Riptide (1934)

56% of users liked it
(106 ratings)

A few unique touches aside -- notably the opening costume-party scene, in which the revellers are dressed as insects -- Rip Tide is a standard-issue Norma Shearer soap opera. Shearer plays Mary, a footloose and fancy-free American heiress who weds British nobleman Lord Rexford (Herbert Marshall).… More A few unique touches aside -- notably the opening costume-party scene, in which the revellers are dressed as insects -- Rip Tide is a standard-issue Norma Shearer soap opera. Shearer plays Mary, a footloose and fancy-free American heiress who weds British nobleman Lord Rexford (Herbert Marshall). Five years later, Rexford embarks upon a business trip to New York, while Mary, urged on by her fun-loving aunt, vacations on the Riviera. Here she is reacquainted with her ex-boyfriend Tommie (Robert Montgomery), whose drunken misbehavior causes scandal to befall them both. Refusing to hear Mary's side of the story, Rexford begins divorce proceedings, but a happy ending finally manifests itself after reels and reels of endless high-toned dialogue. Legendary stage star Mrs. Patrick Campbell makes her Hollywood film debut in Rip Tide as Shearer's all-knowing Aunt Hetty, while Walter Brennan and Bruce Bennett show up in microscopic bit roles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: Edmund Goulding
Genres: Drama, Romance

In Theaters: Mar 30, 1934 Wide
On DVD: Feb 23, 1994
Studio: Warner Bros.

Critic Reviews

Bryant Frazer, Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus
Gets wrapped up ever-tighter around one very small idea — the notion that a marriage requires much honesty and patience in order to work.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Routine Norma Shearer (wife of MGM producer Irving Thalberg) romantic love triangle melodrama.

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Featured Audience Ratings

nefnie l

As I started to watch this film, I thought it was going to be a comedy. The characters of Marshall and Shearer meet for the first time dressed as insects. Shearer plays a woman who gives up her carefree New York lifestyle to marry the Lord (played stodgily by Marshall) and lives… More
As I started to watch this film, I thought it was going to be a comedy. The characters of Marshall and Shearer meet for the first time dressed as insects. Shearer plays a woman who gives up her carefree New York lifestyle to marry the Lord (played stodgily by Marshall) and lives the sedate married life; until she runs into her ex (played by the ever-so-suave and charming Montgomery). It becomes a cloying melodrama with Shearer caught between two men who love her. It does liven up when Shearer and Montgomery are on-screen together, as they seem to shine together. They make the movie worth watching and save it from being too "soapy".

Cast

            Norma Shearer as Mary Rexford

            Robert Montgomery as Tommy Trent

            Herbert Marshall as Lord Philip Rexford

            Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Lady Hetty Riversleigh

            Ralph Forbes as David Fenwick

            Lilyan Tashman as Sylvia

            George K. Arthur as Bertie Davis

            Robert A'Dair as Bartender

            Harry Allen as Fire Chief

            T. Roy Barnes as Clogg

            Cosmo Kyrle Bellew as Bits at Aunt Hetty's

            Robert Bolder
            
            Barlowe Borland as Nightingale the Butler

            Walter Brennan
            
            Herman Brix as Bit

            Elsa Buchanan as Daphne

            Herbert Bunston as Maj. Bagdall

            Emile Chautard as Doctor

            Andre Cheron as Surete Officer

            E.E. Clive as Sleigh Driver

            Cora Sue Collins as Child

            Horace Cooper as General

            George Cowl
            
            Helen Jerome Eddy as Celeste

            Herbert Evans
            
            Otto H. Fries as Doorman

            Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher as Erskine

            Victor Gammon
            
            Ferdinand Gottschalk as Orchestra Leader

            Lawrence Grant as Farrington

            Ramsay Hill as Sir Geoffrey Mapel

            Halliwell Hobbes as Bollard

            Anderson Lawler as Henry

            Nola Luxford as English Girl

            Fred Malatesta as Headwaiter

            Louis Mercier as Concierge

            Earl Oxford as Freddie

            Paul Porcasi as House Detective

            Charles Requa as Maj. Mills

            Lillian Rich as Girl

            Des Roberts as Hotel Manager

            Adrian Rosley as Hotel Manager

            Clarissa Selwynne as Mrs. Bagdall

            C. Montague Shaw as Tring

            Donald Stuart as Reporter

            Arthur Treacher as Reporter

            Leo White as Assistant Manager

            Art Jarrett as Percy

            Francisco Maran as French Butler

            Constant Franke as Waiter

            Erin La Bissoniere as French Woman

            Conrad Seidemann as German Porter

            Stanley Mann as Chauffeur
See full cast