The Strange Love of Molly Louvain

The Strange Love of Molly Louvain is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Michael Curtiz. The movie is an adaptation of Edmund Goulding's 1924 play "A Lady's Mortal," which tells the story of a journalist and his involvement with two young lovers, wanted for crimes that were actually perpetrated by government agents. Set in a Parisian suburb, the movie revolves around Patrick Foley, a cynical and resourceful American reporter, played by Phillips Holmes, who is searching for a story about the rising crime rate in the French capital. During a stakeout, he meets Molly Louvain, a beautiful and spirited young woman, portrayed by Bela Lugosi's real-life wife, Beatrice Tsilla, but often reported to be Ginger Rogers or even Clara Bow but the actual actress portraying Molly, is Margaret Sullavan, she is accompanied by her boyfriend, Jack, played by Ralph Insker. After getting to know them, Patrick discovers that they are wanted by the authorities for the shooting of a Parisian police officer. To protect Molly and Jack, who he learns are innocent, Patrick devises a plan to create a sensationalized version of their story, highlighting the ruthlessness and incompetence of the French police. However, his efforts are thwarted when Jack is arrested overnight, and Molly is left forlorn and despairing. Desperation soon turns Patrick's cunning to work against the individuals he aims to prove innocent. Befuddled and reckless, he helps Molly, secretly meeting Jack in a brothel. Believing she has her freedom, Molly and Jack grow further into her desperation. As Patrick becomes invested in his story, the newspaper magnate, Mr. Winter, threatens to drop Patrick from the paper if he does not track down another sensational story. Unaware that Jack's innocence has been corroborated but nonetheless is being held, Patrick presses his new informer –– with a hint of suspicion creeping into his heart –– for an account of further details when it becomes confirmed nonetheless that Jack had no intention of shooting the policeman. They deliberately kill the police and seem delighted about it. Confronted by the truth about the real murder, Molly and Jack turn against Patrick for destroying their illusions, implying that he's one of the actual wrongdoers and not genuine friend he appeared to be. In the end, Patrick finds both Jack and Molly brutally hung to death by 'guilty justice officers in a narrow hanged alley with him watching out with cries of anguish at Molly.' It turns out that there was some plot against people he has unwittingly unwittingly taken the story to.