One can only commend Helen Hayes for nixing this lackluster melodrama, which instead trapped Mady Christians, a fine European actress who deserved much better for her American sound film debut. On-stage, Christians would find lasting popularity playing another working-class mama in the 1944 hit show I Remember Mama (filmed in 1948 with Irene Dunne), but A Wicked Woman's Naomi Trice is at best a dreary second cousin to John Van Druten's indefatigable heroine. None of this is Christians' fault -- she gives a perfectly balanced performance and it is easy to imagine how good she must have been as Mama Hanson -- but writers Florence Ryerson and Zelda Sears offer her nothing interesting to say or do and the denouement is strangely hurried. The supporting cast is of no help; Jean Parker, as the youngest, flirtatious daughter, and Charles Bickford, as the editor, are both well below their usual standards. The comedy relief, such as it is, is provided by Betty Furness and gawky Sterling Holloway, and, of course, a little Holloway goes a long way. When Helen Hayes withdrew from the project, so did her director, William K. Howard, and A Wicked Woman was instead helmed by Charles J. Brabin, a veteran from the silent days who could do little with the material. As she often did, Zelda Sears wrote herself a bit part, this time the neighborhood quack. It was a last hurrah for the writer/actress, who died mere months after the film's December 1934 release.
by Hans J. Wollstein
review
