TOTAL MEH film. Fritz Lang is definitely weaker working in this genre. The story is really cheesy and relies on startling effects.
It shows the attitude towards women at the time as objects of sexual conquest which is strange considering that this characters is in the moral right at the end of the film and help the man who she loves uncontrollably to realize his moral faults. However, the subconscious message here is that it is not just okay but considered natural for men to cheat and be sexual scoundrels and moral scoundrels and it is the job of the woman to make herself open to their conquests and serve their needs.
In this film you really see sexual politics hardening into the attitude that men are superior to women and deserve multiple women and that women should accept that role as well as help him morally while not chastising him for being lascivious. It’s a MANS WORLD, MALE EMPOWERMENT that emerges here.
It’s definitely striking how the shift occurs after the Hays Code but is really cemented in the 40’s. The women characters in the 20’s and 30’s had more strength to them, especially in the early to mid 30’s than they do in the mid 40s.