RKO's reputation as the "women's pictures" studio was bolstered by an impressive stable of emotive actresses like Constance Bennett, Mary Astor, Irene Dunne and especially Helen Twelvetrees, she of the emotive, liquid eyes and ability to transmute great suffering at a glance. Whereas Bennett handled the high-brow roles like Lady With A Past (1932), Helen Twelvetrees did best as salt-of-the-earth working girls in Panama Flo (1932) and The Painted Desert (1932). In this picture she plays Elsa, a woman eager to aid the WWI effort, who is funnelled into espionage after the Red Cross raises eyebrows about her bespoiled past. Assigned by her superior (H. B. Warner, best known as Jesus in King Of Kings (1927)) to seduce a double agent captain (Lew Cody) for information, but when introduced she falls for a Hungarian officer (William Bakewell) instead. While the story speaks volumes about the era's expectations for women (what comes first: man, self, or country?), it's still a last chance to see Twelvetrees shine, before her talents were overshadowed one year later by the incomparable Katherine Hepburn's arrival at RKO.

By Violet LeVoit