The Prude's Fall

Jane Novak - Beatrice Audley
Julanne Johnston - Sonia Roubetsky
Warwick Ward - Andre le Briquet
Hugh Miller - Marquis de Rocqueville
Gladys Jennings - Laura Westonry
Miles Mander - Sir Neville Moreton
Henry Vibart - Dean Carey
Marie Ault - Mrs. Masters

Adapted from a stage success of 1920, this romantic melodrama relates how a French captain, wanting to test the sincerity of a rich widow, persuades her to become his mistress. Given the production difficulties, it is hardly surprising that it was a failure. According to Alfred Hitchcock’s own account, the film had to go into production quickly, to complete Jane Novak’s 2-picture deal with Michael Balcon; but Graham Cutts spent time and money searching for European locations, since he did not want to be parted from his Estonian mistress, whom he could not bring back to England.

It was finally filmed at Islington, however, with Hitchcock obliged to substitute studio sets for the exotic locations originally planned. The film also saw a deterioration of Hitchcock’s relationship with Cutts, who was clearly jealous of the credit for the films that was being given to his clever young assistant, while his own career, through his own fault, was looking shaky. Although released before The Blackguard, it was evidently shot subsequently, and was the last collaboration of Cutts and Hitchcock.