VHS rental. The second of a Borzage double bill (after A Farewell to Arms), this was something of a disappointment. Gary Cooper again, a charming somewhat countrified American engineer who gets mixed up with pearl thief disguised as petty noblewoman Marlene Dietrich in Paris and then in flight to Spain. The early scenes of Dietrich scamming both pearl merchant and psychologist into believing that the other is her husband are well-played, and the meet-cute moments on the road though a little labored are still -- cute. But around the time Dietrich's partner in crime Margoli (John Halliday) enters the scene the film slows to a deadly crawl, and knowing how it's going to finish I can't wait for it to do so. This seemed much lighter and less intense than the other Borzage films I'd seen, so I wasn't surprised to learn that Ernst Lubitsch was the producer (and rumored director of some scenes); the Lubitsch touch mixed with the Borzage romanticism doesn't really come off. Worth seeing for the two stars though, by all means, especially Dietrich who is as magnetic as ever.
Desire
(1936)
Dietrich saves this from disaster, but can't quite make it compelling
19 November 2007
Warning: Spoilers