Marya Ivanovna, a wealthy and beautiful Russian girl, agrees to marry Lieut. Victor Sablin, a young medical student, though she is unconvinced of his love. When war is declared, Sablin, a reserve officer, is taken from his bacteriological research, and Marya goes to Platoff, a stern and unyielding general, to plead for his exemption, but this favor is curtly refused. Sablin proves a poor soldier in the accepted sense, and maddened by Platoff’s sarcasm, he berates the general for refusing him a transfer to the medical corps. Later, General Platoff has him arrested and sentenced to death for sedition. Hoping to sway the general, Marya bribes her way into a brothel, there causing him to fall in love with her, but he harshly refuses her request that he spare her husband. Later, however, he pardons Sablin and restores him to duty. Learning how his life has been “bought,” Sablin plots to kill the general, who, for a second time, saves his life in action. Realizing that Marya sincerely loves the general, Sablin returns to St. Petersburg and gives her her liberty. She is reunited with Platoff. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch The Virtuous Sin (1930)
