New on DVD: 1933 romance ‘Perfect Understanding’

Gloria Swanson and Laurence Olivier’s only film together, the 1933 romance “Perfect Understanding,” makes its DVD and Blu-ray debut Tuesday from the Cohen Film Collection. The screen legends play a society couple who have a “perfect understanding” that they can have extramarital affairs but will never become jealous. Swanson also was a producer of this pre-code British film. Though uncredited, one of the film’s co-writers was a young Michael Powell, who would go on to write, produce and direct such classic films as “The Red Shoes” with Emeric Pressburger. The disc also features two shorts from 1933 produced by Mack Sennett: “Husband’s Reunion” and “Dream Stuff.”