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Post by snsurone on Sept 22, 2017 0:22:47 GMT
She came across as sultry and exotic, especially in her early films with Von Sternberg.
But, as an actress, she seemed to me to be one-note, with the exception of two films where she was really good: DESTRY RIDES AGAIN and WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION.
Granted, I've never seen all her movies, but for the ones I did, she seemed wooden and one-dimensional.
I don't know if that was because of any lack in her abilities, or that she was subject to poor direction.
Any ideas?
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 22, 2017 0:48:25 GMT
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Post by politicidal on Sept 22, 2017 1:56:11 GMT
Yeah I'd say so but she was better in some roles than others. Especially when playing a woman of the world (whether a prostitute or a widow).
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 22, 2017 2:17:40 GMT
snsuroneI don't think she was a bad actress at all, but I do think she was a terrible singer, at least in English. To this day I still don't understand the flashback sequence in Witness for the Prosecution. Acting-wise, though, I don't think anyone directed by Sternberg, Mamoulian, Wilder, Hitchcock, Lubitsch, Lang, and Borzage (now that I think of it, she was directed by everyone, wasn't she?) can be said to have suffered from bad direction. I'd recommend A Foreign Affair, which is great fun, and Stage Fright features her in a good performance as well, as does her brief role (but more than a cameo) in Touch of Evil. (Sorry about how awkwardly phrased that paragraph is--too much passive voice, but I couldn't see any way around it!)
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Post by Doghouse6 on Sept 22, 2017 15:34:29 GMT
I don't think she was a bad actress at all, but I do think she was a terrible singer, at least in English. To this day I still don't understand the flashback sequence in Witness for the Prosecution. Acting-wise, though, I don't think anyone directed by Sternberg, Mamoulian, Wilder, Hitchcock, Lubitsch, Lang, and Borzage (now that I think of it, she was directed by everyone, wasn't she?) can be said to have suffered from bad direction. I'd recommend A Foreign Affair, which is great fun, and Stage Fright features her in a good performance as well, as does her brief role (but more than a cameo) in Touch of Evil. (Sorry about how awkwardly phrased that paragraph is--too much passive voice, but I couldn't see any way around it!) Dietrich is one of those screen personalities about whom the question doesn't tend to enter my mind. A while back I described some actors as being the type who make the character become them, rather than becoming the character. Dietrich was...Dietrich. And she was very good at that. Like, oh, say Cary Grant, her persona was unique (and as grammatically incorrect as it would be, one wants to add the modifier so to "unique;" she's one I'd like to call more unique than most others, grammar be damned). In those same earlier remarks, I stated my ultimate standard for screen acting to be, "Do I believe it?" I usually believe Dietrich. Haven't seen all of her films, but I can think of only one for which the answer was, "No," and it also happens to be one of hers that I most enjoy: the wildly romantic and escapist THE GARDEN OF ALLAH. Worldly self-possession was her bailiwick, but the pious, convent raised woman seeking renewal of faith was an ill fit (although no one could have looked better wandering across sand dunes in flowing chiffon). I love it all the same. To those you singled out, my additions would be SHANGHAI EXPRESS (which certainly helped cement her image), NO HIGHWAY (by which time it was her stock in trade) and JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG . About her singing: no, not much of a voice - for carrying a tune, anyway - but, again, it's Dietrich. She seemed to put songs over by force of personality and, next to Rex Harrison, could do so better than any other non-singer in the business (for my money). Edit: I don't know if the titles showed up the first time 'round; I'm getting that recurrent problem of type that's both bolded and italicized not displaying after the post is entered, so I've redone them in plain caps. |
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Post by teleadm on Sept 22, 2017 17:00:21 GMT
