The year 1927 was a fine one for Clara Bow, having already achieved superstardom with It and still to make the first Oscar winner, Wings, among other films that year. She's as expressive and lovable as ever here, and is paired with Gary Cooper, who comes across as quite lively despite apparently having had lots of jitters, causing him to be briefly replaced in the cast. That may have been because he was playing counter to his usual type, but it was also because he and Bow and fallen hard for one another, setting in motion a torrid off-screen romance. As Bow was not above talking about her sex life, it also added to Cooper's reputation in Hollywood for being, er, very well endowed, and with a great deal of stamina. Those details courtesy David Stenn's biography of Clara Bow, Runnin' Wild.
Adding to the level of talent in the cast is Esther Ralston, who is engaging in a quieter way than Bow, providing a nice counterpoint to her. Mary Louise Miller, the "Million Dollar Baby" from Mary Pickford's Sparrows (1926), also appears, and is an adorable little sweetie. Behind the camera was James Wong Howe (still going by just James Howe at this time) providing the cinematography, including that nice dolly shot following Gary Cooper in the office scene.
Because the quality of the initial print of the film was noticeably weak, Stenn writes that studio executives brought in director Josef von Sternberg to reshoot several scenes at night, the cast having already begun working on other pictures. The schedule was so challenging that James Wong Howe fell asleep during this reshoot. One scene in particular that von Sternberg redid was the death scene, allowing Bow's acting ability to shine so much that decades later Victor Fleming believed it to be "the greatest (death scene) ever done on the screen."
Despite all the layers of talent and a few fine moments like that, unfortunately, Children of Divorce isn't one of the better projects built around Clara Bow. The trouble is in the script, which suffers from being both overly melodramatic and a morality tale. The message to the viewer is about as subtle as a sledgehammer, amounting to Divorce is Bad! Marrying hastily is Bad! Marrying for the wrong reasons dooms not only you but your children!
The story is also mediocre, and almost completely consists of handwringing over either wanting to be with someone you can't have, or being with someone you don't love. Clara Bow's character loves Einar Hanson's, but marries Gary Cooper. He loves Esther Ralston. Ralston loves him too, but as he's unavailable, begins thinking about marrying Hanson. There are very few events shown in their lives, just meetings at parties filled with angst over their romantic status.
Worse yet is the fate assigned to Clara Bow because of her sins. She's a woman who steals her friend's fiancé, marrying him when he's drunk, and having a child by him even though she knows he loves someone else. Oh, if only she had learned the lessons from being a child of divorce like her friend did! We're meant to see further evidence of her immorality when she offers herself as a lover to Hanson's character, and he politely declines the idea of adultery. This is after he's told her that because of his church's policies, he wouldn't be able to marry her even if she got a divorce.
So barring the drunken lapse of Gary Cooper's character, tempted as he was by this woman of sin, everyone here is moral and upright except Bow and I suppose her mother (Hedda Hopper), who had multiple divorces. Bow's character is the prime offender in this morality story, and so must be punished with death. To make the audience feel good, she's ennobled by "thinking of her child" by giving her away to her friend, saying she should have been hers in the first place (good grief). It's ridiculous, tawdry type stuff, watchable only for the people who worked on it.
Adding to the level of talent in the cast is Esther Ralston, who is engaging in a quieter way than Bow, providing a nice counterpoint to her. Mary Louise Miller, the "Million Dollar Baby" from Mary Pickford's Sparrows (1926), also appears, and is an adorable little sweetie. Behind the camera was James Wong Howe (still going by just James Howe at this time) providing the cinematography, including that nice dolly shot following Gary Cooper in the office scene.
Because the quality of the initial print of the film was noticeably weak, Stenn writes that studio executives brought in director Josef von Sternberg to reshoot several scenes at night, the cast having already begun working on other pictures. The schedule was so challenging that James Wong Howe fell asleep during this reshoot. One scene in particular that von Sternberg redid was the death scene, allowing Bow's acting ability to shine so much that decades later Victor Fleming believed it to be "the greatest (death scene) ever done on the screen."
Despite all the layers of talent and a few fine moments like that, unfortunately, Children of Divorce isn't one of the better projects built around Clara Bow. The trouble is in the script, which suffers from being both overly melodramatic and a morality tale. The message to the viewer is about as subtle as a sledgehammer, amounting to Divorce is Bad! Marrying hastily is Bad! Marrying for the wrong reasons dooms not only you but your children!
The story is also mediocre, and almost completely consists of handwringing over either wanting to be with someone you can't have, or being with someone you don't love. Clara Bow's character loves Einar Hanson's, but marries Gary Cooper. He loves Esther Ralston. Ralston loves him too, but as he's unavailable, begins thinking about marrying Hanson. There are very few events shown in their lives, just meetings at parties filled with angst over their romantic status.
Worse yet is the fate assigned to Clara Bow because of her sins. She's a woman who steals her friend's fiancé, marrying him when he's drunk, and having a child by him even though she knows he loves someone else. Oh, if only she had learned the lessons from being a child of divorce like her friend did! We're meant to see further evidence of her immorality when she offers herself as a lover to Hanson's character, and he politely declines the idea of adultery. This is after he's told her that because of his church's policies, he wouldn't be able to marry her even if she got a divorce.
So barring the drunken lapse of Gary Cooper's character, tempted as he was by this woman of sin, everyone here is moral and upright except Bow and I suppose her mother (Hedda Hopper), who had multiple divorces. Bow's character is the prime offender in this morality story, and so must be punished with death. To make the audience feel good, she's ennobled by "thinking of her child" by giving her away to her friend, saying she should have been hers in the first place (good grief). It's ridiculous, tawdry type stuff, watchable only for the people who worked on it.