Waterloo Bridge (1931)

This does not come up in searches as readily as its 1940 remake, which enjoys slightly higher ratings on average. Either I selected it by mistake, or I was more curious about the older version for being scandalous enough to call for a tamer telling under the Hays Code. That and I'd never seen a non-horror directed by James Whale.

While this is a war film in part, the titular bridge in London is not being guarded or taken by a focal platoon as I had assumed. Instead, it's where Roy (Douglass Montgomery), a young American soldier oddly in the Canadian Army, meets out-of-work chorus girl Myra (Mae Clarke) as they both help a stubborn old lady (Rita Carlyle) get to safety during a WWI air raid. The two spend time at Myra's run-down apartment until the all-clear signal. Roy falls in love with Myra and, concerned about his military assignment, proposes before long. She's rather fond of him, too, but tries to dissuade him from pursuing her because of her, well, more reliable source of income that she'd rather not divulge....

No, nobody ever says it directly. The biggest hint comes when Myra accepts a cab ride with a man she hardly knows. But for characters savvier than Roy, simply bringing up Waterloo Bridge is enough to evoke the world's oldest profession. You'd think even the Hays Code would allow as much.

Being based on a play, the picture relies heavily on dialog and tends to spend a lot of time in one scene or another. This usually doesn't bother me, but there aren't a whole lot of catchy lines herein. I find it more interesting when the focus moves to just about any character other than the main duo, including Myra's friendly but prying neighbor (Doris Lloyd), her impatient landlady (Ethel Griffies), and Roy's hard-of-hearing, often muddled uncle (Frederick Kerr). Don't be fooled by the Netflix jacket giving third billing to Bette Davis; she has no bearing on the plot and almost nothing to do on screen. Hey, it was only her third screen credit -- no star power yet.

I might as well warn you that the ending isn't happy, tho still not as bad as what I read of the remake. From a modern standpoint, the tragedy doesn't feel necessary. At best, it's vaguely poetic and cinematic.

Guess that fulfills my self-imposed obligation to see a movie about an American soldier close to Memorial Day. The main reason I might recommend it over another is the 81-minute runtime. I'm still not a Whale fan, The Invisible Man notwithstanding.