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Morocco

 
Movies:

Morocco

  • Director: Josef von Sternberg
  • AMG Rating: starstarstarstar
  • Genre: Drama
  • Movie Type: Melodrama
  • Themes: Foreign Legion
  • Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Adolphe Menjou, Ullrich Haupt, Sr., Julie Compton, Eve Southern
  • Release Year: 1930
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 92 minutes

Plot

Like so many campaigners before him, Gary Cooper joins the Foreign Legion to "forget." At a smoky cabaret in Morocco, Cooper meets café entertainer Marlene Dietrich (making her American film debut). A woman with a very checkered past, Dietrich toys with the callow Cooper, but eventually falls hopelessly in love with him, even to the extent of throwing over wealthy Adolphe Menjou. The now-famous final image of Morocco finds la Dietrich, decked out in her cabaret finery and wearing high heels, heading after Cooper's regiment across the desert with the rest of the "camp followers." There is considerably more to the story than that, but these bare-bones details should be enough to entice anyone familiar with the exotic eroticism of the Josef von Sternberg/Marlene Dietrich vehicles. Should you need more enticement, let us inform you that Morocco is the film in which Marlene Dietrich, dressed in a man's tuxedo for her nightclub act, kisses a female patron squarely on the lips. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Review

Director Josef von Sternberg transfers Marlene Dietrich's siren singer persona to northern Africa in their first American collaboration, pairing her with Foreign Legionnaire Gary Cooper. Dietrich's Amy Jolly is an sensuous figure of desire and mystery amid von Sternberg's signature mise-en-scene of lushly exotic surroundings, layered shadows, and gauzy fabrics. Her first nightclub performance exudes an androgynous eroticism that would define her star persona: although she eventually sacrifices everything to follow Cooper's Tom Brown across the visually arresting desert sands, the tuxedo-clad Amy accepts a flower from a female admirer and nonchalantly kisses her on the lips before tossing the flower to an equally smitten (and beautified) Cooper. Along with the stunning imagery, von Sternberg inventively used sound to enhance the atmosphere, particularly when Amy makes her final decision between a rich man and the Legionnaire she loves. A box office success, Morocco earned Oscar nominations for von Sternberg, Hollywood newcomer Dietrich, Lee Garmes's alluring cinematography, and Hans Dreier's interior decoration, and helped keep Paramount Pictures afloat as the Great Depression hit Hollywood. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Cast

Francis McDonald - Cpl. Barney Latoche; Albert Conti - Col. Quinnovieres; Michael Visaroff - Barrative; Paul Porcasi - Lo Tinto; Emile Chautard - Officer; Theresa Harris - Camp Follower; Harry Schultz - German Sergeant

Credit

Travis Banton - Costume Designer, Josef von Sternberg - Director, S.K. Winston - Editor, Karl Hajos - Composer (Music Score), Hans Dreier - Production Designer, Lucien Ballard - Cinematographer, Lee Garmes - Cinematographer, Hector Turnbull - Producer, Harry D. Mills - Sound/Sound Designer, Jules Furthman - Screenwriter, Benno Vigny - Book Author
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Wikipedia: Morocco (1930 film)
Top
Morocco
Directed by Josef von Sternberg
Produced by Hector Turnbull
Written by Jules Furthman
Starring Marlene Dietrich
Gary Cooper
Adolphe Menjou
Ullrich Haupt
Release date(s) November 14, 1930
Running time 91 min
Country  United States
Language English
Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich in Morocco trailer 2.jpg

Morocco is a 1930 film in which a Foreign Legionnaire meets and falls in love with a sultry seductress. It was directed by Josef von Sternberg and stars Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich and Adolphe Menjou. The story was adapted by Jules Furthman from the novel Amy Jolly by Benno Vigny. The movie was notorious in its day for a woman-to-woman kiss.

It was nominated for four Academy Awards in the categories of: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Marlene Dietrich—who, amazingly, knew little English, and spoke her lines phonetically), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Director (Josef von Sternberg). [1]

In 1992, Morocco was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Contents

Cast

Production notes

Actress Marlene Dietrich, nominated with this film for Academy Award for Best Actress, reveals an elusive charisma (of "star quality"), also noted two years later in the 1932 film, Blonde Venus, for her role with "icy charisma and unconventional beauty" (review). [2]

References

  1. ^ "NY Times: Morocco". NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/33360/Morocco/details. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
  2. ^ "blonde venus - review at videovista" (film review), Jonathan McCalmont, VideoVista, 2006, webpage: VV-BlondeV.

External links



 
 
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