Their Own Desire (1929)

Directed by E. Mason Hopper. Starring Norma Shearer, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery, Belle Bennett, Helene Millard, Cecil Cunningham, Henry Hebert, Mary Doran, June Nash.

Junky romantic melodrama where spoiled rich girl Shearer becomes smitten with cheeky pursuer Montgomery, unaware that he is the son of her father’s mistress (from an affair that led him to leave his wife). The early talkies-era growing pains do no favors for the overwrought dialogue and absurd love scenes. Shearer and Montgomery are both childish and overemphatic, unnatural every time they try to fake spontaneity. A trim running time staves off the doldrums, and the picture manages a few visually striking moments at a swimming pool and during a tempestuous storm, but non-completists are better off just skipping it. Adapted by Frances Marion and James Forbes from a Sarita Fuller novel.

40/100