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10 March 2009

Concha


I thought today of sharing this still of Marlene as Concha in The Devil Is A Woman (1935). I always thought Concha got a bad rap as 'Concha The Savage' or 'destroyer of men'. So much of the film is someone's version of her. She really is beyond gorgeous in this classic.

04 March 2009

Grand Hotel

Over at The Platinum Blog Starring Jean Harlow, Lisa Burks tells the interesting story of what happened to the Grand Hotel Register, which was signed by all the guests as they arrived at the premiere for the film at Grauman's Chinese in April 1932.





Below is a page from the register, which survives in a private collection:


Guests "signed in" at the Grand Hotel, top to bottom:
Mr & Mrs Cecil B de Mille, Marlene, Rudi, Anita Loos, John Emerson (producer & husband of Anita Loos), Mr & Mrs ??? Barclay, Pat O' Brien, Jean Harlow, Paul Bern, Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone.

MGM made a promo short about the event, "Hollywood Premiere" - available on the Grand Hotel DVD, and also on youtube. Marlene only apprears briefly - this was MGM publicity, after all.



The Hat She Hated?


I thought I'd carry on the hat theme with this posting. I found this cover of Silver Screen at a market. It looks like the costume from Angel, so it may be the hat Dietrich fought with Ernst Lubitsch  about. According to Steven Bach's bio, Lubitsch said wear it and Dietrich said "no".

03 March 2009

Stage Fright


This being my first post, I was torn as what to post. Since Joseph mentioned Stage Fright, I thought I would post this still I had gotten in Los Angeles. I hope you like it.

02 March 2009

Hodge-podge

At Berlin's Deutsche Kinemathek Museum, you can view a letter that Dietrich wrote to Hitchcock's official biographer, John Russell Taylor, about the director. In her own words: "He frightened the daylights out of me. He knows all about motion picture technique - most directors don't know as much." According to William Cook of The Guardian, Hitchcock's experience in the Berlin film industry during the 1920s influenced his later work. You judge for yourself. The exhibition, The Casting a Shadow - Alfred Hitchcock & His Workshop, is open until May 10th.

I don't believe I ever saw Jigsaw, but I loved the promo pics of a bereted Dietrich. Now, we can speak in tongues and whirl like dervishes around a beret that once graced her head at the Victoria & Albert Museum exhibition, Hats: An Anthology, until May 31st. The V&A site has an informative interactive gallery.

To refer again to The Guardian, a blog on its site makes the argument that Hollywood perpetuates the supporting actress status of non-native English speaking stars, mentioning Penelope Cruz's Oscar win. The article, however, then mentions Hollywood's preferential treatment to Northern European foreign actresses such as Dietrich over the Lusophone Carmen Miranda. Thoughts?

Finally, who has a copy of Vanity Fair's imaginary interview between Dietrich and HRH Queen Marie of Romania?