Perfect Understanding

Gloria Swanson traveled to Britain to make this Noel Coward–esque romantic comedy in 1933, playing Judy, a young American bride, opposite a youthful Laurence Olivier as her high-society husband, Nicholas. The “perfect understanding” of the title is the couple's ideal of maintaining complete honesty—which, of course, sends them spiraling into jealousy, mistrust, and divorce proceedings after Nicholas sets off for his own private holiday and engages in an affair. While the script addresses adult themes with a sophistication and maturity reminiscent of the drawing-room comedies and stage dramas of the era (all conveyed via suggestion and coded language), it also lacks their wit and bite, and the characters sport little depth or personality—which is unfortunate, since the performances are fine, and Cyril Gardner directs with a brisk, snappy pace. As Ms. Swanson remarked in Sunset Boulevard, “We had faces then,” and indeed she did; her onscreen dynamism here provides an interesting contrast to Olivier's understatement. Michael Powell receives prominent billing on the disc as a co-writer, although his contribution is completely uncredited on the film itself. Never before released on home video in the U.S., Perfect Understanding debuts on DVD and Blu-ray in fine editions, with extras including two 1933 comedy shorts (“Husband's Reunion” and “Dream Stuff,” both produced by Mack Sennett). Except for fans of '30s movies and all things British, this is an optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)