Lugné-Poe

On the eve of getting married by order of his mother to a wealthy American heiress, Leon learns that his former friend just had a child. She cannot keep him, however, being in poverty.

A businessman, Masson, who likes to party, wants to force his partner, Chabrat, a hard worker on whom the success of their fashion store depends, not to leave Paris. For this, he agrees with a young cabaret dancer, Zizi so that she pretends, for a fee, to fall in love with Chabrat who, more than anything, wants to be loved for himself. But Zizi soon finds herself in her own trap: she is “snatched”.

Alexandre Dumas' romantic novel Lady of the Camelias (more popularly known as Camille) was filmed twice in 1953, first in Argentina, then in France. The Argentine film was heavily modernized, while the French version returns to Dumas' 19th-century milieu. Micheline Presle is excellent as Marguerite, the gorgeous courtesan who flits from man to man until she finds true love in the form of the much-younger Armand (Rolande Alexandre). Though he is willing to marry her despite her past, she is persuaded to forsake him, lest his reputation be ruined. The story then wends its way towards its famous tragic finale, as the consumptive Marguerite is permitted a few brief moments of happiness before her flame is permanently extinguished. Advertised as the seventh version of the Dumas classic, La Dame aux Camelias was certainly not the last.