In summer 1934, Dos Passos travels to Hollywood on the bankroll of Paramount Studios, eager to fortify his bank account and get a firsthand look at “the world’s great bullshit center.” Dos Passos wrote Ernest Hemingway after landing in Hollywood, “I’ve just signed up to serve a term of five weeks in Hollywood teaching Spanish or something like that to [The Devil Is a Woman Director Josef] Von Sternberg.”

Instead of enjoying diversion and stimulation, Dos Passos suffers an attack of rheumatic fever and eventually learns that another writer, David Hertz, has taken over primary screenwriting duties. The final film credits Dos Passos’s contribution.

The Devil Is a Woman, set in early 20th century Spain during Carnival, tells in flashbacks the story of a man’s pursuit of a coquettish vixen named Concha Perez.