Dishonored

Marlene Dietrich in Dishonored

I've been waiting years for the Blu-Ray release of Josef von Sternberg's 1931 feature Dishonored, the most obscure of his collaborations with Marlene Dietrich. It more than lived up to my expectations. I would place it in the middle of the pack amongst their films, just below the level of their masterpieces: The Blue Angel, Morocco, The Scarlett Empress and The Devil is a Woman. As in Blonde Venus and Shanghai Express, the lack of an effective male foil for Dietrich detracts from the picture. Victor McLaglen is an effectively virile presence. The effect is palpable when he sweeps Dietrich off her feet and deposits her with a thump on a bed. However, he utilizes a bizarre accent and has little chemistry with la Dietrich. It's a pity Gary Cooper turned down the role, but he, apparently, had had enough of Sternberg. 

I never get enough of Sternberg's visual plays of light and shade. The art direction and costumes are riveting in themselves, especially during the carnival scene which Sternberg recycled to even more bizarre effect in The Devil is a Woman. Sternberg shows off Dietrich at her most curvy, even utilizing a hoop skirt to contrast her with the ramrod, vertically rigid military officers. Her real match, the secret service chief who recruits her from off the streets, is well played by Gustav von Seyffetitz, an always welcome character actor from the silent era. The chief, who christens Dietrich "X-27", has no qualms about sending his agent to her doom; on to X-28, I suppose. Nevertheless, it provides Sternberg with a moving and romantic send off for his heroine where the pacifism of the era and the director's critique of a stern and unyielding patriarchy are beautifully melded in a film about the intersection of Eros and Thanatos.