Nana (United Artists) is Emile Zola's story about a Parisian gutter-lily, gilded by Samuel Goldwyn. When first seen Nana (Anna Sten) is a scrubgirl, soapily eager to be glamorous and rich. As a first step toward this goal she pushes a drunken soldier into the troutpool of a sidewalk cafe. Her act so delights an impressionable theatrical manager (Richard Bennett) with Belasco manners and Minsky talent, that he makes her his mistress, teaches her to be a torchsinger.
Nana falls in love with a feverish young lieutenant named Muff at (Phillips Holmes), whose older brother (Lionel Atwill), a pompous colonel, considers her a "gilded fly." But after he has sent his young brother to Algiers to cool off, Colonel Muffat starts pawing Nana for himself. By the time Lieutenant Muffat returns to Paris, the Franco-Prussian War has started, Nana has become a tosspot and Colonel Muffat has left his home to live with her. The brothers meet in the hall of Nana's house. They start to draw their swords. But since the point of the story is that Nana, although troublesome, is nice, they do not use them. Nana inconspicuously shoots herself. Dying, she makes the two Muffats shake hands. ". . . I was born," she says, "all wrong. . . ."
Like most Goldwyn pictures, Nana was far more expensive than the finished product would suggest. As released this week it represents an investment of about $1,000,000. Anna Sten had to be taught English before production could begin. A version of the picture directed by George Fitzmaurice was scrapped, after being two-thirds finished, because it was over-conscientiously acted. As a build-up for Anna Sten United Artists launched a lavish advertising campaign consisting of daily newspaper "teasers"—Sten portraits with no text except her name and one word to describe her varying expressions ("Mysterious," "Fascinating," "Glamorous," "Worldly," "Captivating"). Last week Greek Catholic Archpriest Nicholas Kedroff, Dean of St. Nicholas Russian Cathedral in Manhattan, led his congregations in a prayer that Anna Sten's first U. S. production would be successful. His piety and Producer Goldwyn's extravagance were misplaced. Nana is sad but spurious and stodgy. All that saves it from complete mediocrity is Anna Sten who, although her accent is still outlandish, is a cheery, wise and personable importation from Russia. Unlike most European cinemactresses, she is interesting without seeming morbid.
Anna Sten (real name Anjuschka Stenski) was born in Kiev in 1910. Her father was a Russian dancer. Her mother was a Swede. Anna Sten became a movie actress at 15. Since then the principal complications of her career have been linguistic.