Morocco (1930) Online

MOROCCO is first and foremost an atmospheric film. Anyone who looks for more didn't understand what Josef von Sternberg created here. It's pure atmosphere. A reverie. The film is at times creaky but it's understandable because it was made over 70 years ago! There are several stand-out scenes in MOROCCO, including the famous kiss scene and the one when Marlene breaks a pearl necklace but what makes this Sternberg film so memorable is the stunning ending. Suddenly, the creaky film looks positively contemporary. Are we really in 1930s and not the wild 1970s?!?! The brilliant ending MAKES the movie. Without it, it would probably have been an enjoyably moody but average 1930s flick. With it, MOROCCO becomes a timeless classic. It's probably the most stunning ending ever made, with so many layers of meaning with that one prolonged static shot. It's visually brilliant and sexy on so many levels.

What a sinister delight, Josef Von Sternberg guided Marlene to become Dietrich. He knew something about her that nobody knew, maybe not even her. but whatever it was it's still magic. When Gary Cooper sees her for the first time, she's dressed as a man and look at what happens in Cooper's eyes. Von Sternberg knew what he was doing. Deliciously twisted. She's in charge and yet she allows herself to surrender. Her masculinity blends to perfection with Cooper's femininity - It is clear now in 2018, I wonder how the 1930 audiences saw it. If you love movies, Morocco is a gift.

Morocco was the first 'American' movie ever made in Hollywood by Marlene Dietrich under her 'master' Von Sternberg's direction and, as a follow-up to their extraordinary work in 'The Blue Angel', it consistently helped create a new myth on the cinema's horizon, the image, sensuality and androgyny of Marlene Dietrich.Cinematographically speaking the movie is a wonderful piece of art, with Sternberg's talent for shades in the black and white variation taken to a wonderful depiction of a love story in the Moroccan landscape.But it is above all else Marlene's true introduction to American audiences in the English language, and it is quite visibly a great effort by both director and actress in the creation of a new feminine myth which Marlene would represent throughout her career: the new sensual goddess, accessible and inaccessible at the same time, wonderfully and apparently aloof and distant, but also carnally at hand, sometimes paying the price of love in her own flesh.That image is ever-present in this beautiful film, from the first moment Dietrich appears on the big screen, arriving in 'Morocco' and refusing the help of a tentative lover.The androgyny which pervades the whole movie, especially her cabaret scenes are fundamental in the creation of the androgynous image of Marlene, especially as she sang the french waltz at the cabaret. Her love scenes with Cooper were ardent and unforgettable, and her final surrender, as she leaves everything behind in order to pursue her love for him, clearly represents the creation of the undying femme fatale who kills for love but can die for love.'Morocco' comes off as a great movie between director and actress, notwithstanding great performances by the others actors, especially the sensual presence of Gary Cooper, still a young man and a very charming one.Quite wonderful!

Of course Morocco has dated - mostly in its scripting, yet if one is willing to fantasize a little, to place oneself in a 1930 sensibility, the film works brilliantly. Even without taking that delicious mindstep Morocco is a delectable cinema classic, even if it isn't the finest of the Sternberg-Dietrich collaborations.

That hot kiss the white-tie-and-tails-clad Dietrich plants on the lips of a woman seated, helplessly, at a cabaret table is still breathtaking. Seeing that kiss still sizzle nowadays makes one wonder why so much hubbub ensued after 2003's gratuitous, lackluster liplock shared by Madonna and Britney Spears (which, as it made me yawn also made me think of Madeline Kahn's Dietrich-parodying Lilli von Shtupp dismissing Hedley Lamar's bouquet offering: "Oh. How odinawy."). Moreover, Dietrich's Amy Jolly deliberately ignores the luststruck man who handed a flower to her following her cabaret act, and instead humiliates him by kissing his startled, but not at all displeased - and rather persuaded to complaisance, date. No penis envy nonsense here: its all Marlene being woman almighty flexing woman's timeless power.

