Affair in Monte Carlo (DVD)

Linda Venning is a beautiful young widower vacationing in Monte Carlo. Despite the nightlife in Monte Carlo, she prefers to stay on a yacht belonging to a friend of her late husband's. One night Linda is persuaded to venture out into the casinos. She meets a despondent young man about to commit suicide after losing all his money at roulette. Seeing something of her dead husband in the handsome stranger, Linda convinces him not to end his life. The two begin a whirlwind romance amid the sights and sounds of Monte Carlo, but soon the young man's gambling addiction once again rears its ugly head, threatening to jeopardize the couple's newfound happiness...

Based on a German novella by Stefan Zweig, this film initially premiered in Britain in 1952 as 24 Hours in a Woman's Life. The following year, it was released in the United States by Allied Artists, shorn of 30 minutes and re-titled Affair in Monte Carlo. The exotically beautiful Merle Overon is best known for playing Lady Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) and Cathy in Wuthering Heights (1939). She is, to date, the only Asian actress to ever be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award (for The Dark Angel, in 1935.) Co-star Richard Todd is recognized for his role in the war drama The Hasty Heart (1949) with Ronald Reagan. Leo Genn received an Academy Award nomination for his part in Mervyn LeRoy's epic Quo Vadis (1951).

• drama