The Woman from Monte Carlo

Set on the eve of World War I, the story follows the French ship Lafayette as it pulls into Toulon for a single night at port. The crew aren't granted shore leave, but a shipboard party lets the sailors' wives come aboard. Captain Corlaix, an older officer carrying the weight of command, lives with tensions between duty and domestic life, made sharper by his marriage to a much younger wife. As the evening unfolds, private resentments, class differences and the psychic cost of leadership surface, revealing how a brief reunion can expose long-standing strains without resolving the larger shadow of the coming war.

Directed by Michael Curtiz and released in 1932, the screenplay credits include Harvey F. Thew and Lucien Nepoty, with story origins tied to Claude Farrère. The film sits in Curtiz's early output, when he was moving between European and Hollywood projects.

Box office specifics for The Woman from Monte Carlo aren't well documented, and it didn't register as a major commercial hit in most modern reference works. It survives more as a period piece than as a record-breaker in trade reports.

The movie features Lil Dagover and Walter Huston, actors associated with European and American cinema of the era, plus Warren William in a key supporting role. For classic film buffs the picture represents an intersection of continental star power and early sound-era studio craft, offering a look at naval life and social mores just before large-scale conflict reshaped Europe.

Contemporary and modern reception is modest, reflected in a small number of modern user votes that average around the mid-range. The film directs attention to responsibility under pressure, marriage strained by unequal experience, and the formalities of rank and reputation, making it more interesting for historical context and performance than for broad popular appeal.