Absolutely brilliant

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The one and only opportunity to see German actress Lili Dagover in an American film occurs in this rather old fashioned melodrama The Girl From Monte Carlo. Lili plays a notorious woman of leisure and pleasure who hangs out in the casinos looking for rich men to spend on her.But she yearns for respectability and what's more respectable than a Captain in the French Navy. She marries the formal and stiff Walter Huston who's been at sea too long.But this is not Dagover's only acquaintance with the navy. From out of her past is John Wray a notorious rake and Huston's executive officer. And one of Huston's newer officers Warren William gets Dagover's motor running. Without saying any more about the plot it ends badly for all three of these men.It was obvious that Warner Brothers-First National imported Dagover from Germany to rival the appeal Marlene Dietrich. She certainly gives a worthy go of it. But as well as Dagover puts her own brand of femme fatale on this film, she decided unlike Dietrich to return to Germany. An interesting role here is that of George E. Stone who is Warren William's orderly and most discreet keeper of secrets. He's as loyal to William as he was as Otero in Little Caesar to Edward G. Robinson. I'll say nothing more, make of it viewer what you will.As for Dagover it took more than one man to make her Monte Carlo Lili.

Lil Dagover stars with Walter Huston and Warren William in The Woman from Monte Carlo, a 1932 film - actually a remake of a silent film and also a French film starring Annabella.The story concerns a woman, Lottie (Dagover) whose husband (Huston) commands a ship and is away for long periods of time. When the ship arrives in port, she is escorted to the ship by his lieutenant D'Artelles (Warren William) who is in love with her.Lottie is devastated when her husband tells her that because of danger, she cannot stay on the ship overnight and must go home. When d'Artelles informs her of this, she is very upset and talks about how she can never see him, and is alone, has to live like a nun...The ship is torpedoed while she is still with d'Artelles, and though his associate is able to get her home, the fact that she was there becomes critical when her husband is arrested - the boat sinks, and most of the crew is lost. He is accused of bringing the ship too near the enemy; however, the signal he received was the code of a friendly ship. But the only person who knows this, besides Lottie, is a real snake who wants something from Lottie in return for his testimony.It's a shame Dagover only made one film in the U.S., because of all the foreign imports brought over to rival Garbo and Dietrich, she was perhaps the strongest, certainly stronger than Anna Sten and others. She was an excellent actress, her appearance was somewhat similar to Garbo's, and she had great legs. Her accent was a little thick, but in time that would have lessened.She was a huge star in Germany during the Wehrmacht era and was one of Hitler's favorite actresses. She continued to work under the Hitler regime but the films she did were apolitical, musicals and comedies. She also entertained the troops. She worked in Germany until retiring in 1976; she died at the age of 92. A six-decade career, and we got to see her in one movie.Warren William, as others have said, was miscast, and Huston was on the stiff side. That, I think, was how the role was written.All in all, nothing special but it's a good opportunity -- and probably your only one -- to see Lil Dagover.

Lil Dagover is a ship captain's wife, half is age, and a reputation to boot. Of course, she wants to be a faithful wife, but her spouse (an excellent Walter Huston) is too busy being called away on naval business. She's the subject of lustful unwanted advances from sleazy naval officer John Wray, but Huston's right hand man (Warren William) rescues her from him on several occasions. Coincidently, World War I is declared on the night of a shipboard party and a drunken Dagover finds a major hangover when she is left behind when the ship sets off for battle. This leads to a melodramatic plot twist where the ship is torpedoed and Huston is put on court martial for claiming the torpedoing ship had sent friendly secret codes. Will wifey and injured best pal William be able to save him from career suicide without ruining her marriage or further besmirching her reputation? Not if the jealous Wray has his way! Fast-moving romantic melodrama has enough sexual innuendo to fill a dozen pre-code films but suffers from the presence of a rather ineffectual leading lady who appears to be slightly mannish. There's a nice party sequence where Huston ends up in the arms of amorous portly socialite Maude Eburne and a twist in court that is downright over-the-top. It also features a bittersweet downer of an ending that leaves a lot of unanswered questions, but the presence of the ultra talented Walter Huston rises this above mediocrity.

Sporting a plot with gaping holes (one of them large enough to accommodate a battleship), The Woman from Monte Carlo (1931) is more than somewhat disappointing. We waited years to catch up this one. Now it's finally available; but although it has some great moments – principally contributed by John Wray and occasionally by Lil Dagover – the preposterous plot and peculiarly lethargic performance by Warren William undermine its appeal. Nonetheless, although occasionally ill-treated by photographer Ernest Haller, Dagover works hard to build up credibility. Alas, her efforts are sabotaged, largely by Warren William but also by Walter Huston. Admittedly, the admiral is supposed to be a dull old stick, but in my book that doesn't mean he has no charisma whatever. (Incidentally, the studio's credits are wrong. Wray is the ship's captain, Huston is an admiral, and William plays an officer called "D'Artelle"). Michael Curtiz's visual flair is also under pressure from the talky script, the predictable plot and its lifeless characters. All in all, The Woman from Monte Carlo rates as a must-see for Lil Dagover (and John Wray) fans, but little more than a melodramatic curiosity for everyone else.