One ought not, as one amateur reviewer has, to judge myopically this film by today's anal PC standards by dint of sanctimonious judgments about colonialism - and by taking a badly mistaken swipe at Gary Cooper's character speaking American English instead of affecting a French accent when, in fact, Cooper was playing an American in the Foreign Legion (did the character's name, Tom Brown, not clue that reviewer to Brown's nationality?); further, the uniform of enlisted legionnaires wasn't tailored to fit handsomely - it was made mostly of coarse wool and issued "as-is," quite often ill-fitting, to men who volunteered for arduous service. Instead one ought to see Morocco's characters for what they are: broadly-painted archetypes of white colonialists behaving as white colonialists behaved, indeed as people in archetypal roles since Sophocles still behave - albeit in the cinematic mannerist modality of the film's period.

Missed too often, but not to be missed here is how Morocco, in its own stylized Sternbergian way, deals with enduring human nature: lust and love; jealousy and covetousness; pettiness and spite, anger and beneficence; harshness and tenderness; not to mention the ineffable human wont to go head over heels, round the bend, over a lover: what we have in Morocco is not a didactic narrative but an epoch-bridging fable. And despite the dated dialect of its dialogue language, it's remarkable how much and exactly what this 1930 film dared to show and got away with showing. (Anyone with a matured world-view ought to be aware that, seventy years hence, rap star films of the two thousand-aughts - as well as films employing the standard English of the early twenty-first century - are likely to be ridiculed or dismissed for their peculiarities of dialect.)

Give yourself a huge wink and watch Morocco, and savor its seductive lenswork, its atmopsheric sets and and costumes and lighting, and its timeless, classical themes which, over all these years since its shooting, remind us that "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose."

After her stunning international success in The Blue Angel, Marlene Dietrich was open to all kinds of film offers from all countries. She shrewdly negotiated with Adolph Zukor at Paramount Pictures in the USA and made her feature film debut in Morocco co-starring with Paramount's number one leading man Gary Cooper. She couldn't have predicted it, but it was a permanent move away from Germany.

Dietrich was a package deal for with her came the director of The Blue Angel Joseph Von Sternberg. No doubt Von Sternberg created the image that we now know her for, sensual, alluring, and standing by her man when she does make her choice.

One thing about Morocco I found different than most of the films I've seen of Dietrich is that she's not in control of the situation. In most films she usually is, but in Morocco Cooper's very much in charge. She's got a wealthy man in Adolphe Menjou panting after her, but she can't see him for beans. It's Gary Cooper an ordinary dogface Foreign Legionaire that she's fallen for.

Cooper in fact plays a part Tyrone Power would affect great success with later, a hero/heel. Cooper is carrying on an affair with the wife of one of the officers at his post when he meets Dietrich. The man must have had something going for him.

Von Sternberg did a great job in creating the atmosphere of not only Morocco, but of the Foreign Legion. Men with forgotten pasts and dubious futures, living only for the moment.

Although I think Marlene Dietrich did better films than Morocco in her Hollywood years, Morocco was a grand and auspicious beginning for her.

Of course it's a vehicle for Dietrich, but what makes this early Hollywood Dietrich-Sternberg outing fascinating is its sensuality. It simply reeks of sex: as when a sexually provocative, confident Dietrich in a tux kisses a girl, in its depiction of Dietrich's obsession with the Gary Cooper character and perhaps above all in the way the film treats Cooper - the most beautiful man in Hollywood at the time - almost as an inanimate sex object. So many movies over the years have given their female leads little to do but look gorgeous, but here it's Cooper who plays second fiddle, and reminds modern viewers that good looks were not invented by Brad Pitt. To quote the song, he's simply 'super duper' here. And Dietrich, of course, is simply incomparable: she has that mixture of upfront toughness and unspoken vulnerability that made her utterly watchable throughout her long screen career.

