Ann Dvorak had been quietly rebelling against the breakneck schedule dictated by her bosses at Warner Brothers for years, going so far as to take them to court twice in four years for underhanded salary and contract dealings, but when she married director Leslie Fenton she'd be damned if their draconian view of her labor was going to prevent her from taking a long honeymoon overseas. Revenge was swift: Warner Brothers loaned her out for lesser pictures at RKO, but luckily she landed a part in Stronger Than Desire because her new husband was directing this remake of Evelyn Prentice (1934). It's a trifle ironic that marital privilege brought Dvorak back to a role about adulterous blackmail. When Elizabeth Flagg (Dvorak) discovers her husband Tyler (Walter Pidgeon) is cheating on her, she gets embroiled in a web of murder, cover-ups, and her own infidelities. Dvorak's own marriage to Fenton regrettably didn't last, but she's unforgettable here as a woman whose brittle edge of desire leads her into all kinds of trouble.

By Violet LeVoit