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Film's Storyline:
...the corpse of a beautiful woman, secretly disinterred by an equally handsome young man... his lips placed on the ashen lips of the dead woman... the incredible sensation that life is still palpitating in that body... Flashback: in the family of old Count Vergani, Elena’s father, there is a terrible secret: the son of a sin (not true but alleged) of his late wife, a very young, handsome, fair haired boy (Alfonso), who is kept hidden in the house of a goat-keeper, far from the world. But young Countess Elena, the splendid beauty with a big heart, learns the secret from a servant so that he can have an education worthy of his rank. A deep love has grown up between brother and sister. On Alfonso’s departure, Elena marries fascinating Count Guido Rambaldi, who has saved her life in a riding accident. Honeymoon in Venice, where Guido is involved in a duel over Nara, a breathtakingly beautiful dancer with a wiked heart who leaves a trail of disaster behind her. She casts a spell over Guido, who is only slightly wounded in the duel, and becomes his evil genius. An affectionate letter from Alfonso (whose excistence is unknown to Guido) to Elena is interpreted by Guido as a proof of his wife’s betrayal. Elena’s desperate, heart-rending protests are in vain. Amid bloodthirsthy accusations, indignant reactions, terrible disputes, Elena gives birth to a beautiful baby, innocent Lilia. In the meantime Guido is living with wicked Nara, who would like to gain possession of the immense fortune of the Verganis, all in Elena’s hands, now that her father is dead. The evil woman urges Guido to poison her. Guido, bewitched gives in. Elena seems dead but, as we have already seen, she comes to life again when Alfonso’s kisses her. Guido and Nara have moved to Venice with little Lilia, to enjoy their ill-earned riches. At this point a strange trio appears: Alfonso, his wife Ines and the mysterious, fascinating dark lady, who is no other than Elena, who has dyed her fair hair black. Guido, perturbed, falls madly in love with the mysterious Dark Lady, who seems the living image of his dead wife, except for the colour of her hair. Nara is jealous and makes terrible scene: Guido tries to strangle the wicked woman but is unsuccesseful; Nara rushes to the Public Prosecutor, and accuse Guido of poisoning his wife, with her complicity. In the meantime the Dark Lady has disappeared, taking little Lilia with her and leaving a letter for Guido, in which she orders him to have faith and put up with any ordeal. On the strenght of that talisman, Guido corageously faces trial and the terrible scandal that follows. He is about to succumb to the crushing proofs supplied by wicked Nara, when the Dark Lady makes a sensational entrance into the courtroom, reveals her identity and the whole story, from that fateful kiss of Alfonso at the cemetery. Guido is safe and is happily reunited with Elena and his daughter. Nara goes mad and is shut up in a lunatic asylum, where she throws herself out of a window to her death.
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