Nana (1934)

Directed by

George Fitzmaurice, Dorothy Arzner

Genre

drama film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 30m

Rating

6.0 of 10 from 6 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A beautiful woman from a humble background uses her charm to climb Parisian society, manipulating powerful men for her own gain. Her journey exposes the price of ambition and the emptiness of a superficial life.

glamoroussomberslow-burnmelancholicvisually lushclassicformalcautionary

What happens

Nana is a 1934 American pre-Code film, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, released through United Artists, starring Anna Sten. and directed by Dorothy Arzner and George Fitzmaurice. This version of Émile Zola's 1880 novel and heroine was to be the vehicle for Sten's triumph as Samuel Goldwyn's trained, groomed and heavily promoted answer to Greta Garbo. Despite a record-breaking opening week at Radio City Music Hall, Sten was received as beautiful but disappointing. Goldwyn's tutoring of Sten is mentioned in Cole Porter's 1934 song "Anything Goes" from the musical of the same name: "If Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction / Instruct Anna Sten in diction / Then Anna shows / Anything goes." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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