After three underperforming films, and a split with director/mentor Josef von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich needed course correction. A top priority for Ernst Lubitsch in 1935 when he spent a year as Paramount head of production and spearheaded DESIRE’s initial development. And while Frank Borzage wound up doing the physical direction, the end product is echt Lubitsch. (Even taking a rare producer’s credit on a film he didn’t helm.) As a glam jewel thief fleeing Paris, Dietrich finds a perfect pocket for hiding a stolen pearl necklace when she bumps into vacationing car engineer (from Detroit!) Gary Cooper. And oh, what these two beauties do for each other, Cooper keeping her grounded without clipping her wings in a plot that plays out like a series of meet-cutes over three acts. Originally planned with John Gilbert in mind as past lover/current third wheel, the part presumably adjusted when Gilbert died and John Halliday took over as faux Uncle/partner-in-crime instead of romantic rival/partner-in-crime. The change lowers the stakes, especially for Dietrich (the first idea might have come closer to a gender-swapped TROUBLE IN PARADISE; instead, it’s something of a precursor to THE LADY EVE), but there’s too much charm, elegance and delight to worry about what might have been. Plus one of Frederick Hollander’s most enchanting songs for Marlene, ‘Awake in a Dream.’
DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned above: Lubitsch’s TROUBLE IN PARADISE/’32; Preston Sturges’s THE LADY EVE/’41. OR: Lubitsch’s underappreciated Dietrich follow up, ANGEL/’37.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: In spite of DESIRE, GARDEN OF ALLAH, KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR and ANGEL, Dietrich’s box-office clout remained depressed until she revived the brand getting down & dirty in DESTRY RIDES AGAIN/’39.
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