I was originally tricked into watching the Joan Crawford remake of this movie, but that was from 1941. I have now -finally- watched the Ingrid Bergman original from 1938. In Swedish. With Subtitles.

I'm a little fuzzy on the remake now but I think it has a more developed plot. This original is more bare-bones. Ingrid Bergman plays a woman who, facially disfigured in a fire in childhood, has become something of a crime boss in a blackmailing ring. Through "work" she makes the acquaintance of a surgeon who has had much success fixing facial scarring in veterans. He agrees to fix her up and then through some previous criminal connections she gets a job as a governess. Although the plan is to cause the "accidental" death of her 6 year old charge to clear the inheritance path for an accomplice, she breaks good.

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