Marlene

Rating:
Summary: An illuminating documentary on a screen legend
Review: This is surely one of the most fascinating documentaries ever made. Although Dietrich herself was never filmed (she refused to have her face shown), it is illuminating and you get a full sense of the woman she was. Schell reproduces her apartment where the interviews were held and uses film clips, song recordings, etc. and we hear Dietrich's impressions over these. Bernard, her assistant and secretary, is also interviewed. It is at times funny and poignant and always riveting. She comes across as an intelligent and outspoken woman and also a highly opinionated one with little patience. Many of her musings are very funny - on a certain biography of Von Sternberg, she says "It's the lousiest translation ever made - I burned it!" She often uses the term "kitsch" to describe tasteless things and when Schell shows a clip of her performing on stage in front of a loud pink backdrop she exclaims "Darling, I did not know the kitsch was there!" She also clashes with filmmaker Schell on several things, including how the documentary should be made. She didn't want to discuss her films ("This should not be a critical thing") and after Schell leaves in a huff one day - she says "You walked out of here like a prima donna - well, you are the first to walk out on me and the last!" Schell did eventually convince her to let them bring in a video tape machine and get her reactions to some of her work (as the assistants are clumsily setting up the equipment, she is yelling "amateurs, amateurs!") She obviously is bored to tears with "The Blue Angel" and dismisses it but offers her opinion that "The Scarlet Empress" was her best film. When pressed as to why, she flippantly says "Because it's the best film". In addition to her life's work, she and Schell discuss some of the people she worked with (on Spencer Tracy - "I loved him" and Orson Welles "The man's a genius and when you speak his name you should cross yourself.") They also talk about Germany during the war and Schell reads one of her favorite poems which causes her to cry. This is wonderful stuff and a must for fans!