The Virtuous Sin (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Marya is the wife of medical student Victor Sablin, who finds it impossible to deal with military life when he is inducted into the Russian army during World War I.

Directed by George Cukor and Louis J. Gasnier. Starring Walter Huston, Kay Francis, and Kenneth MacKenna.

The Virtuous Sin tells the story of a scientist couple who get married despite the woman thinking of him as only a friend. When he is drafted into the army and gets himself in trouble with his commanding officer, she decides to try and seduce the general in hopes of getting him a reprieve. This is absolutely a pre-Code film, as it gets away with insinuating far more saucy plot details than a film could a few years later. The Internet dubs this a comedy, but it's possible that much of the comedy is rooted in social mores I no longer have connections to, because it struck me as a lighthearted drama more than anything else -- friendly characters more than jokes. It's an engaging enough watch, and both our primary leads, Kay Francis and Walter Huston, bring charisma to their roles. 1930 really had a thing for showing women going against the societal grain, usually resulting in their own downfall, so it's nice to see something work out for a woman for once. An interesting little flick.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Virtuous Sin > Skyfall

The Virtuous Sin < Dark Passage

The Virtuous Sin > All That Jazz

The Virtuous Sin < Waking Ned Devine

The Virtuous Sin < Signs

The Virtuous Sin < The Miracle Worker

The Virtuous Sin > Can You Ever Forgive Me?

The Virtuous Sin < Targets

The Virtuous Sin < The Brood

The Virtuous Sin > The Detective

The Virtuous Sin > Garbo Talks

The Virtuous Sin > Laurence Anyways

Final spot: #1411 out of 3865, or 63%.