DISHONORED (1931)

Third of the seven legendary (and legendarily eccentric) collaborations between Josef von Sternberg & Marlene Dietrich (1930 - ‘35) is usually considered the runt of the litter.  But recent reviewing suggests otherwise.  A MATA HARI WWI spy story, it beat M-G-M’s Greta Garbo version to theaters by months*; von Sternberg’s original story both stranger and stronger.  Dietrich’s a classy ‘working girl’ picked up by Austrian Secret Service Chief Gustav von Seyffertitz (that’s the actor’s name) for ‘Patriotic Sex,’ literally sleeping with the enemy for info on troop movements and battle plans.  Quickly proving her mettle in foreign agents & Austrian traitors, she’s undone by unbidden love when Russian spy Victor McLaglen gets the better of her.  The two soon caught in a deadly game of catch-and-release before their luck inevitably runs out.  Sternberg’s pacing remains Early Talkie languid (next year’s SHANGHAI EXPRESS got him fully up to speed), and McLaglen’s lack of elegance pairs awkwardly against Dietrich, but the film never turns excessively camp, instead witty and knowing on many levels with Dietrich looking stunning (even by her standard) in all sorts of outfits; in and out of makeup.  With great sets and set pieces sprinkled into every reel (most famously right at the end touching up her makeup, its spot on the list falling dead center in the series.  SHANGHAI EXPRESS remains the best Dietrich intro, sexy, funny, downright zippy.  But even there, what’s missed is the boost the young Gary Cooper uniquely gave her in MOROCCO where equal beauty made the usually untouchable Dietrich ‘touchable.'*

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  *As mentioned, 1931's other Mata Hari film.    https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/mata-hari-1932.html   

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  *So, if Coop adds the beauty factor McLaglen misses, what of Cary Grant in  BLONDE VENUS?  The quick answer is VENUS is just too extreme in style, story, art direction (even Dietrich’s tweezed look) to add that ‘touchability’ quotient.