I'm not so fond of the von Steinberg vehicles, but once she re-invented herself in Destry Rides Again 1939 I liked her, she had good humour and could be both sexy and funny. She was more of a personality than a great actress, but in her case it works fine with me, and she played strong women who could hold her own against any man, and that's not bad. The Blue Angel 1930, since it's available in only (to my knowledge) in a awful puplic domain version, it's difficult to understand how much this movie had an impact once that made her the only competitor to Greta Garbo. Destry Rides Again 1939, the re-invented Marlene is much more fun, even doing a catfight with Una Merkel, or bar room brawl. The Spoilers 1942, Not a great movie but fun all the same, with many funny oneliners quipped by Marlene, with John Wayne and Randolph Scott as suiters. Nobody messes with Marlene in this one. During World War 2 she did a lot of work for free at the Hollywood Canteen, meeting lots of young soldiers that was just about to go out to war. To fight against her own old country, the Nazis she hated. Stage Fright 1950, I liked this Hitchcock movie, and Marlene is a lady we don't really know if we can trust. No Highway in the Sky 1951, interesting movie about airplane wings fatigue, Marlene is a passanger who believes in James Stewarts theories, while others doubt. Around the World in 80 Days 1956, she appears in the funny western saloon scene with Cantinflas, George Raft, Red Skelton and Frank Sinatra According to Burt Bacharach, it was Frank Sinatra who suggested to her that she should do a Las Vegas show since the movie roles was thinning out, singing her old songs from the movies, Bacharach would later make her sing songs like Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, The Night has a Thousand Eyes and even doing a duet with Rosemary Clooney (Too Old to Cut the Mustard). Witness for the Prosecution 1957, It's one of those movies I can watch over and over, even if I know how it ends. I won't give away the plot offcourse. Touch of Evil 1958, Marlene's role here works more as a divertisment from the plot temporarily. Paris When it Sizzles 1964, a cameo, but I won't tell you were. Just a Gigolo 1979, I remember that there was so much hype and publicity surrounding this movie at the time, then came the actual movie, and everything fell flat. I haven't seen this one, but I bought the album/soundtrack/LP, it wen't fast into the cheap bins. What I've read it wasn't Marlene's fault, it was that the movie was simply bad in itself. (??) I've only mentioned movies that I remember that I've seen (exept Gigolo), and my opinions are my opinons, and you have yours! So, Let's Go and See What the Boys in the Backroom Will Have, and Order the Same... |
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Post by telegonus on Sept 23, 2017 6:35:58 GMT
I've enjoyed some of Marlene Dietrich's screen work. She strikes me as more a great entertainer than anything else, and I don't mean this as damning with, well, great praise, by being so general. Dietrich was an original. She could act, and act in serious roles when called upon to do so, and she had charisma and some very good luck in her film career, as in "just when you think Marlene's washed up..." she scores a comeback. At something.
Another question worth asking, when pondering Dietrich's career: is her type gone? i don't meant the cabaret artist turned movie star or anything like that but rather the great international star, multi-talented, much beloved, a huge draw on four continents and all that. Along with Dietrich there was, as if this needs mentioning, Maurice Chevalier. Judy Garland's up there, I believe. Also, Frank Sinatra. I think of Barbara Streisand, but who else is like that today? No, not being famous for being famous; and not rock stars.
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Post by petrolino on Sept 24, 2017 0:20:09 GMT
Absolutely.
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Post by marshamae on Sept 24, 2017 1:06:39 GMT
I'm surprised no one has mentioned her beautifully underplayed Countess in Judgement at Nuremberg. It required some powerful acting on her part because, as you doubtless know, she was a fervent Anti fascist from 1933 . She had no sympathy with the character she was playing, who essentially refused to apologize for her husband's role in the army because he wasn't a war criminal. She manages to play the complexity of the relationship with Spencer Tracy and evoke great sympathy for her character, without soft pedaling her essential fidelity to Germany if not the Third Reich.
I strongly second Destry rides again and Stage Fright. Both are full of great performances and Dietrich carries her part with great style. Her fight with Una Merkel is especially good. Dietrich, Merkel and Jimmy Stewart all committ to full out action so the scene is very free wheeling, not at all choreographed, very exciting.
A final recommendation- Manpower . Not a brilliant film but full of great dialogue and Dietrich gets the best lines.
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Post by snsurone on Sept 25, 2017 1:36:05 GMT
Wasn't she once compared to Edith Piaf in terms of her singing, especially "La Vie en Rose"?
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Post by Wesley Crusher on Sept 25, 2017 20:06:03 GMT
Marlene Dietrich
#16 Ranked Actress
23 Films Seen
Rated 10
Witness for the Prosecution
Judgment at Nuremberg
Rated 8
A Foreign Affair
Golden Earrings
Rated 7
Desire
The Scarlet Empress
No Highway in the Sky
The Blue Angel
Seven Sinners
The Flame of New Orleans
Shanghai Express
Morocco
Rated 6
The Spoilers
Blonde Venus
Stage Fright
The Lady Is Willing
Rated 5
The Garden of Allah
Rated 4
Angel
The Devil Is a Woman
Rancho Notorious
Rated 3
Destry Rides Again
Touch of Evil
Rated 2
Around the World in 80 Days
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