As You Desire Me

As You Desire Me

1932 · 70 min · ★ 6.4 · Drama

Bar entertainer Zara is a discontented alcoholic who is pursued by many men but lives with novelist Carl Salter. One day, Tony shows up on Salter's estate claiming that Zara is actually Maria, the wife of his close friend Bruno, claiming that her memory was destroyed during World War I. Zara doesn't remember but leaves with Tony to Salter's dismay. Bruno, now an officer in the Italian Army, tries to coax Maria's memory back on his large estate. No one is really sure if Zara is Maria, and when Salter shows up with a mental case from Trieste that he claims is the real Maria, everyone on Bruno's estate is desperately searching for the truth.

Directed by George Fitzmaurice · Written by Gene Markey

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Streaming

Rent or Buy

Cast

Greta Garbo Zara, a.k.a. Maria
Melvyn Douglas Count Bruno Varelli
Erich von Stroheim Carl Salter
Owen Moore Tony Boffie
Hedda Hopper Ines Montari
Rafaela Ottiano Lena
Warburton Gamble Baron
Albert Conti Captain
William Ricciardi Pietro
Roland Varno Albert
Reginald Barlow Dr. Reinhardt
Max Barwyn Cafe Headwaiter

Make it a double feature

2h 16m together

As You Desire Me

Vacation from Love

Both from George Fitzmaurice.

More from George FitzmauriceSee all →

Bella Donna

Bella Donna · 1923

MovieRomanceDrama

Bella Donna, a seductive woman snares Nigel Armine into marriage and he takes her to Egypt to live. Tired of her simple husband, Bella becomes involved with brutish Baroudi.

Vacation from Love

Vacation from Love · 1938

Vacation from Love

A socialite dumps her fiancé on their wedding day and runs off with a saxophone player. Comedy.

Rose of the Golden West

Rose of the Golden West · 1927

Rose of the Golden West

MovieDramaRomance

Juan is about to elope with the convent-bred Elena, when he is chosen to assassinate the governor who is about to hand California over to the Russians. Since the governor also happens to be Elena's father, this puts him in quite a fix.

Kick In

Kick In · 1922

MovieCrimeDrama

After serving time in Sing Sing, Chic Hewes wants to go straight, but when he refuses to be a stool pigeon for the cops, they hound him mercilessly. Hewes witnesses a car accident in which Jerry Brandon, the son of the district attorney, runs over a child. He also meets Molly, the D.A.'s daughter. Because he feels the child's mother was treated unfairly, Hewes decides to pull one last heist to square things.

The Love Mart

The Love Mart · 1927

Victor, an adventurous young swashbuckler in 19th-century New Orleans, takes possession of a barber shop as the result of winning a duel, and decides to settle down to a life as a barber. He meets a beautiful young woman and pursues her, but she dismisses his attentions because she thinks he is just a barber. Also pursuing the woman is the evil Capt. Remy, whom she also brushes off. He, however, doesn't take rejection so lightly, and forges papers "proving" that the girl is a "quadroon"--part black, which means that she can be sold as a slave. She is sold to Capt. Remy, and when Victor hears of it, he determines to rescue her.

Tarnish

Tarnish · 1924

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ · 1925

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

MovieAdventureDrama

Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman officer Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy, though conquered, Israelite. A slip of a brick during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a galley slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned. Years later, as a result of his determination to stay alive and his willingness to aid his Roman master, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister, and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge against Messala.

The Bad One

The Bad One · 1930

In this melodrama, a dancer works in a sleazy Marseilles portside dive that is really the front for a bordello. While dancing one night she meets a sailor and agrees to be his bride. Unfortunately, one of her former suitors suddenly shows up and a terrible fight ensues.

The Barker

The Barker · 1928

MovieRomanceDrama

A successful carnival barker deals with the arrival of his eager son, who he'd hoped would stay far from the carnival world, his son's entanglement with a showgirl, and his own jealous mistress.

The Unholy Garden

The Unholy Garden · 1931

The Unholy Garden

MovieRomanceDrama

At a hotel in the middle of the Sahara, an old man and his daughter try to keep the location of a hidden treasure from a collection of thieves and criminals staying at the hotel who are determined to get it. A suave gentleman thief arrives at the hotel one day with his own plan to get the loot, but complications ensue when he begins to fall for the daughter.

A Thief in Paradise

A Thief in Paradise · 1925

A Thief in Paradise

Years of failure and bad luck have made Maurice Blake a beachcomber on an island in the Samoas, earning a precarious living by diving for pearls with Philip Jardine, the disinherited son of a San Francisco millionaire. When Philip is killed by a shark, his half caste common-law wife, Rosa, informs Maurice that Philip had been forgiven by his father, and she persuades him to assume Philip's identity and return to the States - The film is now considered a lost film.

Three Live Ghosts

Three Live Ghosts · 1922

Three Live Ghosts

Adapted from a popular Broadway play and concerns three veterans who return to London from the War only to discover that they have been officially listed as dead.

Mata Hari

Mata Hari · 1931

MovieCrimeDrama

A semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I.

The Son of the Sheik

The Son of the Sheik · 1926

The Son of the Sheik

MovieActionAdventure

Ahmed, son of Diana and Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, falls in love with Yasmin, a dancing girl who fronts her father's gang of mountebanks. She and Ahmed meet secretly until one night when her father and the gang capture the son of the sheik, torture him, and hold him for ransom.

Adventure in Diamonds

Adventure in Diamonds · 1940

Adventure in Diamonds

MovieCrimeDrama

A government pilot (George Brent) falls for a woman (Isa Miranda) helping her partner (John Loder) smuggle diamonds out of South Africa.

The Devil to Pay!

The Devil to Pay! · 1930

The Devil to Pay!

MovieComedyRomance

Spendthrift Willie Hale again returns penniless to the family home in London. His father is none too pleased, but Willie smooth-talks him into letting him stay. At the same time he turns the charm on Dorothy Hope, whose father is big in linoleum and who, before Willie's arrival, was about to become engaged to a Russian aristocrat.

More Like This

42nd Street

42nd Street · 1933

MovieComedyDrama

Broadway director Julian Marsh needs just one more hit show so he can retire and recover his health. It looks like he just may pull it off until temperamental star Dorthy Brock breaks her ankle on the eve of the show's premiere and has to be replaced by her understudy Peggy.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde · 1931

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

MovieHorrorScience Fiction

Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men: one that is good and one that is evil. He believes that by separating the two, man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug, it is already too late.

The Country Girl

The Country Girl · 1954

The Country Girl

An actor on the skids is given one more chance to regain his stardom, as well as his self-respect, yet his alcoholism may prevent that from happening.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein · 1931

MovieDramaHorror

Obsessed scientist Dr. Henry Frankenstein attempts to create life by assembling a creature from deceased body parts. Aided by his loyal misshapen assistant, Fritz, Frankenstein succeeds in animating his monster, but it flees into the countryside and begins to wreak havoc.

The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai · 2003

The Last Samurai

MovieDramaAction

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

Central Station

Central Station · 1998

Central Station

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

Together

Together · 2000

MovieDramaComedy

Elisabeth leaves her abusive and drunken husband Rolf, and goes to live with her brother, Göran. The year is 1975 and Göran lives in a commune called Together. Living in this leftist commune Elisabeth learns that the world can be viewed from different perspectives.

MovieDramaThriller

In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.

Shanghai Express

Shanghai Express · 1932

Shanghai Express

MovieDramaRomance

A beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-packed train journey.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter