Redemption

Silent screen idol John Gilbert leads a stellar cast in this "all-talking" adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic play The Living Corpse. Infatuated with Lisa (Eleanor Boardman), the fiancee of his best friend Victor (Conrad Nagel), Russian wastrel Fedya (Gilbert) woos and marries her, but misses his drinking and gambling. Abandoning his wife to take up with a fiery gypsy (Renee Adoree), Fedya allows Lisa to believe he's dead so she can finally marry Victor. So when it's discovered he's still alive and his wife is accused of bigamy, Fedya must decide what's more important in life - Lisa' happiness or his own. Shot first, but released after His Glorious Night (1929), Gilbert's talking feature debut, Redemption reveals his voice as cultured but not as virile as his screen image demanded. Unable to make the transition to sound, Gilbert would appear in eight more films before his death from a heart attack at age 38 in January 1936.