Zaza

I am not a fan of tear jerkers in which women must suffer because they've fallen in love with a married man. Nonetheless, I greatly enjoyed this movie, in no small part because star Gloria Swanson treads the difficult performance between misery and self-mockery so adroitly.

I was just settling into grudging appreciation when Miss Swanson began to play the piano and accompanist Ben Model broke into "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You". The next time the sheet music was displayed, I checked. The title was "Plasir d'Amour" but the notes were the Elvis Presley hit. I only hope that Ben has a chance to explain it to the audience before the next performance.

That settled, I began to appreciate the movie again and it grew with each scene. Allan Dwan got superlative performances out of his actors, including the usually boring Mary Thurman. By the time the movie ended and there were no villains, I realized this was as good as a popcorn movie gets.

I don't know when you'll get a chance to see it -- the only known complete copy is at the Library of Congress and there's some blurring and minor decomposition towards the end. However, if the chance, comes, see it.