The Last Performance

The impressive cast is headed by the great Heinrich George as Boris Stroganoff, an opera composer and conductor who’s also a notorious lothario. Albani is ballet dancer Viola Suroff, who’s put her career aside to look after her partner Maxim Sadi, a baritone with unspecified health issues that have kept him off stage. Stroganoff sets his sights on Viola and offers her a job in the corps de ballet for his new opera The Boyar, which she accepts provided Maxim is also hired. However, dancer Margot (called Myrra in the French version) maintains a seething passion for Stroganoff, as does Countess Geschow (called Countess Ziska on this print), both of whom are resentful when watching his interactions with Viola. Jealousies run high on opening night between all the characters and Stroganoff is shot mid-performance, but who is the killer: Maxim, Margot, or Geschow?I

Directed by Mario Bonnard, The Last Performance leans on a strong ensemble — Marcella Albani, Heinrich George, Jean Bradin — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 1928.