June 6, 2022

Pola Negri is clearly having some fun in this rather run-of-the-mill femme fatale style story. This time, the plot shifts to an American town of "Maple Valley", where she, the "Countess Elinora" arrives, dressed to the nines and immediately - almost before she sets foot in the place - manages to irritate the rather straight laced residents with her glamour, her smile and she certainly exudes an alluring sexuality that has the men hanging on her e… read the rest.

Pola Negri is clearly having some fun in this rather run-of-the-mill femme fatale style story. This time, the plot shifts to an American town of "Maple Valley", where she, the "Countess Elinora" arrives, dressed to the nines and immediately - almost before she sets foot in the place - manages to irritate the rather straight laced residents with her glamour, her smile and she certainly exudes an alluring sexuality that has the men hanging on her every word. Oh yes, and there's a tattoo, too - hardly a thing to be found on anyone but a sailor from the south seas - and that winds up the puritanical townsfolk even more. It also serves to facilitate some of the best, most humorous, aspects of this amiable story that sees a romance emerge from the slightly muddled, oft-presented scenario. Holmes Herbert is effective as the prude-in-chief DA "Granger", and he effectively focusses what I think may be the film's ultimate point - a swipe at the pettiness of small communities (could be anywhere in the world, not just the USA) whose welcome smile is accompanied, all too often, with a knife in the back. It's not a great piece of cinema; we've seen it before and better, but Negri, Holmes and the typically slapstick Chester Conkin (her cousin "Sam") keep the thing moving smoothly and entertainingly enough for an hour or so.

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