With erotic Bible verses to sinful Berlin: Marlene Dietrich and Brian Aherne sing the song of love
Hollywood major PARAMOUNT has taken action on its star, who is already failing at the box office. For this film, DIETRICH had to do without her house director Josef von Sternberg for the first time, which is said to have not suited the diva at all. But Rouben Mamoulian also knew how best to illuminate DIETRICH. In the same year he was allowed to direct GARBO as "Queen Christine" for the rival studio MGM. After this year, the good man probably knew what he had achieved...
The very young Lilli (OSCAR candidate Marlene Dietrich) has just lost her beloved father, to whom she always read from the Song of Solomon. The girl from the country sets off for Berlin straight from her father's gravestone. There she lives with her old aunt Rasmussen (gorgeous: Alison Skipworth), who runs a small bookstore. Aunty is a terrible hypocrite who has sold her own daughters for Jamaican rum. By chance, Lilli meets the dashing sculptor Richard Waldow (OSCAR candidate Brian Aherne) in the shop, who has his studio right across the street. Lilli secretly visits him there and, after initial hesitation, even models for him. They both fall in love, but Richard doesn't want to commit. He leaves Lilli to the unsympathetic Baron von Merzbach (Lionel Atwill), who has fallen in love with Lilli's marble statue. It happens as it has to happen: Lilli becomes Baroness Merzbach and from now on lives in a stately property. There she meets the housekeeper Miss Schwertfeger (wonderfully scheming: Helen Freeman), who was previously the Baron's lover, and the stormy youngster von Prell (Hardie Albright), who doesn't just want to teach her to ride. After the Baron has used all his might to make Lilli a socialite, he can't resist showing the young sculptor his work. The situation escalates! Lilli has to escape. And again DIETRICH ends up in the gutter in a film, but that's not the end of the story...
Based on a novel (1908) by Hermann Sudermann, PARAMOUNT conjured up a lot of German flair into the studio. DIETRICH sings again in German: Röslein auf der Heide. All you can see of her are her beautiful legs and some cleavage. As a marble statue, it can be stark naked and examined from all sides. The film was made before the Hays Code came into force, so the audience could still be offered something. But that fits the topic, because the Song of Solomon is so erotic that you wouldn't expect these love verses to be in the Bible.
A classic well worth seeing with the unforgettable Marlene Dietrich!
Hollywood major PARAMOUNT has taken action on its star, who is already failing at the box office. For this film, DIETRICH had to do without her house director Josef von Sternberg for the first time, which is said to have not suited the diva at all. But Rouben Mamoulian also knew how best to illuminate DIETRICH. In the same year he was allowed to direct GARBO as "Queen Christine" for the rival studio MGM. After this year, the good man probably knew what he had achieved...
The very young Lilli (OSCAR candidate Marlene Dietrich) has just lost her beloved father, to whom she always read from the Song of Solomon. The girl from the country sets off for Berlin straight from her father's gravestone. There she lives with her old aunt Rasmussen (gorgeous: Alison Skipworth), who runs a small bookstore. Aunty is a terrible hypocrite who has sold her own daughters for Jamaican rum. By chance, Lilli meets the dashing sculptor Richard Waldow (OSCAR candidate Brian Aherne) in the shop, who has his studio right across the street. Lilli secretly visits him there and, after initial hesitation, even models for him. They both fall in love, but Richard doesn't want to commit. He leaves Lilli to the unsympathetic Baron von Merzbach (Lionel Atwill), who has fallen in love with Lilli's marble statue. It happens as it has to happen: Lilli becomes Baroness Merzbach and from now on lives in a stately property. There she meets the housekeeper Miss Schwertfeger (wonderfully scheming: Helen Freeman), who was previously the Baron's lover, and the stormy youngster von Prell (Hardie Albright), who doesn't just want to teach her to ride. After the Baron has used all his might to make Lilli a socialite, he can't resist showing the young sculptor his work. The situation escalates! Lilli has to escape. And again DIETRICH ends up in the gutter in a film, but that's not the end of the story...
Based on a novel (1908) by Hermann Sudermann, PARAMOUNT conjured up a lot of German flair into the studio. DIETRICH sings again in German: Röslein auf der Heide. All you can see of her are her beautiful legs and some cleavage. As a marble statue, it can be stark naked and examined from all sides. The film was made before the Hays Code came into force, so the audience could still be offered something. But that fits the topic, because the Song of Solomon is so erotic that you wouldn't expect these love verses to be in the Bible.
A classic well worth seeing with the unforgettable Marlene Dietrich!