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The Sin of Nora Moran (1933)

Pre-Code audiences loved fallen women, and few fell as far and suffered as horribly as Zita Johann, star of 1932’s The Mummy, in this Poverty Row production. Johann’s Nora travels the road from losing her birth parents and adoptive parents, to rape, an affair with a wealthy politician, murder and the electric chair. None of those are spoilers. The story unfolds after her execution, when the politician’s widow discovers their love letters and learns the whole story not just in a flashback, but in a flashback within a flashback. Noted for its unconventional structure and dreamlike sequences, the film was the work of Phil Goldstone, a pioneering independent filmmaker who tried to elevate his low-budget productions and work free of the major studios’ control. 

d. Phil Goldstone, 65m, 35mm