It's interesting to read other reviews of Morocco. Some people just don't seem to have a clue, and it would be fascinating to learn what they think of as a good film from this era. Nevertheless, I was surprised to see that only one reviewer mentioned the sound, and that was to criticize it. Sternberg's use of sound as a tool jumped right out at me. There are numerous scenes in this film which have the possibility of being overly tedious and run the risk of being boring. Much is made of Sternberg's visual prowess and the rich texture displayed here, but I'm surprised that everyone seems to be missing the effect of the sound. Throughout the film, in scenes which need to build tension yet are visually somewhat tiresome (Legionaires marching in the street for example) Sternberg uses various sound devices artfully. We hear the monotonous drumbeat as the men march. The longer this goes on, the more irritating it becomes and as a result, puts the audience on edge. This adds to the tension of the scene immensely. The same thing happens in other parts of the film when we hear a short nearly monotone musical phrase repeated over and over ad nauseum, or when the sound of the wind blowing through the trees also becomes irritating. Each time, the scene is intended to build tension and each time, Sternberg's use of sound perfectly complements the visual to achieve the desired effect. This movie is on my "you gotta see this one" list.

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.

Either if you're a man or a woman, you'll fall for Amy Jolly, that would be read 'amie jollie' = beautiful friend, in French speaking Morocco. Marlene Dietrich not exactly at her best, but very sexy, playing gracefully from a man-eater 'Carmen' (plenty of suggestions linking both characters) to a female sutler, following 'her man' into the desert. First, on high heels shoes, than taking her shoes off, and going on naked feet, along with a handful of native women, and donkeys, and she-goats. One tends to forget the great director (von Sternberg) behind this great woman-star, and that's unjust. The script may have been good, but it would not develop onto this smooth running 90 minutes of relative inaction (for 21st century standards), but for the cleverly devised sequences, photography, and dialogues.

I'm so glad I finally saw this movie yesterday on the big screen, at a special session. Those who can't afford this luxury, certainly can afford renting, nay, buying this video?

The arrival of a sultry cabaret singer on the coast of MOROCCO arouses the interest of a young French Foreign Légionnaire.

Marlene Dietrich made her American movie debut in this intriguing & lavish film directed by her German mentor Josef von Sternberg. Mesmerizing & mysterious, her flawless face a mask only hinting at seductive delights, Dietrich teases & tantalizes, her halting English adding to her sphinx-like demeanor. From her rendition of the innuendo-laden "What Am I Bid For My Apple?" until her barefoot walk across the blistering dunes as one of the Legion's 'rear guard,'; she delivers a performance impossible to ignore.

Although he receives top billing, Gary Cooper seems to realize that this picture was going to belong to Dietrich. He makes the most of his role, not really heroic in the conventional sense, but sturdy and honest, while still enjoying pre-Code flings with every female within reach. Adolphe Menjou plays refreshingly against type, portraying a middle aged millionaire who will do anything for the woman he adores, even if that means relinquishing her to another man.

In small but vivid roles, Paul Porcasi plays Dietrich's nervous little theater manager and Ullrich Haupt is quietly intense as Cooper's cuckolded commandant.

Copyright 5 December 1930 by Paramount. New York opening at the Rivoli: 14 November 1930. U.S. release: 6 December 1930. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward: 25 February 1931 (ran five weeks). 12 reels. 8,237 feet. 91 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Café singer falls for legionnaire.

NOTES: Nominated for annual awards from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the categories of Best Actress (Dietrich), Best Directing (von Sternberg), Best Cinematography (Garmes), and Best Art Direction (Dreier). Number six on the National Board of Review's list of the Best American Films of the Year. Paramount's top-grossing picture of 1931 in the U.S.A., Canada, and Australia. Dietrich's Hollywood debut, and one and only acting nomination from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

