As You Desire Me (film)

As You Desire Me is a 1932 American PreCode film adaptation of the play by Luigi Pirandello released by MetroGoldwynMayer. It was produced and directed by George Fitzmaurice with Irving Thalberg as coproducer. The adaptation was by Gene Markey, the cinematography by William H. Daniels, the art direction by Cedric Gibbons and the costume design by Adrian.

Budapest bar entertainer Zara Greta Garbo is a discontented alcoholic who is pursued by many men but lives with novelist Carl Salter Erich von Stroheim. A strange man called Tony Owen Moore shows up on Salters estate claiming that Zara is actually Maria, the wife of his close friend Bruno. Maria, Tony claims, had her memory destroyed during a World War I invasionyears ago. Zara doesnt remember but leaves with Tony to Salters dismay. Bruno, now an officer in the Italian Army, tries to coax Marias 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 Brunos estate is desperately searching for the truth.The narrative structure of As You Desire Me was used by Marcelle Maurette for the play Anastasia, which was translated into English by Guy Bolton, then later fashioned into a 1956 film adaptation, penned by Bolton and Arthur Laurents. The dual plot of amnesia victim who may or may not be someone, and the income to be gained by proving the identity were the key plot devices used. ........

Source: Wikipedia