Madeleine de Beaupre, a professional jewel thief disguised as the wife of a psychiatrist, steals a pearl necklace in Paris and heads for Spain. Along the way she meets Tom Bradley, an American automobile engineer, and slips the pearls into his pocket in order to get them past customs. Once in Spain, she and her partner in crime, Carlos Margoli, devise a scheme to recover the pearls, posing as a pair of aristocrats and using Tom's attraction to her to their advantage. However, things become complicated when Madeleine finds herself falling in love with Tom in return.

The original play on which Desire (1936) is based, Die schonen Tage von Aranjuez, was a popular source for screen adaptations during the 1930s. A German version was made in 1933, directed by Johannes Meyer and starring Brigitte Helm, best known for her dual role as Maria and The Robot in Metropolis (1927). The same year, a French version was directed by Andre Beucler, starring Jean Gabin and Helm. A radio play adaptation was broadcast on the Lux Radio Theater in March of 1937, starring Dietrich and Herbert Marshall. The play, with its wit and subtle innuendos, is precisely the sort of material that the film's producer, Ernst Lubitsch, excelled at bringing to the screen; indeed, the plot bears more than a passing resemblance to Lubitsch's masterpiece Trouble in Paradise (1932). When Lubitsch proved unavailable to direct the project because of his duties as studio head of Paramount, Dietrich requested Frank Borzage, who was loaned out to Paramount from Warner Brothers in exchange for Jack Oakie, William Frawley and Roscoe Karns.

For Marlene Dietrich, Desire marked a significant break from the increasingly remote and stylized worlds of Josef von Sternberg's films and a demonstration of her ability to stand on her own as a star after the box-office failure of films such as The Scarlet Empress (1934) and The Devil Is a Woman (1935). The results were well received; Frank S. Nugent of the New York Times wrote "Ernst Lubitsch, the Gay Emancipator, has freed Marlene Dietrich from Josef von Sternberg's artistic bondage, and has brought her vibrantly alive in Desire....Permitted to walk, breathe, smile and shrug as a human being instead of a canvas for the Louvre, Miss Dietrich recaptures, in her new film, some of the freshness and gayety of spirit that was hers in The Blue Angel and other of her early successes." He also singled out Gary Cooper for praise, saying, "...Mr. Cooper, who has had comparatively few comic opportunities heretofore, can be as engaging a light comedian as the screen has found." Lubitsch was well aware of Cooper's comic gifts from the start, having featured him previously in an adaptation of Noel Coward's play Design for Living (1933).

At Dietrich's insistence John Gilbert was originally intended to play the role of Margoli, but his poor health due to alcoholism and a series of heart attacks forced him to step aside. At the time Dietrich and Gilbert had become close friends and occasional romantic partners. On January 10, 1936, during postproduction of the film, Gilbert passed away. After his death Dietrich, who had also developed a close relationship with Gilbert's daughter Leatrice, took her on outings and lavished gifts upon her, just one instance of her legendary generosity.

Producer: Ernst Lubitsch
Director: Frank Borzage
Screenplay: Edwin Justus Mayer, Waldemar Young and Samuel Hoffenstein, based on the play Die schonen Tage von Aranjuez by Hans Szekely and Robert A. Stemmle
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Editing: William Shea
Music: "Awake in a Dream," music and lyrics by Frederick Hollander and Leo Robin
Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Robert Usher
Costumes: Travis Banton
Cast: Marlene Dietrich (Madeleine de Beaupre), Gary Cooper (Tom Bradley), John Halliday (Carlos Margoli), William Frawley (Mr. Gibson), Ernest Cossart (Aristide Duvalle), Akim Tamiroff (Police official), Alan Mowbray (Dr. Edouard Paquet), Zeffie Tilbury (Aunt Olga).
BW-95m.

By James Steffen