A Man from Wyoming

... in this early talking film about how people from different worlds often forget their differences in wartime and come together and the very peculiar ways individuals may grieve.

Jim Baker (Gary Cooper) is building bridges in Wyoming when news of war (WWI) comes. He enthusiastically signs up along with pal Jersey (Regis Toomey). Patricial Hunter (June Collyer) is a wealthy girl who signed up to be a war nurse for the excitement, but she is bored by the fact she is stuck in Paris learning how to properly wrap bandages.

So she just walks away and towards the front lines! Because...reasons! Like she is five! When she gets there, miraculously not riddled with bullets, Jim saves her life and takes her back to safety. In the meantime, they fall in love, secretly marry, and Baker hides her in his room where they have a honeymoon with nobody the wiser. When she gets back to her outfit, she isn't even punished for being AWOL because her uncle is a general??? This entire paragraph are the plot points that are goofy and in no man's land.

Meanwhile Jim is badly wounded and falsely reported killed in action. This news causes Patricia, in her grief, to invent the flapper and embark on a career of Lost Generation libertinism. When Jim discovers her behavior, he smartly decides to see for himself and then talk it out with her. The two actually have an intelligent discussion - for the first time - about the very different worlds from which they come. How does this work out? Watch and find out.

Cooper's man of few words "I reckon" persona works well here, since Cooper actually IS a man of Montana playing a man of Wyoming temporarily made a soldier. Collyer's character is insufferable most of the time, as she plays this part very whiny. I'd say watch it for Cooper if for no other reason.