★ 7 / 10
Before there was Mogadon, there was Mogador
CinemaSerf
Before there was Mogadon, there was Mogador - a town in Morocco in which the wealthy "La Bessiere" (Adolphe Menjou) might have wished for more of the former!…
Before there was Mogadon, there was Mogador - a town in Morocco in which the wealthy "La Bessiere" (Adolphe Menjou) might have wished for more of the former! His problems all stem from his infatuation with the recently arrived cabaret dancer "Amy" (Marlene Dietrich) who is wowing the crowds in her elegant tuxedo, top hat and stilettos. Also amongst her audience is the roguish legionnaire "Brown" (Gary Cooper) who takes a shine to her and even pays 20F for one of her apples! What now ensues is a lightly comedic love-triangle enterprise peppered with two full length numbers from Dietrich and a little naughtiness from Cooper that sends him deep into the treacherous desert. To be fair, Cooper is not the most impactful here - his performance is just a little too undercooked, but she is on great form as she mischievously plays both men and I did feel a little sorry for Menjou's lovestruck character used to buying everything he wanted. The production is gently tempered with a little sexual fluidity. That's not especially new for European audiences, but I reckon those across the pond might not have been quite so used to a woman so demonstrably fully equipped to function and thrive in a man's world! The scene at the end really did make wonder if "Amy" had really thought things through, though...
★ 7 / 10
Dietrich, given us by von Sternberg--could it get better than this?
gaityr
MOROCCO is the second of seven collaborations between Marlene Dietrich and the director that discovered her and probably photographed her the best, Josef von…
MOROCCO is the second of seven collaborations between Marlene Dietrich and the director that discovered her and probably photographed her the best, Josef von Sternberg. In fact, it is Dietrich's first English-language film, and she stars in it as the world-weary, man-weary French entertainer Amy Jolly. She's never had a reason to trust a man, much less love one, until she sees Legionnaire Tom Brown (Gary Cooper) defend her honour the first time she arrives onstage--this is surely a classic movie moment, Marlene Dietrich arriving in full top hat and tails. Tom is just as cynical about women as Amy is about men, but from their first encounter over the price of an apple, you know that these two have met the one person of the opposite sex who could change everything. Much as he loves her, however, Tom believes that Monsieur La Bessiere (Adolphe Menjou) could bring Amy more happiness and stability through his marriage proposal... so he leaves, to march off with the Foreign Legion.
To be frank, the story really isn't all that important--it's pretty one-note, with the sole amusement being provided by the zings Amy and Tom trade each time they meet. That's a nice touch, the slightly wry way in which they both approach the budding relationship, both because they've been hurt before, and because there's also no conventional way for the two of them to stay together. This is brought out very nicely by the ending of the film.
Whatever other reason you might have to watch MOROCCO, there's no denying that Marlene Dietrich is very clearly the star of the entire enterprise. The way von Sternberg photographs and captures her makes her appear mysterious, beautiful and yet achingly vulnerable at the same time. You couldn't talk about Dietrich in this film without also mentioning von Sternberg in the same breath, since she is so very evidently portrayed in the way he sees her at her best. Some shots of Dietrich, more than others, are breathtaking. Even if her character isn't particularly well-fleshed-out and her lines not too great (von Sternberg fed her most of her lines during filming, partly because that's how he works and partly because Dietrich apparently knew very little English), Amy/Dietrich--both creations of the same directorial genius--is a fine work of art. Whether it's Dietrich creating a furore of gasps when she emerges in her tux, or when she plants a firm kiss on another lady's mouth (this film was made in *1930*!), she is a simply captivating screen presence--Cooper seems bland in his role in comparison, and Menjou is adequate but certainly doesn't steal the picture. The sound for the whole film isn't that great, and Dietrich does have to sing over the noise of the crowd so you really have to struggle to make out what she's saying... but just looking at her really is enough in this film.
Watch this film for Dietrich, the meticulously-created Moroccan atmosphere (von Sternberg excels at this, and evidently took great pains to make it as authentic as possible--to the detriment of plot and character), the sweet romance with a nice final twist... but mostly for Dietrich. She makes it all worth it. 7.5/10.
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