The World and the Flesh

White Russians are fleeing the triumphant Bolesheviks, heading to Sevastopol. Unfortunately for them, Commissar George Bancroft is on their trail, and overtakes them. One of their number is ballerina Miriam Hopkins, whom Bancroft wants. The others persuade her to go to him, while they continue their flight.

In other words, it's an uncredited variation on Guy de Maupassant's 'Boule de Suif.' Everyone talks in the stilted manner that seems to have been fashionable, save for Alan Mowbray as an aristocrat; Bancroft refers to himself in the third person. Director John Cromwell tries to get some good out of this programmer by hiring Russians to play the extras for some color. It only got the regular extras mad at him.

Bancroft was Paramount's answer to Wallace Beery at the end of the silent era, and he gave some muscular performances for von Sternberg. By this time, however, his career was on the downslide, with advancing age and changes in taste. His starring career ended in 1934 with the rise of the Production Code, which I think no coincidence. He remained a capable character actor through 1942, then retired to become a rancher. He died in 1946, aged 74.