Lena Rivers (1932)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 13, 2022

The problem with this film is that there is way too much hard-luck back-story around the central character "Lena Rivers" (a glamorous, but somehow lacking Charlotte Henry) - there are entire aristocratic families with less ancestral baggage than this poor girl. All that works, as a writing opportunity, up to a point - but after twenty minutes or so I found I just didn't care for her very much and was therefore looking around for something else to distract me - and sadly, that was not to be. Usually there are plenty of quirky supporting cast (characters) to watch but they are too introspective and self-involved. Clarence Muse is - by a country mile - the stand out character as "Curfew" but otherwise I felt the hour drag somewhat.