COMMENT: Few actresses made a more powerful Hollywood debut than Marlene Dietrich. The critics tossed rich superlatives her way, while the cinema public dug deep for hard-to-spare Depression coins. Morocco offered a timely escape from grim urban realities into a vivid yet vigorous world of cinema romance. It still does! As expected, von Sternberg never falters in his search for rich pictorial effects. From the stunningly beautiful sets of Menjou's home to the atmospherically lattice-worked shadows of the casbah, every frame if the film is almost breathtaking in its visual impact. The use of sound effects is also quite noteworthy. For most films, it's primarily the images (and of course the dialogue) that stays in the memory. But for Morooco, who cannot also recall all three of Marlene's huskily inviting songs (at least in the version I saw. I believe one of the songs was cut from domestic prints), the shouts of appreciation from the raucous audience at Paul Porcasi's café, and the blare of the legion's band as the soldiers march away. It all comes to a splendid climax too, with gripping images that are absolutely unforgettable. Cooper and Dietrich have a fascinating on-screen chemistry which was later cleverly exploited by Frank Borzage in Desire (for which Marlene was billed above Gary)! AVAILABLE on DVD through Universal in a Marlene Dietrich Glamour Collection box set. Quality rating: 9 out of ten.

A classic. One of those magic films in which everything works. The casting is a miracle: Dietrich and Cooper, the hottest couple in film history. Marlene never was better than in this film (well, in Shangay express perhaps), even if she looks too big (anyway not as much as in Der blaue engel). It retains the atmospheric brilliance and fascination of that famous (and overrated) first collaboration. Improuvements since that film: much better rhythm (the main problem with Der Blaue Engel, which at times looks completely dead), it gives more importance on gestures, faces and PEOPLE (not just icons or characters). One wonderful song and one of the best love scenes in all history (the one in the bedroom with Cooper playing with a fan and Dietrich showing her legs, neither of them were ever better than in here). The ending is appropriate, and you feel that after all that beauty and magical scenes, in that one hour and a half three people have changed, they just have a different attitude in life and a better understanding of what they need and what they look for). From my point of view the other masterpiece by Sternberg-Dietrich is Shangai Express.

My favourite Sternberg-Dietrich vehicle will always be "The Scarlet Empress", but all their films are worth more than a cursory glance. They're, to my mind, the most interesting thing to come out of the early thirties (and, although dated, far less so than more recognized classics of the era because of their unadulterated FUN).

Sternberg made art department COUNTRIES for Dietrich to languish in, true in all their Hollywood films, and still dazzling today. Plot, narrative are shaky, sometimes almost nonexistent, allowing for spectacle to take over, and what a spectacle it all is! Dietrich is probably one of the most macabre, knowingly lewd feminine manifestations ever to grace the silver screen (well, at least Sternberg was knowing, Dietrich herself....?). Highly recommended.

The above one-line summary is the only reason to watch this movie - a great reason, too. Forget the story. Forget Gary Cooper's most lame acting ever. The ten-minute nightclub scene packs more unabashed eroticism with Marlene fully clothed, than any two hours of Demi Moore completely undressed.

Marlene Dietrich made her American debut in "Morocco," directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou. Dietrich plays a sexy cabaret performer who has two men in love with her, Cooper, a member of the foreign legion, and Menjou, a wealthy man who can give her the world.

This is an early talkie so the rhythm is a bit off and it moves somewhat slowly. Dietrich is beautiful and quite sexy, and she is equaled by the tall, gorgeous Cooper, about 30 years old here and a true hunk if there ever was one.

The end of the film is absolutely stunning and worth the whole film. The restless beating of the drums is really something, too.

MOROCCO (Paramount, 1930), directed by Josef Von Sternberg, is noteworthy for introducing Marlene Dietrich to the American screen. Following her triumph as seductress/ cabaret entertainer, Lola-Lola, in Germany's initial talkie, THE BLUE ANGEL (1929), Von Sternberg worked wonders with her once again, placing Marlene in the desert stirring up interest between a wealthy suitor and a womanizing legionnaire instead of building sand castles or earning extra tips parking camels by the oasis.

