Film Screenings / Programs / Retrospectives
MARLENE DIETRICH
January 3 – January 10
January 3-10, 2024
In conjunction with the International Center of Photography’s exhibit, “Play the Part: Marlene Dietrich”, which is on view through January 8, 2024, we offer a brief selection of films that feature the iconic actress, with a focus on some of the more rarely screened, underappreciated, or just plain strange items in her oeuvre.
Dietrich is best known for her starring roles in films including THE BLUE ANGEL (1930), the first feature-length German talkie, and for her long collaboration with the filmmaker Josef von Sternberg. Born in Berlin, she emigrated to the U.S. in 1930, vocally opposing the rising Nazi regime, and ultimately renounced her German citizenship. She became an active supporter of U.S. troops in WWII, raising funds for refugees, and toured with the USO. On-screen and off, she challenged the gender and sexual norms of her time, making her a core figure in feminist and queer film history.
Featuring 250 photographs taken from 1905 to 1978, “Play the Part: Marlene Dietrich” examines the multifaceted evolution of Dietrich’s public persona. Rarely seen and previously unpublished images, snapshots, some of the last photos of Marlene Dietrich, and other works complement the formal portraits and studio images that have come to represent Dietrich, illustrating the true complexity of her life. Drawn from the collection of Pierre Passebon, and organized by Haley Kane, Exhibitions and Collections Coordinator at ICP, this exhibition marks the first time his noted collection will be shown in the U.S.
For more info about the exhibition, visit www.icp.org/exhibitions/play-the-part-marlene-dietrich
Special thanks to Jacque Donaldson Bailey (ICP); Jason Jackowski (Universal); George Schmalz (Kino Lorber); and Lynanne Schweighofer (Library of Congress).
Maurice Tourneur
THE SHIP OF LOST MEN / DAS SCHIFF DER VERLORENEN MENSCHEN
1929, 121 min, 35mm, silent. Preserved by the Library of Congress.
“A ship full of shady characters on the high seas. The rough captain is in command of a crew of desperadoes, smugglers, and criminals. Only two decent people are on board: an American youth on the run and the Russian chef. In the middle of the Atlantic they fish a crashed American pilot (Marlene Dietrich) out of the water, who now has to hide from a greedy pack of men (including the great Gaston Modot, later one of Jean Renoir’s favorite actors). THE SHIP OF LOST MEN was a European ‘million-dollar film’ for which no expense was spared because producer Max Glass wanted to compete directly with the major American films. He hired the young Marlene Dietrich as the female star [just a year before she would achieve international stardom thanks to THE BLUE ANGEL] and the Frenchman Maurice Tourneur, who had previously been successful in Hollywood for many years, to direct. Here Tourneur not only demonstrates an ‘eminently painterly eye’, but also a sense of tension and dramaturgy, according to Hans Sahl: ‘Tourneur…has created the atmosphere of the harbor quarters and bars, the cabin and aft deck profiles in a series of images whose wonderfully toned, shaded chiaroscuro is reminiscent of the portrait art of French masters.’ (Der Montag Morgen, 1929)” –DEUTSCHES HISTORISCHES MUSEUM
Wed, Jan 3 at 7:00 and Sat, Jan 6 at 3:45.
Josef von Sternberg
THE BLUE ANGEL / DER BLAUE ENGEL
1930, 108 min, 35mm. In German with English subtitles.
The crowning achievement of the Weimar cinema, THE BLUE ANGEL is an exquisite parable of one man’s fall from respectability. Emil Jannings, the quintessential German expressionist actor, stars as Professor Rath, the sexually-repressed instructor of a boys’ prep school. After learning of the pupils’ infatuation with French postcards depicting a local nightclub songstress, he decides to personally investigate the source of such indecency. But as soon as he enters the shadowy Blue Angel nightclub and steals one glimpse of the smoldering Lola-Lola (Marlene Dietrich), commanding the stage in top hat, stockings, and bare thighs, Rath’s self-righteous piety is crushed. Consumed by desire and tormented by his rigid propriety, Professor Rath allows himself to be dragged down a path of personal degradation. Lola’s unrestrained eroticism was a revelation to moviegoers of the time, thrusting Dietrich to the forefront of the sultry international leading ladies, such as Greta Garbo, who were challenging the limits of screen sexuality.
Thurs, Jan 4 at 6:30, Sun, Jan 7 at 3:30, and Tues, Jan 9 at 8:45.
