This is at best a confusing movie. The novel on which it is based, a minor classic of masochism, is the story of a Spanish nobleman who falls in love with a strange woman, Concha. She keeps leaving him, and so angers him that he finally beats her. She likes it, and the rest of the novel consists of his learning this and trying to come to terms with it.
That, of course, was not going to work in post-Hayes Code Hollywood. There is a slight inkling of it after Lionel Atwil beats Concha once, but it is never developed. We therefore really have no idea why she doesn't go off with the far more handsome Cesar Romero at the end.
So, what we have left are a lot of nicely shot black and white images - Sternberg knew how to shoot for the image - and the most remarkable series of outlandish costumes on Dietrich that Hollywood could provide. She plays Concha as petulant and that finally becomes obnoxious. So, as with some of the other Sternberg-Dietrich creations, this is best watched with the sound turned off. Fun to watch, but more show than substance.
That, of course, was not going to work in post-Hayes Code Hollywood. There is a slight inkling of it after Lionel Atwil beats Concha once, but it is never developed. We therefore really have no idea why she doesn't go off with the far more handsome Cesar Romero at the end.
So, what we have left are a lot of nicely shot black and white images - Sternberg knew how to shoot for the image - and the most remarkable series of outlandish costumes on Dietrich that Hollywood could provide. She plays Concha as petulant and that finally becomes obnoxious. So, as with some of the other Sternberg-Dietrich creations, this is best watched with the sound turned off. Fun to watch, but more show than substance.