Constance Bennett labors mightily to deliver a solid performance in this tale of an heiress who becomes a social pariah when her family loses all its money, and her husband commits suicide on her wedding night. In truth, however, Bennett's enemy was less a judgmental society than the Production Code. The film was shot in April 1934, but before its release Hollywood's studios had agreed to rigid Production Code enforcement to avoid a nationwide boycott. This remake of the Greta Garbo-John Gilbert silent romance A Woman of Affairs (1928), was intended as a more faithful rendition of Michael Arlen's scandalous novel The Green Hat. By the time the censors got through with it, however, the film was decidedly tamer. Where the silent film could hint at such forbidden topics as promiscuity, homosexuality and venereal disease thanks to the skillful playing of the stars and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as Garbo's closeted brother, the sound version had to sidestep such issues. As a result audiences were left guessing about major plot points. Bennett is beautiful, nonetheless, and has some good scenes, while trying to guess at what was cut can make the film's brief running time seem even shorter.

By Frank Miller