I find Dorothy Mackaill to be excellent in this movie. Her acting is naturalistic and entirely believable at all times. In addition, she's gorgeous. It's a shame that Ms. Mackaill isn't better known today. Until I watched this movie, I don't believe that I'd ever seen her in anything before, and perhaps not ever even heard of her, even though I'm a big fan of Silent through early 1930s movies and have seen dozens of films from back then.
shareDorothy Mackaill is superb in this role, perfectly capturing the sleaze, vulnerability, vengeance and passion her character exhibits at various stages of her journey. I must seek out more films with her because I found her positively mesmerizing here.
shareThis was my first exposure to Mackaill that I can recall and she's tremendous. Too bad her sound film career tapered off so after 1931 and then completely ended after 1937. If this film is any evidence, she deserved a truly A-list career.
Matthew
She reminds me of Constance Bennett in Bed of Roses. They just oozed sexuality and power.
I wish Dorothy had had a longer career, too. Unfortunately she was simply too sexy for the Code folks.