The play has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations. The 1925 silent film stars Ronald Colman, May McAvoy, Bert Lytell, Irene Rich and Edward Martindel. It was adapted by Julien Josephson and directed by Ernst Lubitsch.
The story concerns the attempts of a disreputable older woman to blackmail the husband of her daughter (who does not know her mother's true identity) into making her accepted in society.