The Story of a Bad Woman (1947)

Oscar Wilde might have been amused to learn that his epigrammatic stage comedy-drama Lady Windemere's Fan was filmed in Argentina in 1947 under a title which translates as The Story of a Bad Women. Agelessly beautiful Dolores Del Rio stars as the bewitching Miss Erlyne, a woman "with a history", as they used to say. Without ever revealing her true identity, Miss Erlyne manages to save the virtue and good name of her daughter (Maria Duval), who has grown up to become Lady Windemere. In so doing, Miss Erlyne sacrifices her own opportunity for happiness in the arms of Lord Arthur (Francisco de Paula), but she manages to make her exit with head held high and a smile on her lips. Lady Windemere's Fan was previously filmed under its own title by Ernst Lubitsch in 1925; it would be remade as The Fan by Otto Preminger in 1949.