What's up with Laurence Olivier's character? The film begins and he's in love with his new wife (Ann Harding) and he is very charming. However, just a few minutes later, he's moody, unpredictable and a jerk! While the idea of his not appreciating his wife and his job getting him down is good, he just comes off as too selfish and emotionally volatile and you can't understand how ANY woman could love such an oaf. I don't think it's really his fault, mind you, but the script that allowed for no slow and logical progression of his moodiness. When they divorce, it is because Oliver "wants a place of my own where I can work"--without a wife or child getting in his way! Nice guy, huh? In hindsight, I think the film might have been better if they'd had Olivier be nicer--at least until his career has truly hit bottom.<br /><br />Now time has passed. Harding has remarried--this time to a genuinely nice guy. However, six years later, she meets up with Olivier while in Switzerland and he tries very hard to win her back despite the past. Considering that his child now is happy and only knows the other man as her father and the ex-wife seems happy, you can correctly assume that Olivier's character STILL is a very selfish and despicable man. How Harding or anyone could fall for him or even talk with him again defies common sense and made the movie tough going for me. Harding allowing Olivier the chance to win her back by letting him wine and dine her on the boat voyage back to the States made her a bit despicable in my eyes as well.<br /><br />I think the movie COULD have worked had Harding NOT created a new life with a new husband. After all, the new husband didn't deserve to be hurt. Secondly, they should have shown Olivier undergo a genuine transformation into a truly decent guy--not the same old guy who has mellowed some because he's now a successful writer.<br /><br />Overall, the film looks good and has good production values. However, I have a hard time thinking about any film of the time with such convoluted characters and values. After all, Harding DID seem quite wiling to hurt her new husband and going back to Olivier only possibly fell through at the very last minute. In fact, such a film could not have been made after the Production Code was strengthened in 1934, as the behaviors of the characters in the film would have violated the new standards of the film industry. Call me old fashioned, but in this particular case, I longed for the post-code values.