Starting off in travelogue style with the camera on the circling globe before reaching a halt over the Northwest region of Africa. The introduction turns to legionnaires of the French Foreign Legion marching into Morocco, with Tom Brown (Gary Cooper) attracting the attention of a couple of women awaiting his return. Next scene goes to the steamer outside Morocco about to dock where Mademoiselle Amy Jolly (Marlene Dietrich), one of the passengers, awaits her new venture. Having made the acquaintance of Monsieur LeBessiere (Adolphe Menjou), a wealthy French artist, he offers her assistance, but is told, "I don't need any help." Wanting to know more about this mysterious woman, he asks the captain, who labels her as a "suicide passenger," one who travels with a one way ticket. After making a sensational debut in Lo Tinto's (Paul Porcasi) café, Amy encounters LeBessiere once again, but draws her attention towards Tom Brown sitting with his legionnaire friends. After selling him an apple, she gives him the key to her dressing room where they later get acquainted. Fearing Mademoiselle to be gaining power over him, Brown leaves. As Amy follows, she saves him from being found in the clutches of Madame Caesar (Eve Southern), wife of his senior commanding officer (Ullrich Haupt), who already has his suspicions. Cleared by Amy Jolly's testimony, Brown is released from jail and sent on a dangerous mission in the Sahara. Thinking about deserting and going away with Amy, Tom suddenly changes his mind (again!), leaving her to accept LeBessiere's marriage proposal. Learning that Tom may be wounded, Amy breaks away from her engagement party to locate him. Amy does find Tom, but not exactly recuperating in a hospital bed.

As important was THE BLUE ANGEL for Dietrich's career in Germany, MOROCCO was even more crucial for her in Hollywood. Had MOROCCO failed, Dietrich might have become another one of several European imports at the time to either return to their homeland to further advance her career, or fade away to obscurity with few films to her credit. Dietrich's performance made such an impact that she was nominated for an Academy Award, the only time in her long and successful career. Lee Garmes was also honored for his fine cinematography.

In spite of its slow pacing, being the Von Sternberg style, MOROCCO offers several scenes worth noting, including Dietrich's vocalizing of "Quand L'Amour Meurt" and "What Am I Bid For My Apples?" (by Leo Robin and Earl Hajos). For the first song sung entirely in French, Dietrich makes history dressed in tuxedo, bow tie and top hat stopping over to a female patron and kissing her briefly on the lips. This alone is what makes MOROCCO so memorable today. There's another interesting scene with the marching of the legionnaires marching out of Morocco, with the camera remaining full focus on them and camp followers until their disappearance into the far distance as the drum playing is slowly drowned out by the howling desert winds.

Regardless of others in the cast, consisting of Francis J. McDonald as Corporate Barney Tatoche, Brown's friend; Juliette Compton (Anna Dolores); and Albert Conti (Corporal Quinneviernes), the sole interest falls on its central characters: Dietrich's Amy Jolly is a loner embittered by men, yet not afraid to take a chance making the first move, especially with her exotic eyes; Gary Cooper's underplays his role as the "love 'em and leave 'em" guy, yet retains his usual screen personality, to at one point reciting his famous catch phrase, "Yep." Aside from being an "I don't care type," he's also has self respect for refusing to accept a free apple from Amy, claiming that he "always pay for what he gets," even when borrowing 20 francs for it; Menjou, whose career ranges from leads to secondary roles, is properly cast as a suitor who offers a woman unconditional love, knowing full well she cares nothing for him.

MOROCCO is one of many films from the Paramount library to be available on home video and DVD format. Television revivals were frequent when shown on commercial or public television prior to the 1990s; infrequent on cable television, especially with few revivals on Turner Classic Movies where it premiered January 2003 as part of its "star of the month" tribute to Marlene Dietrich. The movie itself probably didn't promote tourism in Morocco, but it sure helped place Dietrich on the Hollywood map. (***)

This is without a doubt the film that set Marlene Dietrich up as a Major American star, THE BLUE ANGEL was released after MOROCCO in the USA and was a hit for both her and her director Joseph Von-Sternberg, From Marlene's first scene in the film the transformation from Berlin cabaret girl to sophisticated woman of the world was startling. MOROCCO gave Dietrich some fine songs to croon including "When love dies" in that infamous Nightclub scene where Dietrich plants a kiss on the lips of another woman whilst dressed in her soon to be trademark Tuxedo. The film got all women over America jumping into there husbands suits, as Paramount publicity said "The woman even women can lust after".

