109, 930-935 Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood

[Orlac]

Beaver on Blonde Venus

What is his obbsession with sticking in nude shots into the reviews, even something as random as a bathing scene?

[mteller]

I am 100% certain Tooze types his reviews with one hand.

[Werewolf by Night]

It's gonna blow your mind when you learn the site is called "DVD Beaver"

[hearthesilence]

So I guess Tooze was browsing through Mr. Skin, and then it dawned on him - "what if Robert A. Harris ran this site?"

[Michael Kerpan]

Halfway through the set -- and utterly impressed (speaking as one who has never seen any of these films before).

[HJackson]

And if you're watching them in chronological order, the best is yet to come!

[Michael Kerpan]

I found Blonde Venus a bit of a let-down. Some lovely cinematography -- but much more plot-heavy than its 3 predecessors. And I just don't have any sort of positive response to Herbert Marshall (here or anywhere else -- including Trouble in Paradise). Looking forward to the last two. And the ending struck me as remarkably perfunctory.

As an aside, Sternberg's vision of "New Orleans" struck me as genuinely weird.

[swo17]

And I just don't have any sort of positive response to Herbert Marshall (here or anywhere else -- including Trouble in Paradise).

Not even in The Good Fairy?

[Lowry_Sam]

And if you're watching them in chronological order, the best is yet to come!

because they saved the best for last.

[Drucker]

I found Blonde Venus a bit of a let-down. Some lovely cinematography -- but much more plot-heavy than its 3 predecessors. And I just don't have any sort of positive response to Herbert Marshall (here or anywhere else -- including Trouble in Paradise). Looking forward to the last two. And the ending struck me as remarkably perfunctory.

As an aside, Sternberg's vision of "New Orleans" struck me as genuinely weird.

I've never seen Dishonored, but Blonde Venus is the one I found weakest as well when I watched the Dietrich Glamour Collection. In fact I can barely remember it except for that last scene!

[Michael Kerpan]

Never saw Good Fairy.... Hard to imagine Marshall as anything but stolid....

Loved Dishonored.

[domino harvey]

Yeah, but you haven't seen him sharpen a pencil yet

[Michael Kerpan]

Yeah, but you haven't seen him sharpen a pencil yet

Undeniably true.

[whaleallright]

As an aside, Sternberg's vision of "New Orleans" struck me as genuinely weird.

You can replace "New Orleans" with just about anything and I think this would hold!

Blonde Venus has some of the most memorable scenes, moments, and iconic images of their collaboration, but it's perhaps a bit less than the sum of its parts. Along with The Scarlet Empress it's certainly the one that has sustained the most commentary from feminist film scholars, though!

Michael, do you not like Marshall in The Little Foxes? That's a poignant performance if ever I saw one....

[Michael Kerpan]

I have managed to miss Little Foxes somehow -- despite loving Blitzstein's Regina (a shamefully neglected "modern" opera, perhaps the best American one).

[Michael Kerpan]

Disappointed by Scarlet Empress. I thought this was basically a big dumb Hollywood spectacular, albeit with incredible (in multiple senses) art direction and impressive cinematography. I found it historically beyond stupid and dramatically unimpressive. Dietrich seems to have been mostly wasted in her part here. Its hard for me to reconcile this with Sternberg's other films. Overall, I strongly preferred the first 3 Sternberg-Dietrich Hollywood collaborations. (Nice 1971 interview of Dietrich as an extra on this disc, however).

[mfunk9786]

Thought Morocco was really really dull, though the musical numbers were enjoyable and the shabby set for much of the film was the star of the show. Also, one of the shining early examples of carefree onscreen cuckoldry I've ever seen - Adolphe Menjou is the apple of Dietrich's eye for what, 20 seconds?

[Michael Kerpan]

It was strange seeing Menjou as a nice guy in Morocco. I enjoyed the performances as well as the sets -- and was hardly bothered by the thin plot (rather have too little than too much, frankly).

[Omensetter]

Morocco is definitely the most static of the suite; he basically quadruples his camera movements thereafter and discards with male leads.

Dishonored is the one I keep returning to, though. I hadn't seen it before this set as it seems the odd one out when people discuss these films (I'm likely wrong, but Michael Kerpan's above comment seems the first mention of the film in this thread). Empress is a staggering masterpiece, but Dishonored is just straight-up fun. For portions of the film, Dietrich feels like she barely wants to be in the movie even as she's commanding it, there's an all-timer cinematic cat (in a medium that skews toward the more on-cue dogs), Dietrich in disguise as a dimwitted peasant maid, and that glorious, glorious ending that absolutely engorged me with glee. This is probably the one I'll show to those who haven't seen a Dietrich/von Sternberg film before.

[Michael Kerpan]

Dishonored might be my favorite of these (but Docks of New York still remains my favorite Sternberg film).

[domino harvey]

Shanghai Express is far and away my favorite of these, but I like Dishonored. Don't really care much one way or the other for the rest...

[Lost Highway]

Dishonored features

Spoiler

my favorite death scene of all time. Trust Dietrich to make execution sexy.

After several orders from the US going lost I don't dare to order this, especially as I'm a bit low on money at the moment.

[Saturnome]

Shanghai Express is far and away my favorite of these, but I like Dishonored. Don't really care much one way or the other for the rest...

I ordered the set on the strength of these two. It feels like there's little talk about Dishonored compared to the other titles, but I liked it a great deal. So I went thinking the rest must be just as great if not better.

[Lost Highway]

I ordered the set on the strength of these two. It feels like there's little talk about Dishonored compared to the other titles, but I liked it a great deal. So I went thinking the rest must be just as great if not better.

Dishonored was long regarded as the least of the von Sternberg/Dietrich films, possibly because it came out the same year as Garbo's Mata Hari which was a far bigger hit. After The Scarlet Empress it's always been my favorite.

[Shrew]

I tend to think of these films as A-sides/B-sides: Morocco/Blonde Venus, Shanghai Express/Dishonored, Scarlet Empress/Devil Is a Woman. I'm an Empress/Express man myself, but Morocco has Sternberg's best ending (save maybe Last Command) and Dietrich at her most iconic. I also have a soft spot for Blonde Venus because of it's thematically more complex, even if it's aesthetically the most borijng major Sternberg.

Also, Docks of New York is Sternberg's masterpiece and I do not understand why this not more widely acknowledged outside of me and Michael Kerpan.