Marlene Dietrich, Mae West and Carole Lombard Collections

[zedz]

I'm very happy to have the new Dietrich set, which means that Dishonored is now the only Sternberg / Dietrich I haven't seen, but boy, what a lost opportunity.

The low price is nice, but these films really deserved a much more lavish treatment. Is Universal really so dim that they can't see the long-term value in enhancing the prestige of what should be a cornerstone of their catalogue by creating a Sternberg / Dietrich collection?

Wishful Thinking Department: Maybe, if we're lucky, Universal will lease their transfers to Criterion in a year or two and we'll see a proper DVD presentation of the films, with detailed production histories and swooning commentaries.

As for the transfer quality: I've only watched Morocco so far, and was not terribly impressed by the transfer (a bit murky and soft) - is this as good as it gets?

[HerrSchreck]

and riven to the extreme with his endless fascination to cut up his compositions into vertical, horizontal, and spacial planes by dangling all kinds of objects down into the frame... nets, party streamers, branches, leaves, the ponytails of scriptgirls, etc.

Seriously, his b&w cinematography in both DEVIL & EMPRESS are the only examples I've seen to match the extreme visual complexity and mastery of the compositions in Murnau's FAUST. It's sick that his silents are not out in premium editions. I love his practice of shooting out of pitch black areas into zones lit single-source.. or appear single source with a slight fill (with an often patterned mask).

[HerrSchreck]

I think the CC EMPRESS has that footage in the Brownlow doc from the same period of the 60's, where they're lighting that (very British looking) girl by the mantle?

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I LOVE those screencaps posted above by Hare. Thank you!

[carax09]

Forgive me for going slightly OT, but were you guys aware of this site:
http://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star ... -Annex.htm
It is a great resource for high quality scans and songs/radio show excerpts. I can't even tell you how much wonderful material I've downloaded from them. Say goodbye to the rest of your day...

Later,
Carax09

[HerrSchreck]

Through a 2-way looking glass, you see your alice.

(...)

I got a feeling, I'm gonna get a lotta grief,
once it seemed so appealing, now I am beyond belief..
(repeat, fadeout)

Nice tagline carax. Some of the most devastating lyrics (about bopping a virgin or anything else) on the face of the earth. Good old Elvis Costello.

[zedz]

Well spotted! How long has carax had that? Now I can't get the song out of my head

Here's a couplet that might just bring us back onto the (Sternberg / Dietrich) topic:

All the laddies cat-call and wolf-whistle
So-called gentlemen and ladies dog-fight like rose and thistle

You could build a house on that (Robinsonesque) internal structure.

[HerrSchreck]

I think he just added it as he newly changed his avatar too. I can't tell you how heavy a BEYOND BELIEF phase i went thru in my teens. The deep drawling pronounciation, the menacing chord structure, droning harmonies in the fadeout... very gloomy song with lyrics as brilliant as ever written. A one in a million turn by an already hypertalented writer.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

If there is a heaven, I hope that Dietrich is there with Elvis Costello writing a musical together.

[a spectator bird]

If there is a heaven, I hope that Dietrich is there with Elvis Costello writing a musical together.

i hope not, because that would make elvis costello dead.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

If EC puts out one more of those CDs of his classical compositions, he might as well be. At least The Delivery Man had the goods.

[HerrSchreck]

If there is a heaven, I hope that Dietrich is there with Elvis Costello writing a musical together.

i hope not, because that would make elvis costello dead.

This board is getting pretty funny lately. I laughed so hard I hadta blow my nose.

[carax09]

If there is a heaven, I hope that Dietrich is there with Elvis Costello writing a musical together.

i hope not, because that would make elvis costello dead.

This board is getting pretty funny lately. I laughed so hard I hadta blow my nose.

Yeah, that made me laugh, too. Thanks for the support on my tagline---Beyond Belief is such a wonderful (and wonderfully complex) song. Both Dietrich and Costello managed to display pretty appealing forms of world-weary cynicism right out of the gate. And I always feel like one of the suckers in an EC song----I fit that Identi-kit completely (falling in love again...).

[Scharphedin2]

An 18 disc Marlene Dietrich Collection (R2 UK) has been on play.com's "coming soon" list for ages with no particular details. It is slated for release on June 26th?! Does anyone have any further details on this?

[porquenegar]

Can anyone comment on the Carol Lombard collection? I haven't seen any of the films. I'm making my way through the Dietrich set having just watched The Devil is a Woman twice. It is one of the most beautiful looking films I have ever seen. Looking forward to viewing the others in the set.

[Gregory]

Finally having bought the Carole Lombard set, I've watched only the first two. Most of We're Not Dressing is comedy fluff: Bing Crosby puts roller skates on Lombard's pet bear leading to the inevitable chase sequence, and one of the characters rides a bicycle directly into a tree on the deserted island and is conked on the noggin with a falling coconut. The comedy routines seem sort of tossed into the film, and the musical numbers are either dull or try so hard to be goofy that it's just sad.
But then all this gives way to Bing Crosby snapping, turning from his normally cool and collected self to an irate potential rapist, dragging Lombard against her will to a secluded spot and threatening to have his way with her, before telling her she's "not worth it" and stalking off. Needless to say, the two soon end up together because their love is so powerful.
I can't get over some of the strange things I end up watching just because they're included in these multi-film sets. Looking forward to something better with Hands Across.