"The Trespasser" Review

 

by Daniel White

"Isn't love finer than our bodies?" Gloria Swanson as Marion Donnell asks this question when confronted by the wife of the man she once loved in The Trespasser (1929). The crippled spouse (Kay Hammond) has wheeled her way over to Marion's apartment to relinquish her husband to his former love. "I'm only half a wife", laments the poor self-sacrificing creature. At this point I had to pause the movie because I was laughing so hard.

The Trespasser is bad, very, very bad. And, unfortunately, I'm here to report that Gloria Swanson gives a truly stinko performance. Which I don't blame her for, entirely. No, I place that onus on Mr. Edmund Goulding, who not only directed this potboiler, but also wrote the turgid, implausible, ludicrous script. This is a howler, and can be viewed for the entertainment it provides only under the category "so bad it's good." Think of it as a Pre-Code Valley of the Dolls, a Showgirls from the Golden Age of Hollywood. This is Plan 9 From Outer Space BAD, Mommie Dearest BAD. I'm here

to report that I've found Gloria's Gigli and it is The Trespasser.

Gloria Swanson is a very fine actress. One only has to view her brilliant performance as Norma Desmond in the fabulous Sunset Boulevard to know that. And I've watched several of her silent movies where she's a vivacious, exciting screen presence. The Trespasser was her first talkie and someone should have guided her, DIRECTED her, Mr. Goulding. Maybe he was intimidated by Swanson's stardom and couldn't be honest with her. Who knows? But she's unable to transcend the material; Gloria goes down in flames, as bad a performance as I've ever witnessed from an established star.

I know people are going to get their feathers ruffled because I'm writing this and being so cruel to Gloria Swanson. As Auntie Em would say, "Hogwash!" She has an admirable body of work and I respect her immensely. That doesn't mean I can't point out when the great Miss Swanson lays an egg. And in The Trespasser, she lays a spherulitic-sized egg.

Finally, I want to aim some arrows at another woman who some might refer to as sacred: Eunice Kennedy Shriver. What! Going after the Kennedys now? Yes and I'll tell you why. In 1980, Gloria Swanson wrote her autobiography, where she revealed for the first time her affair with business tycoon Joseph P. Kennedy (who produced The Trespasser, by the way). Eunice, upon finding out that Gloria and her pa were lovers, felt compelled to write a letter to the press attacking Gloria and defending her father. In it, she writes that Kennedy, with wife Rose: "shared... in the raising of the children, the creation of a stable and loving home." Okay, fair enough. But then she goes on to attack Swanson, saying: "What lasting value has her (Swanson) life left us." Whoa now, Eunice, Gloria Swanson had a very valuable life. Actress, producer, writer, businesswoman, mother, she lived a full, bountiful existence. An inspiration for many. What did Joe Kennedy do? Make a fortune out of bootlegging? Lobotomize his mentally-challenged daughter, Rosemary? Commit adultery repeatedly? Buy the presidency for his son Jack? Careful Eunice, those in glass houses....

Watch The Trespasser and enjoy it for its wretched horribleness (the last scene where Gloria is the telegraph operator and takes a wireless from her former husband is truly the most contrived scene in the history of film). Then watch Sunset Boulevard and see what a stupendous actress she could be with a first rate director and an intelligent, brilliantly written script. She was a STAR, big enough to survive the travesty that is The Trespasser.

The Trespasser is available on YouTube and I recommend it, if only for it's sheer lousiness.