#931: STERNBERG, Josef von: Morocco (1930)

STERNBERG, Josef von (United States)
Morocco [1930]
Spine #931
DVD


With this romantic reverie, Marlene Dietrich made her triumphant debut before American audiences and unveiled the enthralling, insouciant persona that would define her Hollywood collaboration with director Josef von Sternberg. Set on the far side of the world but shot outside Los Angeles, Morocco navigates a labyrinth of melancholy and desire, as the cabaret singer Amy Jolly (Dietrich), fleeing her former life, takes her act to the shores of North Africa, where she entertains the overtures of a wealthy man of the world while finding herself increasingly drawn to a strapping legionnaire (Gary Cooper) with a shadowy past of his own. Fueled by the smoldering chemistry between its two stars, and shot in dazzling light and seductive shadow, the Oscar-nominated Morocco is a transfixing exploration of elemental passions.

92 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:19:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2018


Director/Writer


From the novel Amy Jolly, die Frau aus Marrakesch by Benno Vigny.
Screenplay by Jules Furthman.
The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Eighty-four page booklet featuring essays by Imogen Sara Smith, Gary Giddins, and Farran Smith Nehme.

Commentary

None.

Interview

With film scholar Janet Bergstrom.

Weimar on the Pacific

A documentary about actor Dietrich’s German origins, featuring film scholars Gerd Gemünden and Noah Isenberg.

Brief interview

With Deutsche Kinemathek curator Silke Ronneburg on the “real” Amy Jolly.

The Legionnaire and the Lady

A 1936 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film, featuring Dietrich and actor Clark Gable.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39=

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