Her aunt, Mrs. Rasmussen (Alison Skipworth) who owns a bookshop, reluctantly takes in Lily, but treats her more as a servant than as a niece.

The naturally affectionate girl attracts the attention of a local sculptor, Richard (Brian Aherne), who flirts with her and invites her to his atelier suggesting she pose for him.

A patron of Mrs. Rassmusen’s book shop, he schemes to take Lily to his estate and make her his mistress, under the fiction that the mostly illiterate girl will serve as his secretary.

She blames him for her degraded existence, but cynically praises him for disabusing her of her illusions, and allowing her to escape her naiveté and embrace the harsh realities of life.

[7][8] Paramount director Josef von Sternberg had collaborated with Dietrich in five consecutive films and was instrumental in crafting her screen image.

Marlene Dietrich’s outstanding portrayal of Lily in her devolution from innocent country girl to fallen “demimondaine” tends to obscure the “entirely excellent” supporting cast.

[16] With the almost universal transition to sound movies in 1930, Paramount planned a remake of their 1924 silent feature Lily of the Dust (1924) starring Pola Negri.

[17] Alerted that a remake was underway, the censors at the Hays Office, cautioned Paramount’s production manager Jesse Lasky that the low “moral character” of the female protagonist in the silent film adaptation would not be tolerated in a sound version.