Hearing the thoughts of the characters is an interesting concept and I applaud the film's creativity and daring (especially for the period), but unfortunately, it's flawed in execution and didn't turn out very well. For one thing, the mindreading is done in place where the actor could have told us what they were thinking non-verbally, with their face or body language. For another, listening to the narration while the actors try to fit an appropriate reaction or gesture to their thoughts comes across like a silly SNL skit, and the acting in these moments is usually pretty poor. Norma Shearer has some nice moments flirting with Clark Gable but her performance is uneven and the others are worse; e.g. Ralph Morgan, who's awful as the friend/vet harboring a secret crush on her.
The other issue is the story itself, which always felt forced. Even on the night of Shearer's father passing away, the men around her talk about what's best for her and try to bend her to their will, which was both odd and irritating. Later we find that the mother-in-law has been keeping a massive secret not only from Shearer but also her own son. It's absurd that she would allow her son to marry if she was so concerned about the mental illness in their family being passed along, rather than broaching the subject beforehand. The plot that's then cooked up, to have her produce the child with a different father, has a tinge of subversiveness to it, but it's pretty damn far-fetched, and that's just the beginning.
The melodramatic plot and the issues with what the film was trying to do make it a tough go, and the scenes after the little boy grows up all the way to the end are truly horrible (and 109 minutes was way too long, even if we do get Margaret O'Sullivan and Robert Young in the final 20). There are times when Shearer and Gable's chemistry shines, and just as in 'A Free Soul' from the previous year (and hilariously commented on by Gable), Shearer boldly walks around braless in one scene. There are also times when the mindreading legitimately works, like Gable's character thinking this after we see him embrace Shearer's and understand they've been having an affair: "I said I loved her. She won. I don't love her. I won't. She can't own my life." That's a surprise, and a fine scene. The film needed to have confined the technique to those type of moments, and had some subtlety, to have stood a chance. As it is, it's an interesting curio, so bad it could almost be a cult film, or for Shearer/Gable completists only.
The other issue is the story itself, which always felt forced. Even on the night of Shearer's father passing away, the men around her talk about what's best for her and try to bend her to their will, which was both odd and irritating. Later we find that the mother-in-law has been keeping a massive secret not only from Shearer but also her own son. It's absurd that she would allow her son to marry if she was so concerned about the mental illness in their family being passed along, rather than broaching the subject beforehand. The plot that's then cooked up, to have her produce the child with a different father, has a tinge of subversiveness to it, but it's pretty damn far-fetched, and that's just the beginning.
The melodramatic plot and the issues with what the film was trying to do make it a tough go, and the scenes after the little boy grows up all the way to the end are truly horrible (and 109 minutes was way too long, even if we do get Margaret O'Sullivan and Robert Young in the final 20). There are times when Shearer and Gable's chemistry shines, and just as in 'A Free Soul' from the previous year (and hilariously commented on by Gable), Shearer boldly walks around braless in one scene. There are also times when the mindreading legitimately works, like Gable's character thinking this after we see him embrace Shearer's and understand they've been having an affair: "I said I loved her. She won. I don't love her. I won't. She can't own my life." That's a surprise, and a fine scene. The film needed to have confined the technique to those type of moments, and had some subtlety, to have stood a chance. As it is, it's an interesting curio, so bad it could almost be a cult film, or for Shearer/Gable completists only.