Strangers May Kiss: Norma Shearer being very dramatic in Mexico

If you have about an hour and a half and you want to see what 'scandalous' looked like in 1931, you should probably watch Strangers May Kiss. It is definitely for people who love Pre-Code cinema and Norma Shearer’s very specific way of staring at men like she’s trying to see through their skulls.

If you hate movies where people sit around in expensive rooms and talk about their 'souls' and 'freedom' while drinking cocktails, you will likely want to throw a shoe at your TV. It is a very moody piece of work.

The movie starts out with a lot of talk. Norma Shearer is Lisbeth, and she’s got these two guys following her around. One is Steve (Robert Montgomery), who is charming and funny, and the other is Alan (Neil Hamilton), who is... well, he’s kind of a jerk.

Naturally, because it is a movie, she chooses the jerk. Alan tells her he’s going to Mexico and he doesn't want to be tied down. Lisbeth decides to go anyway because she thinks she’s modern and can handle a relationship with no strings attached.

The scenes in Mexico feel very strange. They have that old-school Hollywood 'exotic' vibe where everything is just a bit too clean and everyone is wearing huge hats. You can almost feel the heat coming off the screen, but not in a good way—more like a 'the studio lights were too hot' kind of way.

There is a moment where Lisbeth is waiting for Alan to come back to their hotel. She’s just sitting there, looking at a door. The camera stays on her for a long time. It’s supposed to be emotional, but I just kept thinking about how uncomfortable that chair looked.

I noticed that Norma Shearer changes her hair about five times in this movie. Each time it gets a little bit more elaborate as her life gets more complicated. It's like her hair is a progress bar for her misery.

Neil Hamilton is fine, I guess, but he plays Alan with this weird stiffness. He has a very sturdy chin, but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy a woman would ruin her life for. He’s a bit like a cardboard cutout that someone accidentally gave a speaking role.

On the other hand, Robert Montgomery is fantastic. He’s the only one who feels like a real person. He has this way of leaning against a doorframe that makes everyone else in the scene look like they are trying way too hard to be 'actors'.

He gets all the best lines too. He’s basically the audience's voice, watching Lisbeth make terrible decisions and just sighing about it. It reminds me of the side characters in The Eyes of the World, where the people on the edges are way more interesting than the ones in the middle.

The dialogue is very '1931'. People say things like 'I want to live my own life!' and 'You’re playing with fire!' It feels a bit like reading a dusty old novel you found in your grandmother’s attic. It isn't exactly deep, but it has a certain rhythm to it that I actually liked.

One thing that really stuck out to me was the sound quality. In the scenes where they are supposed to be outside, you can hear this constant low hum. I think it was the cameras or the recording equipment back then, but it makes the whole movie feel like it’s happening inside a refrigerator.

Things I kept thinking about while watching:

• Why are the drinks always so full? Nobody ever spills a drop, even when they’re gesturing wildly.
• Norma Shearer’s outfits are incredible. Adrian, the designer, really went all out with the silk and the ruffles.
• There is a scene with a letter that takes way too long to read. We get it, the letter is bad news. Move on.
• The way people smoke in this movie is an art form. They don't just puff; they perform.

The movie gets much darker in the second half. Lisbeth realizes that the 'free love' thing mostly just means the guy gets to do whatever he wants while she waits at home. It’s a bit depressing, honestly.

There’s a scene where she’s in a restaurant and she sees Alan with someone else. The look on her face is actually really good. Shearer was a silent film star first, and you can tell because she can do more with her eyes than most people can do with a three-page monologue.

It’s not a perfect movie. It drags in the middle, and the ending feels a bit rushed, like they realized they only had five minutes of film left and had to wrap it up. It doesn't have the grit of something like The Gun Runners, but it has its own kind of glamorous sadness.

I also found the supporting cast to be a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them are just there to fill up the background of party scenes. It’s like they just grabbed whoever was standing near the commissary at MGM that day and threw them into a tuxedo.

There is a strange moment where a character mentions being 'all wool,' which I think was slang for being a good person? It made me think of the movie All Wool, though that’s a completely different vibe.

Actually, the whole thing feels a bit like a dream. A very expensive, slightly boring dream where everyone is sad but looks great. If you like seeing how Hollywood tried to handle 'adult themes' before the censors really cracked down, it’s worth a look.

Just don't expect it to make you feel particularly happy about the human condition. It’s mostly just people being selfish in nice clothes. But sometimes, that’s exactly what you want to watch on a rainy afternoon.

The cinematography is mostly just 'point the camera at the stars,' but there are a few shots in the Mexico hotel that have some nice shadows. It’s not exactly art, but it’s competent.

I’ll probably forget most of the plot by next week, but I’ll remember that one dress with the feathers on the shoulders. That thing was a choice.