Resurrection (1931)

Three years before Sam Goldwyn's overpublicized Anna Sten vehicle We Live Again, Leo Tolstoy's Resurrection was filmed under its original title by Universal (it had previously been filmed no fewer than times, most recently with Dolores Del Rio and Rod LaRocque in 1926). Set in 19th-century Russia, this is the story of innocent peasant girl Katusha (Lupe Velez), who is seduced and abandoned by the dashing Prince Dmitri (John Boles). Disgraced in the eyes of everyone, Katusha descends into prostitution, while Dmitri's reputation remains unbesmirched. When the former lovers are brought together by chance years later, Dmitri magnanimously suggests that Katusha redeem herself by embracing the Church, but she spurns his empty piety. Eventually, however, she finds God and is able to turn herself around -- and even forgive the self-righteous Dmitri. In addition to We Live Again, Resurrection would be filmed twice more, once in a 1934 Spanish-language version with Gilbert Roland, and again in 1963 by Soviet director Mikhail Shveister. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi