I Was An Adventuress (1940)
Director:
Gregory Ratoff
Writers:
Karl Tunberg (screenplay), Don Ettlinger (screenplay), John O'Hara, Jacques Companéez, Herbert Juttke, Hans Jacoby, Michel Duran, Erich von Stroheim, Nunnally Johnson, Darrell Ware
Stars:
Vera Zorina, Richard Greene, Erich von Stroheim, Peter Lorre, Sig Ruman, Fritz Feld
Actress/ballerina Vera Zorina stars as a phony countess, working in cahoots with two international con artists (Erich von Stroheim and Peter Lorre). She renounces her earlier life after falling in love with one of her victims (Richard Greene), but her old crooked cronies show up to blackmail her. Zorina confesses to her husband, who forgives all. VON STROHEIM and Lorre steal everything but the cameras in their brief scenes, outshining both hero and heroine with their patented rascality. I Was an Adventuress ends with a George Balanchine ballet sequence, which like all such film "highlights" goes on too long and is strictly a matter of taste.