Waterloo Bridge (1931)

This movie was on TCM last night and is one of multiple prime roles for Mae Clarke at the time (she, e.g., played a key role in the original Front Page, later remade as His Girl Friday). Bette Davis had a small role. The director also did Frankenstein. One interesting bit is that this is a WWI drama (the remakes jumped to WWII) because many (well me surely) might be surprised at serious aerial bombardment of Britain during that war.

The bridge is a pick-up spot for prostitutes. The naive solidier who met our heroine there during an air raid (again a thing in WWI) was not aware. The two fall in love, but she doesn't want to marry him because she doesn't think she's good enough for him. She finally agrees at the very end, before she is blown up. Seriously. The remake has her commit suicide. Third time was the charm, that one made after WWII (not 1940).

Sometimes, very early films like these are a bit stiff, and it started in a way that suggested that might be true. But, it soon became much more smooth, though the guy does come off as a tad too naive. Still, it is a touching melodrama with "pre-Code" touches (though reading the summary, the remake has her become a prostitute too). Anyway, in 1915 or whatever, would a soldier blithely go to a woman's apartment he just met, except if she was a prostitute?!