Dietrich's CBC Interview About Theatre de l'Etoile

Concert connoisseurs, were Marlene Dietrich's first French shows at Paris' Theatre de l'Etoile between 1959-1960? Nowadays, people write more about Dietrich's drama-filled dates in Germany during 1960, overshadowing her Parisian triumph. If it weren't for Uli's classic site, I wouldn't be able to keep up with these details. Thankfully, I've got an additional reminder--an interview that Dietrich gave to Kerry Ellard on January 6, 1960, which is available from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Digital Archives.

In this interview, Dietrich is sweeter than maple syrup, praising Burt Bacharach, Alexander Fleming, Jonas Salk, and Ernest Hemingway ("the wock of Gibwaltaw of my life"). Dietrich also shares that she prefers stage shows to making movies, that she lacks ambition (très "laziest girl in town"), that she wouldn't have dared to perform in Paris in the past, that she doesn't get stage fright, that Witness for the Prosecution was her only real part, that she's sick of the "grandmother" image, and that she looks for men who are intelligent and not stupid squares. Oddly, she credits the British for her gender-bending tuxedo act. Enjoy this clip!

EDIT: !@#$ it! I can't get the clip to stop autoplaying. Click the "Read more" link below, and it will load.

The Bump

Steven Bach and Maria Riva described Marlene Dietrich's upturned nose as a flaw, but I never shared that view. If you want to see Dietrich in both her stylized and natural states, take a gander at A Certain Cinema, one of my favorite online collections of Dietrich photos. Among these images, I observe no duck, pug, pig or other animal nose. If Dietrich had any facial blemish, it would be the one that has become the object of my obsession whenever I watch her films on DVD, the one that I never notice in studio portraits--likely thanks to judicious retouching. By no means would I regard it as a blot, but I've fixated on it ever since I saw The Scarlet Empress at the Egyptian Theater, where--in the silver screen's magnified proportions--it first became apparent to me. I'm talking about the bump near her lower lip. Has anyone else ever pointed it out? Was it a wart, a scar, a concealed mole? I've never read anything of it. For those of you who may be rolling your eyes or scratching your heads, I've compiled a gallery of screenshots featuring THE BUMP.

EXHIBIT A: I'm ready for my close-up, Herr Lang.

What? You don't see it? How about now?

Want To Buy Some Illusions ?

A few interesting current ebay listings:

A photo taken around 1960, location unknown. Who's that with Marlene?



An interesting portrait from the mid-40s.



Marlene in her cockney getup for "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957).





A programme for Marlene's appearance at Expo 67.

Marlene Dietrich: A Brief Note on Scripted Deaths

Marlene Dietrich's grave (taken by Axel Mauruszat)

Death has been a prevalent topic in Marlene Dietrich's films. Feel free to discuss what you wish or correct my inaccuracies.

I will merely state the following about the talkies in which Marlene Dietrich starred:

Marlene Dietrich's character dies at the hands of another in THREE of those films (Dishonored, Destry Rides Again, Rancho Notorious).

Determining how many characters die at the hands of Dietrich's character, however, may be less easy to determine. I count ONE, Witness for the Prosecution, but I will honor the film narrator's request and refrain from revealing any details.

In the SEVEN additional films in which other characters die (The Blue Angel, Shanghai Express, The Scarlet Empress, Knight Without Armour, Kismet, Stage Fright, Touch of Evil), the role of Dietrich's character sometimes remains subject to debate. In The Blue Angel, Dietrich's character Lola-Lola perhaps cuckolds her husband, Professor Rat (played by Emil Jannings), to death. In The Scarlet Empress and Stage Fright, Dietrich's characters use their feminine wiles to convince others to commit murderous acts. The most meaningful murder, however, almost takes a backseat to the relatively trivial romance between Dietrich and Clive Brook's characters in Shanghai Express--that of Warner Oland's character by Anna May Wong's character, an act of vengeance after Oland's character implicitly rapes Wong's and an act of patriotism to suppress a fomenting Chinese rebellion. Even Hui Fei (Wong's character) understates her heroism.

Finally, ONE film, Judgment at Nuremburg, stands beyond the above parameters because the Holocaust victims were by no means fictitious characters.

Falling In Love Again

I have never articulated my thoughts on Dietrich, but a blog (which has subsequently disappointed me and thus won't be named) inspired me to make an honest attempt. You will see my comment if you click the link, and I will also post it here after the cut.