FLIRTING WIDOW, THE

(director: William A. Seiter; screenwriter: based on the play Green Stockings by A.E.W. Mason/John F. Goodrich; cinematographer: Sid Hickox; editor: John F. Goodrich; music: Alois Reiser; cast: Basil Rathbone (Col. Smith), Dorothy Mackall (Miss Celia Faraday), Anthony Bushell (Bobby Tarver), Wilfred Noy (Martin), Claude Gillingwater (William Faraday), Emily Fitzroy (Aunt Ida), Leila Hyams (Lady Evelyn Faraday Trenchant), Flora Bramley (Phyllis Faraday), William Austin (James Raleigh); Runtime: 72; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: William A. Seiter; First National Pictures; 1930-B/W)

“A disappointing whimsical comedy.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A disappointing whimsical comedy directed by William A. Seiter (“The Lady Wants Mink”/”One Touch of Venus”) and written by John F. Goodrich. It’s based on the play Green Stockings by A.E.W. Mason.

The rigid Sir William Farady (Claude Gillingwater) refuses to give his daughter Phyllis (Flora Bramley) permission to marry Bobby Tarver (Anthony Bushell) until his oldest daughter Celia (Dorothy Mackall) marries.

Celia, upon returning home from her London vacation, in order to help her sister, announces her engagement to the fictitious Colonel Smith, who has sailed to Arabia. This pleases her dad.

To seal the deal, on her sister’s suggestion, Celia writes a love letter to the colonel which is accidentally mailed. There is actually in Arabia a Colonel Smith (Basil Rathbone), who finds the letter amusing. When Celia publishes his obituary in the newspaper, he visits her posing as a friend of the deceased. They get together and find an attraction and become a couple.

It’s a contrived film, whose comedy was stiff and its premise overstayed its welcome.

REVIEWED ON 10/9/2022  GRADE: C+