German-born director Ernst Lubitsch brought his famous touch to this tale of a love triangle involving the neglected Maria (Dietrich), her husband Frederick (Herbert Marshall), a high-ranking British diplomat, and Anthony (Melvyn Douglas), the man with whom she has a brief Parisian tryst and who only knows her by the sobriquet ‘Angel’. With the two men separated by the English Channel, Maria believes her secret safe until Anthony not only turns up in England, but in her home as a result of his previous acquaintance with her husband, forcing her to choose between the two in this elegant romantic drama.

Notes by Kevin Coyne.

Screening as part of the Dietrich X Garbo Season.