''A Woman of Experience'' is a 1931 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Harry Joe Brown Harry Joe Brown (September 22, 1890 – April 28, 1972) was an American film producer, and earlier a theatre and film director. Biography Harry Joe Brown was born in 1890 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a producer, he had a partnership with ...

and starring

Helen Twelvetrees Helen Marie Twelvetrees ( Jurgens; December 25, 1908 – February 13, 1958) was an American actress. She starred in Hollywood films in the sound film era from 1929 to 1939. Many of her roles were of "suffering women". She has a star on the Holly ...

William Bakewell William Bakewell (May 2, 1908 – April 15, 1993) was an American actor who achieved his greatest fame as one of the leading juvenile performers of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Early years Bakewell was a native of Los Angeles, where he at ...

and

Lew Cody Lew Cody (born Louis Joseph Côté; February 22, 1884 – May 31, 1934) was an American stage and film actor whose career spanned the silent film and early sound film age. He gained notoriety in the late 1910s for playing "male vamps" in films ...

, based on the play ''The Registered Woman'' by

John Farrow John Villiers Farrow, KGCHS (10 February 190427 January 1963) was an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. Spending a considerable amount of his career in the United States, in 1942 he was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, a woman is rejected for volunteer work because of her dubious reputation, but that same reputation gets her recruited as a spy for Austria.

Plot

In 1914 Vienna, Elsa Elsbergen volunteers for nursing, but her lies hiding her sordid past are discovered and she is turned down. However, Captain Muller believes her patriotism and background are perfect for the Austrian Department of Intelligence. His superior, Major Schmidt, wants her to become very friendly with Captain Otto von Lichstein, who is known to be spying for the enemy. Elsa is disappointed at the use that Schmidt wants to make of her, but accepts the assignment. At a party, she catches von Lichstein's eye and agrees to meet him the next night. On her way home, she is nearly run down by a horse-drawn cab. Its passenger, Sub-

Leutnant () is the lowest Junior officer rank in the armed forces the German (language), German-speaking of Germany (Bundeswehr), Austrian Armed Forces, and military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") fro ...

Count Karl Runyi of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, is very apologetic and insists on seeing her home. They become strongly attracted to each other, and see each other every night. Schmidt reprimands Elsa, but she refuses to give Karl up and turn her attention to von Lichstein. Karl had been frustrated at being assigned to an admiral's staff, far from the fighting, but when the opportunity he had been hoping for finally becomes available, he chooses not to volunteer for a dangerous assignment - running a blockade with three submarines - because of Elsa. She, however, persuades him to change his mind, telling him that he would come to hate her if he did not seize his chance at glory. She sends him a letter, which he reads after sailing; in it, she lies and tells him that she has found someone else. She then becomes von Lichstein's girlfriend. He later has her entertain naval officer Heinrich. The drunk young man is soon boasting to von Lichstein about the exploits of the three submarines, and in particular their secret return route under the very noses of the enemy. Von Lichstein decides that this would be a fitting culmination of his espionage career and prepares to deliver the information personally. Elsa secretly telephones Schmidt to come immediately and holds von Lichstein at gunpoint. However, he splashes his drink in her face, and they struggle for the gun. It goes off, seriously wounding Elsa. Schmidt and his men arrive, so von Lichstein commits suicide. Karl returns safely and is lauded as a national hero. Then, despite everything, he goes to see Elsa. She admits that there was no other man, and they become engaged. However, Countess Runyi, Karl's mother, knows about Elsa's past. When Elsa refuses to break the engagement, the Countess informs her that she will tell Karl. Katie, Elsa's loyal maid, then reveals Elsa's heroism to the Countess. Although moved, the Countess's mind is set. However, Elsa reveals that, as a result of her wound, she has only six months to live. She marries Karl.

Cast

as Elsa Elsbergen *

as Count Karl Runyi *

as Captain Otto von Lichstein *

H. B. Warner Henry Byron Warner (born Henry Byron Lickfold, 26 October 1876 – 21 December 1958) was an English film and theatre actor. He was popular during the silent era and played Jesus Christ in '' The King of Kings''. In later years, he successfu ...

as Major Hugh Schmidt *

ZaSu Pitts Zasu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's epic 1924 silent film ''Greed'', and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the ...

as Katie * C. Henry Gordon as Captain Muller *

Nance O'Neil Gertrude Lamson (October 8, 1874 – February 7, 1965), known professionally as Nance O'Neil or Nancy O'Neil, was an American stage and film actress who performed in plays in various theaters around the world but worked predominantly in the Unite ...

as Countess Runyi *

George Fawcett George Fawcett (August 25, 1860 – June 6, 1939) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. Biography Born in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1860, Fawcett graduated from the University of Virginia. His initial inclination was to ...

as A General *

Franklin Pangborn Franklin Pangborn (January 23, 1889 – July 20, 1958) was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair. He appeared in many Preston Sturges movies as well as the W. C. Fields films '' Interna ...

as Hans *

Edward Earle Edward Earle (16 July 1882 – 15 December 1972) was a Canadian-American stage, film and television actor. In a career which lasted from the 1910s to 1966, he appeared in almost 400 films between 1914 and 1956. He was born in Toronto and died ...

as Captain Kurt von Hausen * Ashley Buck as Heinrich * G. Pat Collins as Submarine Captain Franz * Harvey Clark as Coachman (as Harvey Clarke)

Reception

On its initial 1931 release, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' commented that the film "takes no exception from the tradition of Viennese legends of battle" with characters, setting, music, and plot all typical of films set in wartime Vienna, and that the audience responded to it like "an old friend"."The Screen"
''

'', July 9, 1931. Critic Paul Mavis later wrote that the film had "a good performance by Twelvetrees doing what people wanted a female spy to do in 1931." The film was overshadowed by another, similarly themed 1931 release, director

Josef von Sternberg Josef von Sternberg (; born Jonas Sternberg; May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969) was an Austrian-American filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the silent to the sound era, during which he worked with most of the major ...

's ''

Dishonored ''Dishonored'' is a 2012 action-adventure game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Set in the fictional, plague-ridden industrial city of Dunwall, ''Dishonored'' follows the story of Corvo Attano, bodyguard to th ...

'' starring

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woman of Experience, A 1931 romantic drama films 1930s spy drama films American romantic drama films American spy drama films American black-and-white films American films based on plays Films directed by Harry Joe Brown Films set in 1914 Films set in Vienna World War I spy films World War I submarine films Films scored by Arthur Lange 1931 films 1930s American films