Proud Flesh (1925)

Member Rating:

King Vidor does a nice job of making an insignificant novel by Lawrence Rising into a pleasant light comedy. Fernanda (Eleanor Boardman, who would become Vidor's second wife) is born in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake and raised by aristocratic relatives in Spain. As a young woman she is engaged to marry Don Jaime Diego (Harrison Ford), but she feels he treats her too lightly. She tells him that she is going to America, but he takes the news so calmly that she is forced to really go. Diego follows after her and, in fact, arrives before she does. This does not stop Fernanda from meeting the attractive Pat O'Malley (Pat O'Malley, apparently using his own name for the character). She falls for him immediately, but when she discovers that, as a contractor, he is basically a glorified plumber, it gives her pause. O'Malley, however, persists and ultimately spirits her off to a cabin. When Diego shows up, O'Malley reluctantly lets Fernanda leave with him, and returns home, depressed. Soon enough Fernanda shows up because she can't forget him. They wind up together, while Diego merely pulls out his little black book and finds another girl. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi