Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s play, which depicts love as a bitterly comic merry-go-round (recently remade as the hit play The Blue Room), La Ronde was deemed "immoral" by American censors and was forbidden to enter the country for many years. Told in ten sketches in which an interconnecting group of lovers changes partners until the liaisons come full circle, La Ronde is a perfect example of Ophül’s wit and elegant amorality, as well as the unmatched mastery of his fluid mise-en-scène. Despite its censorship problems the film was a great box-office success in France, Britain, and North America—not the least, perhaps, because of its all-star cast, which in addition to Walbrook, Signoret, and Philipe includes Serge Reggiani, Simone Simon, Danielle Darrieux, and Jean-Louis Barrault.