Their Own Desire is a 1929 American romantic drama film starring Norma Shearer

Norma Shearer

Edith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in North America from the mid-1920s through the 1930s...

, Belle Bennett

Belle Bennett

Belle Bennett was a stage and screen actress who started her professional career in vaudeville. She was born in Milaca, Minnesota.-Stage actress:...

, Lewis Stone

Lewis Stone

Lewis Shepard Stone was an American actor.Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, son of Bertrand Stone and Philena Heald Ball. Stone's hair grew gray by the time he was twenty. He fought in the Spanish-American War, then returned to a career as a writer. He soon began acting...

, Robert Montgomery

Robert Montgomery (actor)

Robert Montgomery was an American actor and director.- Early life :Montgomery was born Henry Montgomery, Jr. in Beacon, New York, then known as "Fishkill Landing", the son of Mary Weed and Henry Montgomery, Sr. His early childhood was one of privilege, since his father was president of the New...

, and Helene Millard. The movie was adapted by James Forbes

James Forbes (screenwriter)

James Grant Forbes was a Canadian playwright who worked as a Hollywood movie screenwriter.-Writer - filmography:1930s 1920s 1910s*Bachelor's Affairs...

 and Frances Marion

Frances Marion

Frances Marion was an American journalist, author, and screenwriter often cited as the most renowned female screenwriter of the twentieth century alongside June Mathis and Anita Loos.-Career:...

 from the novel by Sarita Fuller, and was directed by E. Mason Hopper

E. Mason Hopper

E. Mason Hopper was an American film director of the silent era. He directed 76 films between 1911 and 1935.-Selected filmography:* Wife or Country * Brothers Under the Skin...

. Their Own Desire still survives today.

Shearer was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress

Academy Award for Best Actress

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...

, but lost to herself, for The Divorcee

The Divorcee

The Divorcee is a 1930 American drama film written by Nick Grindé, John Meehan and Zelda Sears, based on the novel Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott. It was directed by Robert Z. Leonard, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director...

.

Plot

A young woman is upset by the knowledge that her father is divorcing her mother in order to marry another woman. Her own feelings change, however, when she falls in love with a young man who turns out to be the son of her father's new love.

Cast

• Norma Shearer as Lucia 'Lally' Marlett
• Belle Bennett as Harriet Marlett
• Lewis Stone as Henry Marlett
• Robert Montgomery as John Douglas Cheever
• Helene Millard as Beth Cheever
• Cecil Cunningham
  Cecil Cunningham
  Cecil Cunningham was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in more than 80 movies between 1929 and 1946...
  
   as Aunt Caroline Elrick
• Henry Hebert as Uncle Nate Elrick
• Mary Doran as Suzanne Elrick
• June Nash as Mildred Elrick

Production

The pool scenes in which John Cheever meets Lally Marlett for the first time were filmed at the Norconian Resort Supreme

The Norconian Resort Supreme

The Norconian Resort Supreme is a US West Coast business built in the 1920s, largely intact after 60 years as a naval base and prison. It opened on February 2, 1929, near Norco whose main businesses were poultry, rabbits and agricultural.-Creation:...

 competition diving and swimming pools. While the diving boards and three diving platforms are long gone, the two Norconian pools are still intact, though worse for wear as of 2008, in the middle of what is now the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, California

Norco, California

Norco is a city in Riverside County, California, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,063, up from 24,157 at the 2000 census...

.