This movie is probably one of Marlene Dietrich's best works. Gary Cooper seems like somewhat of a hack, but that is easily forgotten when Dietrich is in the picture-- she is never better than when she is working for von Sternberg. Von Sternberg creates probably the single most beautiful and stunning final sequence that has ever been put on film-- it is a scene that I know will stay with me for a long time.

'Morocco' may not be the best of the seven Marlene Dietrich-Josef Von Sternberg collaborations, but there is so much to love and what is loved about their other collaborations is seen aplenty in 'Morocco' as well.

Its weak link is the story, which does creak in the pacing at times, especially in the more uneventful stretches, and it is also threadbare thin and clichéd. Occasionally it is a little stagy in the dialogue too.

However, Dietrich makes her character a real person, her toughness hard-hitting, her risqué-ness sensual and her vulnerability deeply touching. Cooper has rarely looked so young and is incredibly handsome, while his acting was stronger in later years he is still likable and at ease. Menjou is wonderfully dapper. Sternberg directs sumptuously and with adroit atmosphere, of which 'Morocco' is rich in.

There are many memorable scenes, including Dietrich's ornate and deliciously outrageous first appearance, one of the most erotic nightclub scenes on film, a wonderfully romantic love scene and one of the most unforgettably hot kisses in cinematic history.

Visually, 'Morocco' looks great, especially in the luminous lighting and ravishingly atmospheric cinematography. The music is very catchy with some parts ahead of their time. Most of the script is clever and sophisticated and there is still a huge amount to keep one engrossed despite the unexceptional story.

In summary, very good and rich in atmosphere film that has a lot that is hard to forget in the long run. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Marlene Dietrich's first American film (at this stage, her Paramount contract stipulated that only Sternberg could direct her!) remains, despite its understandably faded air after 8 decades, one of her greatest (in his hefty tome "Have You Seen…?", eminent but provocative movie critic David Thomson called it "one of the most influential films Hollywood ever made"!). She proved an instant hit, even copping a personal Oscar nod – the only time the legendary actress would be so honored in a long and illustrious career! For the record, MOROCCO was also nominated for Sternberg's sturdy direction and Lee Garmes' gleaming cinematography (most notable when shooting through the exposed roof-racks, in the narrow passageways of the Casbah-like town and tracking along the seemingly endless line of departing legionnaires bidding goodbye to their women).

In hindsight, it is interesting that the first 3 Sternberg/Dietrich pictures to be released in America were made within the framework of action-oriented genres – a Foreign Legion/desert adventure here (not that we really get any of the expected skirmishes along the way!), WWI espionage (in DISHONORED {1931}) and a train-set, multi-character revolutionary epic (in SHANGHAI EXPRESS {1932}). As with many of the films in the series, too, she forms part of a love triangle with her co-stars which, in this case, offered possibly the best pairing of all: Gary Cooper (top-billed, in a role originally intended for either John Gilbert or Fredric March, as an unruly young legionnaire – in fact, he is also involved with a number of other women throughout, including the wife of his commanding officer!) and Adolphe Menjou (older but typically suave and wealthy to boot, he naturally extends her a marriage proposal she very nearly accepts!).

