Not be confused with Brian De Palma's blood-lashed horror classic, this William Wyler-directed romantic drama is based on the novel Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. Set in Chicago at the beginning of the 20th century, it stars Jennifer Jones as the young girl from the Midwest whose youthful optimism is gradually denuded by her time in the Windy City. Jones is fine in the lead role but it's Laurence Olivier who takes the honours here as the middle-aged, married restaurateur who gives up everything for the love of Carrie, only for his fortunes to wane as her career in the theatre prospers. It's a performance of great subtlety and keeps this well-made period melodrama from lapsing into potboiler territory.

In the late 1890s, the ambitious, innocent Carrie arrives in Chicago’s South Side and stays with her nagging, dullish married sister. She then runs for help to traveling salesman Charles Drouet. She soon becomes his mistress, but falls in love with married restaurant manager George Hurstwood.