It seems odd to me that with all the attention now being paid to Hollywood's pre-code movies, similar resurrections have not occurred for those British films that were likewise categorized as unsuitable for a re-issue. In fact most of these movies have not even appeared on TV. RKO Radio's "Frail Women" (made in 1931, released in early 1932) is a case in point. The movie is set in 1914 when women of virtue sacrificed everything for love of the men who were going off to fight in the First World War. Why? Simply because the women felt that they too should make a sacrifice, and it was the biggest thing they could do for the men who were going off to fight for their country and would most probably never return. Mary Newcomb plays such a woman. She bears a daughter who is now a teenager in the movie, played by Margaret Vines. To add another screw to the story, the daughter has been adopted by a man (played by Athole Stewart) who didn't know the girl was illegitimate. And to add yet a further complication, the man's son wants to marry the girl! Also in the cast: Edmund Gwenn, who plays a rough and ready bookmaker who offers our heroine shelter, and Owen Nares as a man who offers her marriage -- not because he loves her but because he feels her "sacrifice" should not go unrewarded. Although the movie is somewhat dialog-bound, it's directed with reasonable assurance by Maurice Elvey.
3 Reviews
Shown for first time yesterday
malcolmgsw9 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This is an intriguing film from Twickenham studios.It is unlikely that it has been shown since its initial release.Certainly so far as I am aware it has not been shown on TV in the UK.However it would appear that the BBC had it available for transmission.Although it has a very adult theme I cannot believe that this would have deterred them from screening it.The film is thoughtfully made with fine performances from the leading players.You can spot a youngish Miles Malleson,without his usual wig.The plot has already been set out in the other review.The film ends tragically.Newcombe deserts her common law husband,Edmund Gwenn, to marry Nares.However she is so upset by this that she goes back to the flat she has occupied with him,immediately after the wedding and commits suicide.Gwenn,Nares and the daughter come to the flat and find the dead body. The film was made at Twickenham as a quota quickie for distributors RKO.It has been forgotten ever since.In America it would be called pre code and revered.Anyway this film proves that there are many fine quota quickies out there just waiting to be discovered.
Fallen Woman
richardchatten1 December 2019
A quickie retread of 'Stella Dallas' and 'Waterloo Bridge', this early production from Twickenham Studios is a studio-bound but intense depiction of what was doubtless a common consequence of both world wars.
Sparked by a commanding leading performance by Mary Newcomb, who as usual gives birth to a foundling after just the one night of passion (which she is still stretched out in bed plainly still savouring when the curtain rises) before her officer lover departs for the front leaving her holding the baby. Like most quota quickies it looks like a filmed play, but apparently isn't.
Sparked by a commanding leading performance by Mary Newcomb, who as usual gives birth to a foundling after just the one night of passion (which she is still stretched out in bed plainly still savouring when the curtain rises) before her officer lover departs for the front leaving her holding the baby. Like most quota quickies it looks like a filmed play, but apparently isn't.
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