Dietrich arrives in Morocco (for the usual specialized spot at a cabaret – the film, in fact, was based on a play bearing her character's name i.e. Amy Jolly: brought to Sternberg's attention by Dietrich herself, it was a decidedly more explicit prospect, accentuating the lesbianism angle while also incorporating the copious intake of cocaine!) on the same boat as Menjou, who takes an immediate interest in her; she is not of the same opinion, however, and promptly rips and throws away his calling-card! The star performs two numbers in French (showcasing her Cosmopolitan identity) but also "What Am I Bid?", which she sings in drag (sporting top hat and tails!) and, making her way round the audience as she does so, eventually plants a controversial kiss on a blushing local girl's lips! One night after visiting Dietrich at her place, an assassination attempt is made on Cooper's life, which she ends up witnessing; in the ensuing military hearing, it is obvious the hero's superior intends making him pay for the dalliance with his wife, but his plan of sending Cooper on a suicide mission rebounds on himself as, accompanying him to make sure he does not return, it is the officer who succumbs to an enemy bullet!

The film provides a rare display of the Surrealist concept of amour fou in Hollywood's Golden Age (such another was Henry Hathaway's PETER IBBETSON {1935}, also with Cooper, which would actually be championed by cinema's foremost exponent of the form, and my own favorite auteur, Luis Bunuel!): Dietrich compulsively abandons Menjou, halfway through an ennui-ridden society dinner, upon hearing the arriving legionnaires; accompanied by her now-resigned protector, she frantically searches for the reportedly wounded Cooper (but is unable to track him down, having been made a prisoner in the interim); ultimately, the female protagonist follows her true love – along with other similarly devoted women, known as "camp followers", and whose apparently irrational act she had earlier found perplexing – on his next patrol (making for a prolonged final shot, which is among the most memorable of the early Talkie era). By the way, on the strength of this (which I had watched twice on Italian TV over the years since, bafflingly, it was never issued on VHS in my neck of the woods!), I acquired the reputedly routine George Raft vehicle OUTPOST IN MOROCCO (1949; a film I do recall missing out on when shown on local TV in the 1990s).

MOROCCO is exactly the sort of film you'd expect to find MARLENE DIETRICH in at this early point in her career as the seductress working as a cabaret singer where she attracts the attention of a young legionnaire GARY COOPER and a wealthy older man, ADOLPHE MENJOU. There's never any doubt that the screen chemistry between Dietrich and Cooper in the first cabaret scene will lead to their ultimate romantic attachment, but some viewers will be surprised at the film's memorable ending.

It's easy to see that sound was new when this was made. Some of the dialog sounds stilted and words are spoken more slowly than necessary even by pros like Menjou to make sure the microphone catches every syllable. But the story moves at a nice pace, the exotic settings are photographed in subtle shadings of B&W, and Dietrich gets to warble a few songs in that inimitable style, although her voice sounded much better later on in her career when technical improvements in sound helped improve the quality of her husky vocalizing.

It's a pleasure to see the young GARY COOPER in an early understated performance opposite the sizzling MARLENE DIETRICH--both contribute to the eye candy appeal of a rather sultry epic from Von Sternberg.

Why should we watch now this eighty years old film, made in black and white, slow moving forward, with only latent developing story? I'll try to answer this question. The thrill of "Morocco" lies in the characters of the protagonists, played by unforgettable Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper. I believe, Voltaire said once that the most beautiful thing in the world is a human face, and it seems to be true, when you watch their faces.

The sparkles between a legionnaire Tom Brown (Cooper) and a singer Amy Jolly (Dietrich) are immense, it's love from the first sight, we see this on his face and we see it in her handling him the key from her flat, just in the first evening.

While the rich gentleman Le Bessiere (Adolphe Menjou) is at the beginning just curious about her and her further fate, and only later gets really involved with her, the young legionnaire seems to be blown off by her first appearance on stage. Amy Jolly has certainly no "stage fright", she knows very well how to play audience, and doesn't need any advice from the owner of the place. She attracts attention by wearing her extravagant costume and then by taking a flower from a woman's hair and kissing her (rather teaching her manners than anything else). And then suddenly this flower will be given away: to Tom Brown. So we see the very beginning of the romance, and we see the reactions of the audience.

