Forget about the Hitchcock connection - this is a Graham Cutts film, and jolly good it is too...
Clive Brook is unable to get it up for his wife Drusilla (who would fancy anyone with that name anyway?). They are distant and stiff with each other - maybe a spell at the Front has left him less than capable in the bedroom department, or maybe they just don't fancy each other any more. Anyway, Clive takes himself off to the East End and gets involved with a pretty young waif (it's all very pure and spiritual, so don't get too upset - he take on a role as her protector). The waif has a bully-boy boyf who is part of the criminal low-life of the district. He is not suffering from impotency issues... especially as he's being played by the extremely sexy Victor MacClaglen - yum yum. Anyway, being the jealous type, he's not so impressed with the fact that Clive is sniffing around his girlfriend. There's a brilliant denouement scene where Clive has to overpower Victor using his wits against Vic's brute force. Wits prevail of course, and Clive turns him over to the authorities - thus ensuring the continuing safety of the waif.
Clive returns triumphant to Drusilla, and his experience of danger and east end low-life seems to have renewed his vigour and his interest in...erm, PASSION. Drusilla clearly thinks so. In the final shot they kiss at the foot of the stairs, and Cutts gives us a close up of their feet. Drusilla lifts her left foot onto the first rung of the staircase in a subtle but highly erotic indication that she's going to take Clive upstairs and give his new-found potency a thorough seeing-to. Hurrah!
Really, some of the idiots who leave snotty and indifferent comments about silent films on here need their heads examining. If you aren't prepared to enter into the coded language of the medium then it's pretty obvious you won't get anything out of its products.
This film is jolly thrilling and very frank about sex if you are attentive enough to pick up on the subtlety of its representational strategies. Sure, Hitchcock worked on it, but that's probably the least interesting thing about the film. Cutts is an excellent film-maker, a fact confirmed not only by this film, but by several others.
Clive Brook is unable to get it up for his wife Drusilla (who would fancy anyone with that name anyway?). They are distant and stiff with each other - maybe a spell at the Front has left him less than capable in the bedroom department, or maybe they just don't fancy each other any more. Anyway, Clive takes himself off to the East End and gets involved with a pretty young waif (it's all very pure and spiritual, so don't get too upset - he take on a role as her protector). The waif has a bully-boy boyf who is part of the criminal low-life of the district. He is not suffering from impotency issues... especially as he's being played by the extremely sexy Victor MacClaglen - yum yum. Anyway, being the jealous type, he's not so impressed with the fact that Clive is sniffing around his girlfriend. There's a brilliant denouement scene where Clive has to overpower Victor using his wits against Vic's brute force. Wits prevail of course, and Clive turns him over to the authorities - thus ensuring the continuing safety of the waif.
Clive returns triumphant to Drusilla, and his experience of danger and east end low-life seems to have renewed his vigour and his interest in...erm, PASSION. Drusilla clearly thinks so. In the final shot they kiss at the foot of the stairs, and Cutts gives us a close up of their feet. Drusilla lifts her left foot onto the first rung of the staircase in a subtle but highly erotic indication that she's going to take Clive upstairs and give his new-found potency a thorough seeing-to. Hurrah!
Really, some of the idiots who leave snotty and indifferent comments about silent films on here need their heads examining. If you aren't prepared to enter into the coded language of the medium then it's pretty obvious you won't get anything out of its products.
This film is jolly thrilling and very frank about sex if you are attentive enough to pick up on the subtlety of its representational strategies. Sure, Hitchcock worked on it, but that's probably the least interesting thing about the film. Cutts is an excellent film-maker, a fact confirmed not only by this film, but by several others.
