AllMovie

Even in the early stages of his Warner Bros. career, director Michael Curtiz was eager and willing to tackle any sort of story tossed his way. Based on an original by Mark Canfield (a pseudonym for Darryl F. Zanuck), The Desired Woman is a standard stiff-upper-lip military drama set at a remote British outpost in Africa. Irene Rich plays Lady Diana, the wife of martinet British officer Captain Maxwell (William Russell). When Maxwell unjustly court-martials his young subordinate Larry Trent (William Collier Jr.) -- who'd been forced to kill a fellow officer in self-defense -- Lady Diana walks out on him. She divorces Maxwell and marries Sir Sydney Vincent (Richard Tucker), who uses his clout to pardon Trent. Only during the desert battle scenes was Michael Curtiz able to bring this hidebound melodrama to life.