Hearts Divided *** (1936, Marion Davies, Dick Powell, Claude Rains, Charles Ruggles, Arthur Treacher, Edward Everett Horton, Henry Stephenson) – Classic Movie Review 3448

Dick Powell plays Napoleon’s younger brother Captain Jerome Bonaparte. But it is Marion Davies as Betsy Patterson, a Baltimore woman he loves and marries, who stars in the well-made 1936 film Hearts Divided

Dick Powell plays Napoleon’s younger brother Captain Jerome Bonaparte. But it is undoubtedly Marion Davies as Betsy Patterson, a Baltimore woman he loves and marries, who stars in director Frank Borzage’s well-made but faded 1936 American remake of the 1928 Conrad Nagel part-talkie silent movie Glorious Betsy. Two songs are added (Al Dubin and Harry Warren’s ‘My Kingdom for a Kiss’ and ‘Two Hearts Divided’), sung by Powell, making it a part musical.

Despite its shortcomings, Hearts Divided is still essential vintage viewing thanks mainly to its extraordinary cast, among whom Claude Rains stands out and comes out best, clearly happy as the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Powell and Davies (both looking daft in perms and bright period costumes) battle elements in the screenplay by Laird Doyle and Casey Robinson, but still remain likeable. Powell was cast at Davies’s request.

Hearts Divided is based on Rida Johnson Young’s antique play of 1908, Glorious Betsy, which was apparently far from a great hit in its day. The play opened on Broadway on 7 September 1908 and had only 24 performances. It is based on the marriage of Napoleon’s brother to Elizabeth Patterson, annulled on the order of Napoleon.

The currently available version has lost 10 minutes of its original footage and is only 76 minutes long. The original movie was already cut by 18 minutes for release after the previews. Actors eliminated (with their character names) include Hattie McDaniel (Mammy), Hobart Cavanaugh (Innkeeper), Clinton Rosemond (Black Man) and George Davis (French Sailor).

Also in the cast are Clara Blandick, John Larkin, Walter Kingsford, Etienne Girardot, Halliwell Hobbes, George Irving, Beulah Bondi, Philip Hurlic, Freddie Archibald, Granville Bates, Louise Bates, George Beranger, Leigh de Lacey, Don Downen, John Elliott, Florence Fair, Gaston Glass, Wilfred Lucas, Sam McDaniel and Daisy Lee Mothershed.

Marion Davies’s stardom was fading: she made only two more films – Cain and Mabel and Ever Since Eve.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3448

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/