There are a few things spread out in the film that is good but overall it is a mess that doesn't know how to use the medium of cinema even if we ignore the problematic aspects. The film would have been much better at least technically speaking, if only they'd take some more time to establish things at each juncture. Even though I haven't seen them, since there was already two silent film adaptations of this broadway hit, they could have focused on the narrative a bit more and no wonder it got negative reviews when it was originally released.
Disregarding the technical aspect, thinking that this story was a broadway hit (assuming it was mostly a faithful adaptation) shows the normalisation and glorification of abuse of that time, which is not a surprising thing considering the time. But even for that time, the relationships in the film is never convincing. Why would anyone be with the main character Jim and go on to do the exact opposite of the things they believe in. It felt like the portrayal of woman who would act strong but be submissive as expected of them and overall just confirms the male dominance which just isn't the kind of stuff to bring back to streaming.
A lot of RKO and WB films of that era that uses such tropes are coming to streaming now although these remnants of time must be more of an academic interest and not really fit into the entertainment section in this era.
Disregarding the technical aspect, thinking that this story was a broadway hit (assuming it was mostly a faithful adaptation) shows the normalisation and glorification of abuse of that time, which is not a surprising thing considering the time. But even for that time, the relationships in the film is never convincing. Why would anyone be with the main character Jim and go on to do the exact opposite of the things they believe in. It felt like the portrayal of woman who would act strong but be submissive as expected of them and overall just confirms the male dominance which just isn't the kind of stuff to bring back to streaming.
A lot of RKO and WB films of that era that uses such tropes are coming to streaming now although these remnants of time must be more of an academic interest and not really fit into the entertainment section in this era.