Morals for Women (1931)

Just about every expense has been spared with this rather poorly told story of "Helen" (Bessie Love), a young country gal who heads to the smoke and discovers that she can get to the top by using her feminine wiles on some unsuspecting dolts. Her dream life comes unstuck, somewhat, and she must return to her sleepy home where her reputation soon catches up with her and forces her back to the city - only this time it's not as straightforward as before. The story is actually quite simple, and Love is good, initially, as the naive visitor. As the story picks up pace, though, she starts to struggle a little with the stronger aspects of the character, and neither her boss "Van Dyne" (the dashing but wooden Conway Tearle) not her rather pathetic beau "Paul" (John Holland) contribute much to the story either. It does have the advantage of dealing with a more mature subject matter, before the code started to do our thinking for us - but this is all just a bit blandly done. Some nice shots of Times Square, though - who ever heard of "Squibs Dental Creams"?...