Fox swiftly reunited Borzage with Gaynor and Farrell in a bid to repeat the popular and critical acclaim of 7th Heaven. Even more mystical and visually ravishing than its predecessor, this stylized studio melodrama works a few variations on Borzage's patented romantic formula. Gaynor stars in the title role as an impoverished Neapolitan waif on the run from the law. She finds refuge in the arms of Farrell, a vagabond painter with a traveling circus, who perceives her as an incorruptible Madonna. The least known of the three films for which Gaynor garnered her Oscar, Street Angel was adapted from a novel by Monckton Hoffe and incorporates authentic details-painstakingly collected during extensive preproduction research visits to Italy-into an expressionistic backlot design surely influenced by the émigré genius Murnau. Gaynor amply demonstrates the full potential of silent pantomime in Borzage's emotionally forceful paean to the redemptive power of true love.