During the Russian Revolution, a young nobleman and his peasant maid flee from their homeland to Constantinople where they marry and begin a challenging new life.
Acting
Nancy Carroll's Tanyusha simmers with survival instincts and barely contained desire.
Costume
The pearl necklace as status weapon—pre-code symbolism at its sharpest.
Direction
Dieterle captures refugee Constantinople with newsreel grit and dreamlike romance.
Director
William Dieterle
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Baron Nikita 'Nikki' Krasnoff
Nancy Carroll
Tanyusha Krasnoff
Lilyan Tashman
Vera Zimina
Guy Kibbee
Mr. Murphy
Sheila Terry
Marjorie Murphy
Richard Alexander
Pyotyr (Uncredited)
Mischa Auer
Sergei (Uncredited)
Dewey Robinson
Sergeant Illya (Uncredited)
Arnold Korff
Kalin (Uncredited)
Ivan Linow
Ivan (Uncredited)
Frank Reicher
Plotsky (Uncredited)
Mae Busch
French Wedding Witness (Uncredited)
Earle Foxe
Boris (Uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released months before the Hays Code enforcement, this captures Hollywood's last gasp of sexual frankness and class criticism. The Russian émigré panic resonated with 1932 audiences watching European instability unfold.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. reportedly fought for this grittier role against studio wishes—his father was swashbuckling royalty, and Junior was desperate to prove he could do 'suffering.'
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