The Firefly

(Robert Z. Leonard, US 1937, 131 min., 35mm)

Jeanette MacDonald. Nineteenth-century Spain provides the backdrop for this operetta in which MacDonald plays a spy who is charged with discovering Napoleon’s plans. As she embarks on her mission, she encounters Don Diego, who pledges to protect her on her travels. Although this disrupts her mission, she discovers that she has fallen in love with Diego, who also expresses his love for her. When it is revealed that Diego is actually working for the French, the “Firefly” must choose between her love for the spy and the future of her country.