Coast of Folly on AllMovie

Although this isn't one of her top pictures, Gloria Swanson was near the peak of her career when she made it. She's excellent in a dual role, and is directed by one of her favorite collaborators, Allan Dwan. Nadine Gathway, a turn-of-the-century belle (Swanson), dumps her priggish husband and runs away to Europe. Her daughter, Joyce (also Swanson), is left behind and grows up into a lively young girl. When Gathway dies, he leaves her his fortune -- providing she never gets herself into a scandal. She finds trouble in Palm Beach when she falls in love with the married Larry Fay (Anthony Jowitt). Fay sincerely loves her and asks his wife Constance (Dorothy Cumming) for a divorce. Constance refuses and arranges to sue Joyce for alienation of affections. Nadine -- who has left her own scandalous past behind and become the Countess de Tauro -- hears of her daughter's troubles and returns to America. She puts Constance in a compromising position to keep her from instigating the lawsuit, and then takes all the blame on herself. Fay and Joyce wind up together, while Nadine's husband, the Count (Alec Francis), understands his wife's motivations and proves his love for her.