The Testatrix Is Willing

Totally unrelated. Fred MacMurray & Marlene Dietrich
on the set of The Lady is Willing.;)

Marlene Dietrich's last will and testament as well as its codicil became public record after it was granted probate by the New York County Surrogate's Court in September 1992. Even though private recorded conversations and letters between Marlene and her friends as well as photographs of Marlene's wounded leg after her 1973 fall at Shady Grove Music Fair have circulated among Dietrich fans for years, her will--accessible to anyone--never appears to have emerged. Until now.

Dick Cavett, Phone Flirt

Dick Cavett writes an interesting column over at the New York Times about his telephonic friendship with Marlene during the 80s.

Marlene Dietrich Movie Reviews on NYT Site

Marlene Dietrich movie reviews from the time of the films' release are appearing on The New York Times (NYT) website. Earlier, I cited the original NYT review of A Foreign Affair, but it appears that NYT is conducting an ongoing project to make all reviews available online. For those of you interested in the initial impact and media perception of these films, these reviews should serve you as informative sources.

Be aware that the NYT site is working out kinks, meaning that some of their links may currently be dead or some pages unlinked to their proper hubs. The NYT site could improve the search function by allowing users to limit their results to only reviews, trailers, etc., and if you agree, express this view to NYT here. So far, I have found original reviews for the following films:

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
No Highway in the Sky (1951)
Stage Fright (1950)
A Foreign Affair (1948)
Golden Earrings (1947)
Kismet (1944)
The Lady Is Willing (1942)
The Flame of New Orleans (1941)
Seven Sinners (1940)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
The Garden of Allah (1936)
The Devil Is a Woman (1935)
The Scarlet Empress (1934)
Blonde Venus (1932)
Shanghai Express (1932)
Dishonored (1931)
Morocco (1930)
The Blue Angel (1930) *Released in the United States after Morocco.
I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1929) *Released in the United States in 1932.

Bosley Crowther appears to have been a decades-long admirer of Dietrich, no? Please share more review links in the comments section if you find them.