Daïnah la métisse (1931)
Directed by Jean Grémillon

Film Synopsis

After three long and trying weeks, an ocean liner completes its crossing of the Pacific Ocean and comes into port at Ecuador.  To mark the ship's arrival, a masked ball is organised for the amusement of the passengers that evening.  Dainah Smith, a beautiful half-caste, takes advantage of the occasion to flirt with whoever she can.  A liberated modern woman, she has come to realise that she no longer has any feelings for her wealthy husband.  She tempts the ship's engineer, Michaux, but when he tries to kiss her, she runs away and hides.  Dainah spends the next day lying in her cabin, without saying a word to her husband.  That evening, she ventures up onto the deck and encounters Michaux a second time.  The following morning, Dainah's husband announces that his wife has gone missing.  A thorough search of the liner shows that she is nowhere to be found.  Since Michaux was the last person to see the woman alive, he is naturally suspected of throwing her overboard.  The engineer protests his innocence and insists it is just as likely that Dainah drowned herself or fell overboard by accident.  She may even have been murdered by her husband, the husband she no longer loved...