The Flame of New Orleans

The Flame of New Orleans is a 1941 comedy film directed by Ren Clair and starring Marlene Dietrich and Bruce Cabot in his first comedy role. The supporting cast features Roland Young, Andy Devine and Franklin Pangborn.

The legend of Claire of New Orleans is born after two fishermen find a wedding dress floating around on the Mississippi River one day. The legend tells that the Countess Claire Ledux disappeared on her wedding day in the year of 1840, and when the dress was found, the people of New Orleans assumed that the bride had committed suicide by throwing herself into the river. This is how the story begins, and then we find out what really happened, as the story of Claire Ledux is revealed.When Claire arrives in New Orleans for the first time in her life she has a strong ambition to become Mrs Charles Giraud a very rich and renowned banker. She gets her opening one night at the opera, when she manages to bet the seat next to the banker. Trying to catch the unsuspecting bankers attention she fakes fainting in her seat. The banker immediately rushes to her rescue and Claires mission is accomplished. Desperate to the beautiful Claire again, Charles sends his valet over to Claires maid Clementine after the opera. The maid forwards the message, asking Claire to meet with Charles in the park. Claire and the maid make a plan to let a man harass Claire in the park, so that Charles can come to her rescue. But even the simplest plans go wrong, and on the way to the park Claires carriage runs over a monkey by accident. The monkey belongs to river boat captain Robert Latour. he stops the carriage, but since Clementine believes this is the man they hired to make a fuzz with them, she tells the driver to go on and ignore the man. Robert Latour is aggravated by this behaviour and tips the carriage over. ........

Source: Wikipedia