“We’re in China now . . . where time and life have no value.” China is in the throes of civil war. The Shanghai Express, departing from Beijing, includes a Chinese rebel who is taken by nationalists; the rebels halt the train mid-run to determine which of the passengers would make the best hostage to […]
Tag Archives: Dietrich
After their triumphant The Blue Angel in Germany, Josef von Sternberg brought his star and mistress, Marlene Dietrich, home to Hollywood—along with his wife. (Dietrich also was married.) There, they made six films together, the last two of which are brilliant, The Scarlet Empress (1934), about Catherine the Great, and The Devil Is a Woman […]
Whereas Ernst Lubitsch’s Cluny Brown (1946) no longer seems as fresh as it once did, his Angel, a glorious sophisticated comedy teetering on the satin-covered edge of upper-class marital tragedy, is far better now that I grasp the stakes involved.* Marlene Dietrich is wondrously clear—crisp, delicately poignant—as Maria, the neglected wife of a conference-addicted English […]
The following is one of the entries from my 100 Greatest English-Language Films list, which I invite you to visit on this site if you haven’t already done so. — Dennis I kissed you because I loved you—for a minute. Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich made seven films together. The best are the first […]
“How many wooden performances can an actor give and still be called ‘great’? When Marlene Dietrich wasn’t interested, she wasn’t interested . . . .” Thus begins my entry for Dietrich in my list of the fifty best film actors of all time. Dietrich certainly qualifies for the list: The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg, […]
Dennis Grunes 