June walks the foggy London streets in despair and ends up making a deal, not with the Devil but Oedipus Rex. Though the word prostitute isn’t directly used, June’s occupation is implied in every stammer, stutter, pregnant pause and synonym one can think of! The Foggy streets and silhouettes of the opening foreshadow what would one day become Film Noir tropes, especially the work of DP John Alton.
June escapes from two curious Bobbies and stumbles upon the doorstep of the wealthy aristocrat Sir Gerald Courtney. The good Sir Courtney convinces this lady of the night to lure his son Russell away from another women whose intentions are weighed in pounds...and not the units of mass and weight. June takes the offer of 1,000pds (upon completion) and soon befriends Russell and becomes his pal and confidante. But both father and son fall in love with June, June falls in love with the father, father and son have a grand falling out, and son gets a murder rap as compensation. But June sacrifices her own reputation to set things right (she’s the alibi for Russell) and keeps her self-respect by refusing the “weight” gain, so to speak.
It’s all a bit trivial and the direction mundane, the photography begins interestingly enough but becomes rather rote and unexceptional, the story too talky and static yet it’s enjoyable. Betty Compson is perky as June (though she gives up the British accent rather quickly) and her performance workmanlike. John Darrow is the often drunk yet unpretentious son whose fate is sympathetic, and his father, played by Gilbert Emery is a kind and gentle man (though a bit too Victorian). June dissolves into the murky London night and Sir Gerald Courtney vows to follow her to the ends of the Earth.
Final Grade: (C)
