Marcel Dalio in the son of a sponge diver in Sfax. He is a dreamy fellow who tells tales in the market, fed by the merchants, dreaming of a beautiful princess. He finds her in Viviane Romance, a prostitute, who is charmed by his mystic manner. For eight days they are happy, while he toils in unaccustomed labor in the harbor. Then she tells him she has fallen pregnant. To raise money, he goes on a gun smuggling run, but he is gone too long. Convinced he is dead, she goes off to Paris with wealthy archeologist Pierre Renoir, first as his mistress, then his wife and mother of what he thinks is his daughter. But after three years, Dalio follows her to Paris.

Pierre Chenal's movie is yet another variation on the Erde, the beautiful woman who destroys the foolish men who love her, but it's certainly evolved from earlier versions like Dietrich in THE BLUE ANGEL and Louise Brooks in PANDORA'S BOOK. Although Mlle Romance is a prostitute at the beginning, she does care about her fellow sex worker, Jany Holt, and she is transformed by Dalio's love. But when he disappears, gloomy thoughts about the child's future sear away the transformation. Her changes are not noble, but they are understandable, and Louis Jouvert as a blackmailing private detective she hires when she catches wind of Dalio's presence in Paris reminds us that no matter how we may wish to change, the world will not let us.

Marcel Dalio in the son of a sponge diver in Sfax. He is a dreamy fellow who tells tales in the market, fed by the merchants, dreaming of a beautiful princess. He finds her in Viviane Romance, a prostitute, who is charmed by his mystic manner. For eight days they are happy, while he toils in unaccustomed labor in the harbor. Then she tells him she has fallen pregnant. To raise money, he goes on a gun smuggling run, but he is gone too long. Convinced he is dead, she goes off to Paris with wealthy archeologist Pierre Renoir, first as his mistress, then his wife and mother of what he thinks is his daughter. But after three years, Dalio follows her to Paris.

Pierre Chenal's movie is yet another variation on the Erde, the beautiful woman who destroys the foolish men who love her, but it's certainly evolved from earlier versions like Dietrich in THE BLUE ANGEL and Louise Brooks in PANDORA'S BOOK. Although Mlle Romance is a prostitute at the beginning, she does care about her fellow sex worker, Jany Holt, and she is transformed by Dalio's love. But when he disappears, gloomy thoughts about the child's future sear away the transformation. Her changes are not noble, but they are understandable, and Louis Jouvert as a blackmailing private detective she hires when she catches wind of Dalio's presence in Paris reminds us that no matter how we may wish to change, the world will not let us.