1928 - THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK - excellence in all areas

Probably as good as you are going to get in a film.  Director Josef Von Sternberg a filmmaker who struggled in the Hollywood systems always struggled with his artistic intentions and the commercial considerations of the studio.  The Docks of New York is a rare example of both of these objectives being fulfilled for a change.

The story such that it is, is about lowlifes along the waterfront in NYC.  The screenplay was written by Jules Furthman who had a long career in Hollywood.  Furthman is mostly remembered for working with Howard Hawks.

The director Josef Von Sternberg was probably as close to an artist as Hollywood would put up with.   Von Sternberg was considered a difficult individual to deal with and his abrasive personality and lack of commercial success affected his career.

This is one of Von Sternberg's best films, with great photography and lots of atmosphere.  Highly recommended

76 minutes.

1930 - MOROCCO, more with Dietrich and von Sternberg

Dragging myself across the finish line for the Dietrich/Von Sternberg series.  Morocco finds Dietrich playing torch singer Amy Jolly,  a woman with a past.  She meets and falls in love with French foreign legion guy Gary Cooper.  Apparently they have an affair although it's kind of tough to tell.

Also mixed up in this romp is Adolph Menjou as the wealthy artist Monsieur La Bessiere.  Dietrich starts sleeping with him after Gary Cooper gets called up for duty to go fight Arabs in the desert somewhere. 

Dietrich was a very closeted bisexual in her personal life, this is the film where she performs in a man's tuxedo and kisses a woman on the lips after the performance, pretty hot stuff for 1930.

Since this is a Josef von Sternberg fiilm,  the photography looks really great and not just of Dietrich.  Von Sternberg knew how to play with light and shadows for some very interesting effects. Actually Dietrich in this one isn't really the heavily made up blond that she ended up looking like for von Sternberg, in some ways she almost looks a little more human in Morocco.

 Josef von Sternberg did 8 films with Dietrich and apparently most of the films were  unsurprisingly not that financially successful.  The films are heavy on pictorial effects, especially when it came to Marlene Dietrich but mighty  light on plot and entertainment value at times. 

92 minutes

1932 - BLONDE VENUS, same as it always was

Marlene is a mom in this one.  She's married to a chemist who has radium poisoning of all things.  He needs $1500.00 to pay for a cure so Marlene decides to go back to work performing on the stage in order to raise the money. 

Marlene meets a rich guy while her husband is away getting cured and apparently has an affair with him.  It's hard to tell exactly what's happening with that since the production code was starting to rear it's ugly head around this time and no mention of this kind of hanky panky would be allowed in the movies.

As usual Von Sternberg carefully photographs Dietrich making sure the light hits her just right, this woman positively glows.  Marlene sings a couple of kind of racy songs and these musical interludes seem like they belong in an entirely different film. 

When all is said and done the whole idea of actually putting Dietrich in some kind of domestic drama is almost to ludicrous to comprehend.  The ideal Dietrich film would be 90 minutes of closeups of her with the key light beating down on her forehead.

93 minutes

1935 - THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN, or she sure enjoys screwing with guy's minds.

Von Sternberg's final film with his "Barbie Doll" Marlene Dietrich is incredibly beautiful to look at from a visual approach.  However the very thin story is another matter  Even at 75 minutes there seems like an awful lot of padding in the running time of the film.

The story is told in a rather sophisticated flashback style.   Lionel Atwill who looks like Von Sternberg, is a Spanish army officer who is infatuated with Dietrich a man eater if there ever was one.  Into this mix is Cesar Romero playing a Spanish revolutionary also nuts over Dietrich.  The film generally seems to be about Dietrich screwing with both of these guys for most of the running time.

John Dos Passos a writer known for his social criticism of American life in his books and novels somehow got mixed up in this thing but I have to believe that the overriding influence in the story and screenplay was that of Von Sternberg.

 

Von Sternberg not only took directorial credit but also cinematography credit as well for The Devil Is a Woman.  It's certainly one of the most beautiful black and white films I have ever seen.  As usual Von Sternberg really pours it on with his photography of Dietrich, she is almost a creature from another planet.

The film was unsurprisingly a financial failure.  Audiences probably didn't know what to make of a  Dietrich/Von Sternberg collaboration which was another film in his strange Marlene Dietrich fetish film series.  Lionel Atwill's complete obsession with Dietrich is clearly a representation of that relationship.

 

The complete weirdness of The Devil Is a Woman is probably a film of interest more for film buffs and scholars than the "average" film goer.  It understandably ended Von Sternberg's working relationship with Dietrich.

75 minutes.

1927 - UNDERWORLD, impressive early gangster film from Von Sternberg.

I doubt when Josef Von Sternberg filmed Underworld he knew he was creating an entirely new genre in films.  What I don't doubt is that Von Sternberg had a complete understanding of how to integrate the visual elements to the story.  The is an extremely well made film.

Everything about this film is first rate, the photography, the set design, the acting and the story.  It's amazing to see a film that actually succeeds in every area for a change.  It's hard to believe this was Von Sternberg's first major film. 

Underworld was written by  Ben Hecht and Jules Furthman, parts of it turn up in Howard Hawk's films Scarface and Rio Bravo.  Also, the female lead  character "Feathers" shows up in Rio Bravo as well.

A very impressive silent film from Criterion's Von Sternberg trilogy.

80 minutes.

1932 - SHANGHAI EXPRESS-Dietrich-Von Sternberg

Marlene Dietrich is iconic for a reason and the Shanghai Express shows why. She is carefully shot by photographer Lee Garmes and the director Josef Von Sternberg. Every camera angle has been planned for the maximum effect of presenting her when she is on screen which is almost the entire movie.

But this film is more than a portrait gallery of Dietrich. Marlene Dietrich actually could act, she has a sly sense of humor throughout the film. Clive Brook plays the traditional "stiff upper lip" British soldier in love with her and at first he seems pretty stiff but as the film goes on he becomes the emotional center of the film.

Jules Furthman who frequently worked with Howard Hawks was an expert at putting together stories with good dialog and this film has some amusing and memorable lines.

Josef Von Sternberg showed what a good filmmaker could do with an interesting story, strong actors and a strong visual sense.

80 minutes.