Der lebende Leichnam
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cast Gilbert in a film adaption of "The Living Corpse" by Tolstoy re-titled as "Redemption" (1929). The bleak atmosphere and maudlin dialogue presaged the disaster looming in the star's personal life and career. Gilbert's confident screen presence had vanished, while his use of the exaggerated stage diction that elicited laughs from the audience persisted. In one scene Gilbert declares ominously "I’m going to kill myself to let the whole world know what it has lost."