Strange Interlude

Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, Strange Interlude follows Norma Shearer’s Nina as she decides to have a baby with Clark Gable’s Ned – despite the fact that she’s married to Alexander Kirkland’s Sam. It’s promisingly sordid subject matter that’s employed to hopelessly underwhelming and progressively interminable effect by Leonard, and there’s little doubt that the movie’s downfall can be attributed almost entirely to a central gimmick wherein the various protagonists’ thoughts can be heard via voiceover. The degree to which this device absolutely does not work is nothing short of palpable, as Leonard offers up sequence after sequence of the characters just staring at one another as their thoughts are heard – which, aside from being entirely distracting (and thoroughly laughable), pads out the runtime to an absurd extent (ie take out all the silly voiceover and the picture would probably be half the length). And while the agreeably melodramatic narrative contains its fair share of unexpected twists and turns, Strange Interlude, despite its raft of first-class performances, remains completely unable to capture the viewer’s interest even fleetingly for the duration of its 109 minutes – thus securing its place as an ambitious failure of decidedly epic proportions.

* out of ****