His Woman

His Woman is a 1931 American romance drama film directed by Edward Sloman and starring Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert. Based on the novel His Woman by Dale Collins, the film is about a tough sea captain who discovers a baby aboard his freighter and hires a tramp, masquerading as a missionary's daughter, to care for the infant on their passage to New York. The film is a remake of the 1928 film Sal of Singapore.

Plot

While docked in a Caribbean port aboard a third-rate freighter, Captain Sam Whalan (Gary Cooper) gets involved in a drunken brawl in a seedy tavern. Returning to the ship, Sam discovers that a baby boy, rescued from a drifting Navy boat, has been left for an unnamed sailor aboard his ship. Deciding to adopt the child himself, Sam advertises for a "mother" and soon hires Sally Clark (Claudette Colbert) as the child's nanny in exchange for her passage to New York. Sally tells him she is the daughter of a recently deceased missionary. Unknown to Sam, Sally is actually a dance hall girl dressed to appear virtuous and proper.