One More River (1934)
*** (out of 4)
This James Whale directed melodrama is technically good and the performances are fine but I'd still rank it rather low in regards to the director's filmmography. A woman (Diana Wynyard) goes to England to try and escape her abusive husband (Colin Clive) and on the ship ride over has a nice man (Frank Lawton) fall in love with her. Even though her husband is abusive, she refuses to go any further with the new man and it doesn't take long for the husband to show up and cause trouble. ONE MORE RIVER was based on a very popular novel that of course had to be trimmed down for the big screen due to the production code going into full swing during this period. For the most part I thought the film featured some very good performances from its excellent cast and there's no question that it's rather impressive on a technical side. The biggest issue I had with the film was actually the pacing, which just seemed extremely slow to me and it really took forever for the film to finally pick up some speed. There's no question that the material is old-fashioned but this isn't the reason it goes so slow. Again, the best thing going are the performances with Wynyard really standing out as the abused woman trying to do what's right. Lawton is also good in his role as the man who loves her and Clive proves what a talent he was in just a few scenes. Jane Wyatt appears in his first role and we get good support from Reginald Denny, Henry Stephenson, Lionel Atwill and C. Aubrey Smith.
