A lie about fatherhood destroys everything in 72 minutes of pre-Code chaos.
Michael Morda, a young sculptor living in San Francisco, is madly in love with Elinor Hunter, and they plan to be married. When Elinor becomes jealous of Julie Stressman, an old friend of Michael's and one of his models, Michael reluctantly asks Julie not to visit him at his studio. They agree to meet only at the construction site where he is working on a sculpture for which Julie is modeling. When Elinor also shows up at the site, Julie leaves so as to avoid a confrontation, but she is killed by some falling materials. Julie's dying request is that Michael adopt her daughter Mitzi, whose father died years earlier. In order to prevent Mitzi from being taken to an orphanage, Michael lies and says he is her father. Elinor hears this, and without asking questions, leaves him and marries another man the same night.
Acting
Paul Lukas plays desperate sculptor with magnificent nervous energy.
Production
San Francisco studio sets look genuinely artistic and lived-in.
Director
Lloyd Corrigan
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pre-Code Hollywood loved 'falling materials' as convenient death devices—cheap, dramatic, no murder trial needed.
1931 audiences saw single fatherhood as scandalous enough to justify a woman's immediate abandonment; modern viewers see Elinor's overreaction as comedy gold.
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