The White Sister (1923)

Angela Chiaromonte is the daughter of a wealthy Italian prince who is killed in a fall from his horse Though Angela stands to inherit half of a large estate her older halfsister burns the will and thus inherits everything herself throwing Angela into poverty Fortunately Angela is engaged to marry dashing Captain Giovanni Severi but he soon is captured by Arabs while on an expedition to Africa Believing him dead Angela dedicating her life to his memory becomes a nun unaware that her lover has escaped his captors and is returning to Italy The dramatic climax takes place against a backdrop of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius