Well intentioned, but lugubrious, this near actionless WWI downer opens with a prologue that has a trainload of British POWs unload in technically neutral Holland. Atmospherically lit by cinematographer Henry Gerrard (his penultimate film before dying next year at 35), this first reel of standard wartime prison life quickly gives way to sedate drawing room drama when the camp gives the men restricted freedom if they swear to remain in Holland ‘for the duration.’ Brian Ahearn, in a good early role, is one lucky Brit officer, an academic happy to be out of the war, he’s even happier to land at the home of one time love interest Ann Harding, now living at a grand estate, married to German officer Paul Lukas. Seems she never loved the man she married, so no surprise when things quickly heat up between the former couple just as Lukas shows up, horribly wounded, near death, looking far more glamorous in this dreadful condition than he normally does on screen. (An old Hollywood custom: Beautification Thru Illness.) All handled in long-winded, genteel fashion. And while it’s not bad talk, the discussion on pity vs. true love, loyalty, honor and sacrifice not without interest, no one bothered to make it particularly dramatic. Well played though, and wonderfully scored by Max Steiner who liked his big romantic theme well enough to reuse it in GONE WITH THE WIND for Melanie Wilkes.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: Ann Harding isn’t often heard from these days, a pity not much helped here. For that, compare her 1930 Early Talkie version of Philip Barry’s HOLIDAY with Kate Hepburn's in ‘38.
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