Josef von Sternberg
DISHONORED
1931, 91 min, 35mm
“In Von Sternberg’s atmospheric spin on the espionage thriller, Marlene Dietrich further develops her shrewd star persona in the role of a widow turned streetwalker who is recruited to spy for Austria during World War I. Adopting the codename X-27, Dietrich’s wily heroine devotes her gifts for seduction and duplicity – as well as her musical talents – to the patriotic cause, until she finds a worthy adversary in a roguish Russian colonel (Victor McLaglen), who draws her into a fatal game of cat and mouse and tests the strength of her loyalties. Reimagining his native Vienna with customary extravagance, von Sternberg stages this story of spycraft as a captivating masquerade in which no one is who they seem and death is only a wrong note away.” –CRITERION COLLECTION
“It’s possible to look at this film and see nothing but camp, but give it an ounce of respect and you’ll discover a remarkable aesthetic object – an exercise in mise-en-scene of an awesome, glacial beauty.” –Dave Kehr, CHICAGO READER
Thurs, Jan 4 at 9:00, Sun, Jan 7 at 6:15, and Wed, Jan 10 at 9:00.
Frank Borzage
DESIRE
1936, 99 min, 35mm
“Much like her character, Dietrich was on a journey to discover her angelic acting vocation. Her collaboration with Josef von Sternberg, which had created her femme fatale image, was by this time at an end. In DESIRE, she is no longer a vamp, clothed in chiaroscuro light, ready to manipulate men. Here, she is radiant, exuding rather than reflecting or absorbing the light. She is no longer maleficent, but rather benevolently waiting to find the man to whom she will grant the privilege of conquering her. She is in complete control, but graciously gives the man the impression that she is prepared to cede some of it. […] Dietrich, who later on was critical of many of her directors, praised Borzage. It may be a sign that, having freed herself from the Sternberg image, she was acknowledging that Borzage had played a part in forging her new screen persona.” –Rolland Man, SENSES OF CINEMA
Fri, Jan 5 at 6:45, Sun, Jan 7 at 8:30, and Wed, Jan 10 at 6:30.
AN EVENING WITH MARLENE DIETRICH
1972, 75 min, digital
Taped in London over two days, this television special recreates the one-woman show that Dietrich had performed on Broadway in 1967 and 1968. Accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Stan Freeman, with orchestrations of the Dietrich repertoire by Burt Bacharach, Dietrich performs numerous songs, including “You’re the Cream in My Coffee”, “I Wish You Love”, “La vie en rose”, “Lola”, and “Lili Marlene”.
Fri, Jan 5 at 9:15 and Mon, Jan 8 at 9:00.
David Hemmings
JUST A GIGOLO / SCHÖNER GIGOLO, ARMER GIGOLO
1978, 105 min, 35mm-to-digital. In English and German with English subtitles.
This rarely-screened West German production, directed by actor David Hemmings (BLOWUP), stars David Bowie as a Prussian officer who returns to Berlin after serving in World War I to find a life very different from the one he left behind. With employment opportunities scarce, he has little choice but to work as a male prostitute at the house of ill-repute run by Baroness von Semering (played by Marlene Dietrich, in her final role). A commercial and critical failure, which Bowie jokingly referred to as “my 32 Elvis Presley movies rolled into one”, JUST A GIGOLO is fascinating nevertheless, above all for bringing together everyone from Bowie and Dietrich to Kim Novak and Curd Jürgens (though in fact, Bowie and Dietrich’s scenes were shot separately and the two never crossed paths during the production).
“JUST A GIGOLO works best as a beautiful bookend to acting legend Dietrich’s 50-year career. Bowie will be the main draw for most, but the German-born star’s role is fascinating for its connections to her humanitarian efforts during WWII – Dietrich famously housed German and French exiles in America, providing financial support for refugees throughout the conflict. She and Bowie might not share any screen time in JUST A GIGOLO, with scenes shot separately and edited together afterwards, but there’s a lot to admire even when Starman isn’t involved.” –Martyn Conterio, NME
Sat, Jan 6 at 6:30 and Mon, Jan 8 at 6:30.
Maximilian Schell
MARLENE
1984, 94 min, 35mm. In English, German, and French with English subtitles. Print courtesy of the UNCSA Moving Image Archives.
In September 1982, actor and director Maximilian Schell arrived in Paris for a series of on-camera interviews with Marlene Dietrich intended for a documentary film on the screen icon’s life and work. Despite having agreed to participate, the near-recluse Dietrich withdrew permission for her JUDGMENT AT NUREMBURG co-star to film in her flat. Instead, in over 40 hours of audio-taped interviews, the 81-year-old screen legend provoked a battle royale of conversational mind games leading to unforgettably raw and truthful emotional revelations. Schell takes Dietrich’s candid, bruising, infuriating, and occasionally touching off-camera musings on childhood, marriage, sex, love, collaborators, co-stars, life, death, and the Holocaust, and puts them in dialogue with archival images of the young Marlene. The hypnotic final result – buoyed by self-reflexive making-of footage, and an impressionistic re-creation of the sunless Paris flat where star and filmmaker fenced, fought, and ultimately connected – is the “SUNSET BOULEVARD of documentaries” (Washington Post).
Sat, Jan 6 at 9:00 and Tues, Jan 9 at 6:30.
