AllMovie

Previously filmed in 1914, the Abbe Antoine-Françoise Prevost novel Manon Lescaut was brought to the screen for a second time in 1926. Lya de Putti stars as the title character, a glamorous prostitute who caters only to the rich and famous. Even after she falls in love with Robert Des Grieux (Vladimir Gladarow), she continues servicing customers to support herself in the manner to which she is accustomed. Though the ending is predictably tragic, reviewers in 1926 were cynical in their assessment, pointing out that hero and heroine had a lot of fun while it lasted. Manon Lescaut has since been remade several times, both officially and otherwise; one of the stranger versions was filmed by Henri Georges-Clouzot in 1950, in which Manon is a WWII-era hooker who runs off to Arabia with her resistance-fighter lover!