1931's Other Men's Women is a solid picture built on a simple premise: a railroad worker falls in love with the wife of his buddy. Wellman sets up interesting location scenes that integrate interiors and real backgrounds, as when locomotive fireman Bill White (Grant Withers) leaps off the front of a long freight to grab a quick bite at a trackside diner. A couple of minutes later, he jumps back on the train just as the caboose passes. The workaday realism continues off the tracks, where the railroad men live in bungalow houses. We see the Los Angeles City Hall in the background as they read their dialogue on the top of a moving train.

Bill's a lady's man with more than one woman on his string; waitress Marie (Joan Blondell) keeps getting too drunk to trick him into a wedding ring. She tells others that she's strictly "APO": "Ain't Puttin' Out". Unfortunately, an attraction blooms between Bill and Lily Kulper (Mary Astor), the sweet wife of his best friend Jack (Regis Toomey). A dispute escalates into a fight, which leads to tragic consequences. A year later, the ruined relationships come to a head when Bill gets an idea how to save a threatened railroad bridge in the middle of a massive flood (terrific special effects, here). The situation is melodramatic, the treatment is not. The adultery theme creates heartbreak all around, and is not an excuse for illicit "fun".

In the middle of this story, a familiar silhouette struts toward the camera down a long row of moving boxcars. It's James Cagney in his third movie. He's only in for a few minutes but he's given a chance to briefly cut a rug at a dance hall. Other Men's Women was made just before Cagney's breakthrough in William Wellman's The Public Enemy. Cagney doesn't try to steal scenes, but it's obvious that Wellman was impressed, and maneuvered to advance his career.

Mary Astor exudes a sexuality that seems way ahead of the men in the picture. She's convincing as a "happy housewife" yet conceals definite forbidden fires. The total sex quotient in the picture is one illicit kiss, but Other Men's Women simmers with credible passions in the lower middle class.