracked up to be--making the film not nearly as cynical as the Queen of Pre-Code films, "Red-Headed Woman"! And, for that matter, not quite as satisfying as the very final end of the film seemed all wrong.

As most other reviewers have pointed out-this woman's picture of 1931 has some very odd morality and that's what makes it a very interesting relic. Norma Shearer is a liberated young woman who allows her lover to have sex with her whenever he wants without his offering any sort of commitment. He even announces after they have run off together that he has a wife in Paris. Then he dumps her in Mexico. But she accepts all this abuse because she still loves him and believes that marriage is not necessary for happiness. However she is still so hurt by him, she becomes a super slut and becomes well known among the elite Eurotrash for her available sexuality. Then the lover sends her a telegram saying he is divorcing his wife and will agree to marry her. Shearer is thrilled until the lover finds out about her checkered European adventures and dumps her. There is a "happy" ending when the lover comes to his senses a year later and agrees to marry her.Wow- talk about an abusive relationship, by todays standards. All the while, Robert Montgomery as her best friend half heartedly offers to marry her whenever she gets upset. His character drinks throughout the movie. Montgomery gives the best performance and is quite charming. Today, we can interpret his actions as either deeply closeted or just someone who loves his liquor more than actively pursuing the love of his life.Shearer has costume changes in nearly every scene. I am sure the female (and some male) audiences of the day loved it. As usual she is very chic. She has a tendency to pose, silent movie style occasionally- but I can fault the director . He should have reined her in. She didn't do that much when she worked with a stronger director like George Cukor. Shearer has loads of charisma that still come across today. The movie is worth checking out...

This film is profoundly confused about what kind of morality it's embracing. Norma Shearer plays a modern young woman, having an affair with a dashing foreign correspondent (Neil Hamilton, in his first role with MGM). Her long-time friend Steve (the eternally effervescent Robert Montgomery), who has an inclination towards drink, has been in love with Shearer all their lives, but she won't give him a tumble (she actually uses that hoary old line, "I love you, but I'm not in love with you"). Shearer and Hamilton have no interest in marrying, but prefer their open relationship. Shearer's aunt extols the joy of marriage one evening, but when she sees her husband of 12 years kicking up his heels with a bimbo, she goes home and kills herself.Shearer and Hamilton head off for Mexico, where Hamilton reveals that he actually has a wife back in Paris (so apparently he DID once believe in marriage...). He leaves for Rio and refuses to take Shearer. She proceeds to sleep her way across Europe in order to drown her grief, which, of course, is one way of dealing with it. Montgomery finds her two years later in Spain where, despite her string of dalliances, he still tries to marry her. But Shearer gets a cable from Hamilton who has now divorced his French wife and is waiting in Paris, willing to marry. By the time Shearer responds, however, Hamilton has heard about her past two years of affairs, and is so repulsed that he never wants to see her again. He claims she should have WAITED for him, DESPITE her not knowing if she would EVER see him again. And...she AGREES. The level of double standard is staggering.Montgomery, however, STILL wants to marry her. Hamilton claims that a marriage to Shearer would leave him haunted by those "shadows on the wall," but Montgomery says, "What wall?" But Shearer says no. She says, in fact, that his wanting to marry her knowing of her promiscuous past proves that he doesn't actually love her.A year or so later, Montgomery and Shearer are at the theater, when they run into Hamilton. Time has mellowed him a bit, and he tells Shearer that they belong together. Montgomery watches her go, observing wryly that at least he'll always have a champagne bottle waiting for him.So, first, let's establish that I'm a huge fan and avid watcher of pre-Code film, and I'm not trying to judge this movie with a 21st-century sensibility. But let's figure out what the film is telling us:1) marriage isn't necessary if there is true love (Shearer and Hamilton, at the beginning)...2) marriage can only lead to heartbreak, because the man will inevitably cheat (Shearer's aunt and uncle)...3) men can abandon wives and go off with lovers and embrace free love and that's OK (Shearer and Hamilton in Mexico)...4) women can't (Shearer and Hamilton in Paris)...5) men who love women who've had promiscuous pasts don't really love them (Shearer and Montgomery)...6) women should wait forever for the man they love, through all the misunderstandings and rejections, and never ever get involved with anyone else, on the off chance that the man they love will decide they belong together (throughout)...7) a man who wants to marry a woman despite her promiscuous past can't actually love her, although a man who has punished and heaped contempt on said woman and then finally decides he wants to marry her despite it DOES actually love herWell. This film sends so many mixed signals, you need an air traffic controller.Interestingly, in the novel on which this film is based, the Shearer character eventually commits suicide after years of waiting in vain for the Hamilton character to return to her. So, the mixed signals may come from the Frankenstein-like effort of fusing a happy-ending head onto the original tragic body.Montgomery is, as always, charming and natural, which shows up in stark contrast with Shearer's silent-movie-born overacting. You may want to stab yourself in the eye after watching Shearer throw back her head and laugh gaily for the umpteenth time. Hamilton does a serviceable job in a thankless role, but it's always difficult to keep from visualizing Police Commissioner Gordon when he's on screen.I found this movie almost unbearably frustrating--but that's just me. Others, clearly, were more open to it. But I prefer a film that obeys its own internal logic, no matter how screwy it may be in relation to "reality." "Strangers May Kiss" doesn't carry that off.

Very of its time and very tailored to its star: A love triangle that mainly allows La Shearer to wear great clothes, hog all the close-ups, emote theatrically, and win all the audience sympathy. Or most of it, because one of the two swains bidding for her is Robert Montgomery, and in the charm department he easily outclasses the competition, Neil Hamilton. The latter mistreats our Norma horribly, doesn't reveal that he's a married man until he's had his way with her (it's a pretty racy movie for its day), neglects and insults her and doesn't give her a chance to explain why she's become a loose woman (it's because he rejected her, the varmint). But she just goes on loving the rat. For an assembly-line early talkie, it features unusually snappy dialogue (John Meehan is one of the unsung heroes of MGM), and of course the Art Deco ambience is luscious. But the plot doesn't go where you want it to (i.e., this Hamilton guy just doesn't deserve the leading lady), and the 70-odd years have revealed Shearer's much-vaunted star quality to be mostly a bag of actressy tricks.