The Silver Cord

• Joel McCrea: David Phelps
• Frances Dee: Hester
• Laura Hope Crews: Mrs. Phelps
• Eric Linden: Robert Phelps

Action

The young biologist Christina has just the budding architect David Phelps married when she receives an offer to work at the prestigious Rockefeller Institute. The newlyweds make before leaving for New York yet a visit to David's mother, a dominant woman who lives in the Hamptons with her younger son Robert and his mentally unstable fiancée Hester on a handsome estate. Mrs. Phelps ignored Christina from the first moment and leaves no stone unturned to regain its influence on David. Christina soon realizes that the mother's exaggerated love to wash their sons on the edge of the unnatural. In their jealousy Mrs. Phelps insulted her daughter by force, claiming that Christina would have only David married, to have a breadwinner. Parallel she brings with her intrigues against Robert on Hester, so that it broke off his engagement.

Christina, who is pregnant by David, tried in vain to move her husband to an early departure to New York. The events reach their dramatic climax, as Hester suffers a nervous breakdown and almost drowning in a lake. At least the suspicion that she wanted to commit suicide. Christina makes David an ultimatum to accompany them to New York or to consent to the divorce. David fluctuates and then choose to be his mother. Shortly before the departure, Christina Mrs. Phelps to task and exposed their true motives: she has transferred the feelings for her prematurely deceased man on her two sons over the years. Finally David recognizes the true nature of maternal feelings. Horrified, he leaves the house and hurries after Christina. Robert is left alone with his mother.

Background

Irene Dunne had risen since her film debut in 1930 inexorably to the most popular female star of her studio RKO, although most of her films were undemanding melodramas and love triangles. Substantial roles they played mostly for other studios, so 1932 in Back Street, and a year later in The Secret of Madame Blanche. Although their films are usually grossed a high profit, Dunne was clearly in the internal hierarchy behind Ann Harding and Katharine Hepburn and got mostly just RKO roles that had been explicitly rejected by the established stars. Again, Dunne was entrusted only with the roll after the substance is both Ann Harding as Katharine Hepburn was offered in vain also. For the film version of the stage version in several places had to be changed. In the original, the author Sidney Howard hinting of incestuous undertones in the affection of Mrs. Phelps to their sons.

The pulling force of Irene Dunne at the box office turned out in the announcement of their name, which appeared alone on the movie title. For Joel McCrea, the film was relevant in this respect, as he continues his co-star Frances Dee married during the filming.

Reviews

Critics criticized the extreme Wortlastigkeit of the film.

So was the New York Times:

"Probably, this film has more dialogue than any other and some of them are the longest that had ever heard on the canvas. [ ... ] Irene Dunne plays satisfactory [ ... ]. Mr. McCrea is completely in his character when he is in dialogue with others, but in the moments where he has to actually act, it remains only in the role of the listener and does not seem particularly interested in what is said. "