The White Sister

The White Sister is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Helen Hayes and Clark Gable. It was based on the 1909 novel of the same name by Francis Marion Crawford and was a remake of the silent film The White Sister (1923). Plot The banns are called for the third time for the marriage of Italian Princess Angela Chiaromonte (Helen Hayes) and the husband chosen by her father (Lewis Stone), Ernesto Traversi. Driving home through streets filled with revelers celebrating a saint's feast day, their limousine is rear-ended by a car full of officers, driven by Giovanni Severi (Clark Gable), a handsome army lieutenant. Traversi, the son of a banker, is 31, rather stuffy, preoccupied with business. Angela is a warm-hearted, impulsive, romantic, innocent young woman, who dreams every night of a handsome man she has never met. Angela persuades her duenna, Mina, to go outside to the Carnival, where they admire the antics of a pantomime horse. The horse approaches Angela, and she asks its name. “Giovanni” it replies, in the voice of the handsome lieutenant, and the horse—or rather the front half—follows Angela through the crowd while Mina is swept away by the revelers. Giovanni seats Angela in a quiet restaurant where they have tea and talk for hours. He tells her he loves her and sees her home, filling her arms with flowers. Giovanni and his Colonel come to a ball given by Prince Chiaromonte. In the garden, Giovanni and Angela kiss for the first time; her father interrupts them. Giovanni declares that he wants to marry her and is forced to leave. Angela tells her father that the kiss revealed to her how much she loves Giovanni; now she knows, she cannot marry a man she does not love. Angela runs away to Giovanni. Her father pursues her and, in a freak accident, their cars collide and her father is killed. Angela disappears, but Father Saracinesca gives Giovanni her address. He comes to her but, wracked by grief and guilt, she sends him away. Italy joins the War, and Giovanni comes to say goodbye. She gives him the cross she wears around her neck, for luck. He gives her an ivory whistle.