Most if not all of the images here are credited to Don English... portraits taken, no doubt, in exhausting "collaboration" with the director and star.
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| Alright, this one isn't actually German. Latvian, to be precise. |
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In my old age, Dietrich - here at her most extreme - has assumed the position of my favorite of the "Old Hollywood" film stars. (The proof is in how often my posts here relate to her.) She was barely on my radar when I was very young; then, it was all Garbo and, later, Shearer. But my admiration for her - her perfectionism, her self-control, her drive; her daughter’s remarkable, exquisite biography of her mother makes me feel I know the woman - has steadily grown. It didn’t matter that she was never much of an actress, or that she wasn’t actually a singer at all. That she appeared to wholly believe in her abilities, never acknowledged their limitations, somehow never allowed those limitations to seem a liability, but more like rare gifts. But more than anything, I think she was a very great artist of the IMAGE. Whether on film, on stage, or in still photography, she always KNEW the picture she was creating. She worked with great filmmakers, musicians, and photographers, but she knew better than probably any of the them the power of gesture, of costume, of LIGHTING to create a visual magic that will never fade, that will never age.
In 1960 Marlene returned to Berlin for the first time since 1945, when she attended her mothers funeral.
ReplyDeleteShe met with Berlin's lord-mayor Brandt at City Hall, then it was off to a reception held by her former colleagues of the German film industry. Marlene would only talk about her Hollywood film career. She made NO mention of her
film career in 1920s Berlin. No mention of Willy Birgel or Willy Fritsch, two men that gave her entry into the German film industry. No mention of her Berlin cabaret work. No mention of the great cabaret artisit, Margo Lion, who gave Marlene her first break in the world of cabaret. Margo Lion, a woman who Marlene copied in manner,
style and makeup. Needless to say Marlene's German hosts were disappointed and hurt by Marlene's slights.
As one of the hosts said, "Marlene of Berlin has become Marlene Dietrich of Hollywood !"
-Rj intheIE