In THE VIRTUOUS SIN Kay Francis has a lot of chemistry with Walter Huston. (It was the second of four films they made together.) She also has a great deal of chemistry with second lead Kenneth MacKenna, whom she would marry off screen a year later. The story relies on her having rapport with Huston, more than she is supposed to have with MacKenna. But because she's involved with MacKenna in real life, she can't turn off her feelings for him.
There are lines of dialogue at the end where her character is supposed to tell MacKenna that she never really loved him, which doesn't ring true. Then, ironically, he tells her that he will give her a divorce...and in 1934, they did divorce, and she never remarried.
This precode gem is artistic yet commercially viable. There is a splendid segment midway through the picture where Francis and Huston walk through a wooded area and have fun on a makeshift seesaw. I've really never seen anything like that before- a distinguished looking couple, playing outdoors like children.
There is also a segment earlier in the movie when Francis joins a group of prostitutes. She thinks that if she can entertain with them and meet the general (Huston), she will be able to obtain a pardon for her husband (MacKenna) who is facing death by a firing squad.
The proprietress revels in how her girls' naughty reputations bring military men into her establishment, which means a lot of cash for her. Jobyna Howland, who plays the morally challenged madame, is deliciously over-the-top in all her scenes.
THE VIRTUOUS SIN is a polished adaptation of a Hungarian stage play, done with a Hollywood studio budget, that has an eye towards box office returns. So even though Miss Francis plays a woman who makes promises and breaks them, her heart is still reformed in the end.
Most of the reckless behavior that occurs during the movie can be blamed on the war...the characters are simply not in their right minds given the circumstances. But when the war comes to an end, and the soldiers go back to their lives in industry, most of the pieces can be picked up again and even rearranged in a way they should have been arranged before.
While this is for all intents and purposes a Kay Francis picture geared for a female audience, there is plenty of war-related action that focuses on the men. In particular, there is a sequence near the end that involves bombs blasting and guns blazing, where it looks like both men may die. Of course, they live and this leads into how our heroine obtains her happy ever after...which does not come because of any man's death, but because both the men in her life do the right thing and agree on what is best for her.
There are lines of dialogue at the end where her character is supposed to tell MacKenna that she never really loved him, which doesn't ring true. Then, ironically, he tells her that he will give her a divorce...and in 1934, they did divorce, and she never remarried.
This precode gem is artistic yet commercially viable. There is a splendid segment midway through the picture where Francis and Huston walk through a wooded area and have fun on a makeshift seesaw. I've really never seen anything like that before- a distinguished looking couple, playing outdoors like children.
There is also a segment earlier in the movie when Francis joins a group of prostitutes. She thinks that if she can entertain with them and meet the general (Huston), she will be able to obtain a pardon for her husband (MacKenna) who is facing death by a firing squad.
The proprietress revels in how her girls' naughty reputations bring military men into her establishment, which means a lot of cash for her. Jobyna Howland, who plays the morally challenged madame, is deliciously over-the-top in all her scenes.
THE VIRTUOUS SIN is a polished adaptation of a Hungarian stage play, done with a Hollywood studio budget, that has an eye towards box office returns. So even though Miss Francis plays a woman who makes promises and breaks them, her heart is still reformed in the end.
Most of the reckless behavior that occurs during the movie can be blamed on the war...the characters are simply not in their right minds given the circumstances. But when the war comes to an end, and the soldiers go back to their lives in industry, most of the pieces can be picked up again and even rearranged in a way they should have been arranged before.
While this is for all intents and purposes a Kay Francis picture geared for a female audience, there is plenty of war-related action that focuses on the men. In particular, there is a sequence near the end that involves bombs blasting and guns blazing, where it looks like both men may die. Of course, they live and this leads into how our heroine obtains her happy ever after...which does not come because of any man's death, but because both the men in her life do the right thing and agree on what is best for her.