oscaralbert Review of Other Men's Women

Other Men's Women (1930)

Back in the 1900s, there was some chick wailing on the radio . . .

[6/10 · 29 June 2015]

. . . about being "torn between two lovers," as well as "feeling like a fool." If Mary Astor's "Lily" character felt like chirping in OTHER MEN'S WOMEN, she might warble along the lines of "I better love the man I've got, at least until I've got a better man to love." Flood country's crack hogger (train engineer "Jack") invites his fireman partner and boyhood buddy "Bill" to move in with himself and Mrs. Jack, Lily. After Bill lights Lily's fire, workplace violence blinds Jack. As they say, in the Land of the Blind, a blurry-eyed drunk (Bill) is King. Knowing this, Jack decides to "go with throttle up" on his cement train across a flood-weakened bridge before it's too late for Lily to collect on his Met Life policy. Since James Cagney nixes Dancing in the Rain, it's up to Jack to sink or swim solo. Unfortunately, he forgot to wait an hour after eating (or he's one of those who cannot swim and chew gum at the same time). Some classify this "pre-code" flick as "Forbidden Hollywood" for not taking a properly Papal line when it comes to adultery and suicide, but the Chamber of Commerce has a bigger bone to pick on the glorification of industrial sabotage.