Frail Women
1932 film
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Frail Women is a 1932 British drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Mary Newcomb, Owen Nares, Frank Pettingell and Herbert Lomas. In the years after the First World War, a Colonel marries his war-time mistress in order to legitimise their daughter.[1]
| Frail Women | |
|---|---|
Mary Newcomb | |
| Directed by | Maurice Elvey |
| Written by | Michael Barringer |
| Produced by | Julius Hagen |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | |
| Edited by | |
| Music by | W.L. Trytel |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | RKO Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
It was made at Twickenham Studios[2] with sets designed by James A. Carter.
Plot
During the First World War, Lilian Hamilton has a brief relationship with an army officer, Colonel Leonard Harvey. Their affair results in an illegitimate child, Mary, but the Colonel leaves for the front and Lilian is forced to give the baby up. The child is later adopted by a wealthy woman, separating mother and daughter.
Years later, after the adoptive mother dies, Mary learns about her origins. She eventually makes contact with Lilian, who is now the kept mistress of a bookmaker. Despite her mother's hard and brassy personality, Mary begins to understand Lilian's circumstances and the stigma she faced as an unmarried mother.
Mary falls in love with a respectable young man from a higher social class, but she worries that her illegitimate birth and family background will damage his reputation and future. It is revealed that the superior of the young man's employer is Colonel Harvey, the officer who had the wartime affair with Lilian and is Mary's biological father. The Colonel is a decent man and does what he can to remedy the situation, by marrying Lilian and legitimising Mary.
Cast
- Mary Newcomb as The Woman (Lilian Hamilton)
- Owen Nares as The Man (Colonel Leonard Harvey)
- Margaret Vines as The Girl (Mary Willis)
- Frederick Peisley as The Boy (Peter Farrer)
- Jane Welsh as The Sister (Eleanor Farrer)
- Herbert Lomas as The Solicitor (Burrows)
- Edmund Gwenn as The Bookmaker (Jim Willis)
- Athole Stewart as The Father (Sir Robert Farrer)
- Frank Pettingell as The Employer (McWhirter)
- Miles Malleson as The Registrar
- Heather Angel as The Girl (uncredited)
