The Divorce of Lady X

Bright, light romantic comedy starring Laurence Olivier as a barrister who, through a misunderstanding, believes he has become involved in the divorce of Ralph Richardson and Binnie Barnes., A high class divorce lawyer gets caught up in a farcical mix-up when he thinks that the lady who spent the night in his hotel room is the straying wife of his new client., Filmed in lavish Technicolor and given Tiffany production values by producer Alexander Korda, the British comedy Divorce of Lady X is at base a trivial little farce, buoyed by the sprightly performances of star Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier. Ms. Oberon plays a costume-party guest who is forced to stay in a hotel overnight due to inclement weather. There are no rooms available, so the management prevails upon handsome but stuffy lawyer Olivier to give up half of his suite to the lovely Oberon. After a chaste evening together, Olivier becomes obsessed with Oberon, deducing that her elusiveness is due to the “fact” that she is married. Actually, she is nothing of the kind, but when an old school chum (Ralph Richardson) comes to Olivier’s office to arrange for a divorce, Olivier jumps to the conclusion that Oberon is his old friend’s soon-to-be “ex”. Based on Gilbert Wakefield’s play Counsel’s Opinion, Divorce of Lady X has become a familiar presence on cable TV because of its public domain status; less familiar is an earlier movie version of the Wakefield play, filmed in 1932 by director Allan Dwan.