The Woman Between

After Lester Vail's mother died, his father, O.P. Heggie told him he was marrying again. Lester headed out and spent a decade or so knocking around the world. He's headed home, and on the voyage, he has an affair with Lili Damita, who he suspects is married. When he gets home, there she is, his stepmother.

It's one of those improbable soap-opera plots in which the heroine suffers. Miss Damita asks her husband why he married her. To my way of thinking, he should ask her, but the question never seems to come up, only her suffering. Meanwhile, I'm wondering if O.P. Heggie is going to get it in the neck.

Miss Damita sings a chanson adequately, for no clear reason, Miriam Seegar has the face of an angel. I'd like to think that improbably plotted weepers like this are why Miss Damita retired early. Her line readings are too slow and uncertain. Clearly she -- and her character -- are speaking in a second language, and the audience has a tough time understanding her words, let alone her thoughts.