The first version of this twice-remade drama about the price of fame features Janet Gaynor as a Hollywood hopeful whose star rises while that of the alcoholic actor she loves (Fredric March) falls. An Oscar winner for best original story and an honorary Oscar winner for its beautiful Technicolor cinematography.

Director F.W. Murnau’s first American film stars George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor as a farmer and his loving wife, whose marriage is rocked by the appearance of an alluring "Woman From the City" (Margaret Livingston). An Academy Award winner for lead actress Gaynor, cinematography, and for "artistic quality of production."

Sewer worker Chico (Charles Farrell) lives in turn-of-the-century Paris. After saving young prostitute Diane (Janet Gaynor) from her enraged sister one night, Chico spontaneously claims the kind young woman is his wife when police come to investigate the incident. As Chico and Diane gradually fall in love, the ominous shadow of World War I begins to loom, putting the fate and future of the smitten new couple in serious question.