The thrill is in the nuances, in the play of shadows and light. Perhaps, the pauses in the dialogs are as meaningful as the words: when Tom Brown says: "Nothing... yet!", we know already what kind of fellow he is, or even more famous example: Amy Jolly says after a long pause: "I'll be back... wait for me." It's more impressive than those dozen words she could fill in this empty time space. But the intensity of the scene would be lost! I must also stress the brilliance of the love dialogs in "Morocco". For instance it's a wonderful line, when Amy Jolly says to Tom Brown: "You should go now... I'm beginning to like you." It's a deeper insight into a woman's soul.

About the rich man: somehow he seems rather playing games with Amy Jolly, so he provokes her by saying about the women following the legion into the desert that they love their men. I guess the meaning of his words was that she, Amy, does not love anyone really, and then she belongs to him, into his world. If she does, she should make her choice.

Cooper gives a genius imitation of the way Tom Brown speaks: he speaks like a soldier, in a hacked, simple, straight forward manner.

At the end of the film Amy Jolly takes off her shoes to follow her man; maybe this scene has influenced the other film makers ("The red shoes" (1948) and "The river of no return" (1954)).

What is also interesting about "Morocco" is a multilingual surrounding: we hear English, French, German, Arabic and Spanish.

In my opinion it's the best not only of Dietrich, but also of the young Cooper, because only after seeing "Morocco" I start to believe in him as a charming Casanova from Hollywood.

While traveling from Europe to Morocco by ship, the cabaret singer Mademoiselle Amy Jolly (Marlene Dietrich) meets the wealthy Monsieur La Bessiere (Adolphe Menjou) that offers to "help" her in Morocco, but Amy refuses his offer. Mademoiselle Amy Jolly is hired by Lo Tinto (Paul Porcasi) to sing in his nightclub and in her debut, she meets Monsieur La Bessiere again having dinner with his friends Adjutant Caesar (Ullrich Haupt) and his wife Madame Caesar (Eve Southern). He invites Amy to stay with him, but the singer feels attracted by the lady-killer Legionnaire Tom Brown (Gary Cooper). Amy invites Tom to go to her apartment after the show but their encounter does not work very well. Tom leaves her apartment and Amy follows him. Meanwhile Madame Caesar stalks Tom on the street but he returns with Amy to her apartment. However two thieves attack him and he self-defends and kills the guys. Tom is arrested and Adjutant Caesar unsuccessfully tries to force him to confess that he had met his wife. Monsieur La Bessiere offers to help Tom but he is assigned to a suicide mission with the Foreign Legion. La Bessiere proposes marriage to Amy, but she is divided between her true love with Tom and the comfortable life she might have with the millionaire.

"Morocco" is the first film of Marlene Dietrich in America with a strange triangle of love among a cabaret singer, a legionnaire and a millionaire. The romance has a daring scene for a 1930 film, when Marlene Dietrich kisses Eve Southern on the lips and a magnificent conclusion, unusual in Hollywood movies. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Marrocos" ("Morocco")

046: Morocco (1930) - released 11/14/1930; viewed 4/25/06.

BIRTHS: Michael Collins, Doris Roberts.

DOUG: After a very slow couple of months (8 films in 6 weeks), 1930 is nearly complete. So now we find our second Marlene Dietrich vehicle, and also an AFI favorite in Morocco, which also introduces us to a young Gary Cooper (who we spotted in It and would have seen in Wings). I noticed on the map at the beginning that Morocco isn't too far from Casablanca. Anyway, I liked this film a lot. The film gels much better than Dietrich and Von Sternberg's last collaboration, Blue Angel. Cooper plays a different kind of character here than those that would make him famous: he's not a down-home, aw shucks nice guy, but something of a scoundrel and a ladykiller. Dietrich's Amy Jolly is a more sympathetic character than Lola in Angel (sorry I keep comparing the two; just bare with me); she doesn't go through life plowing through men and turning them to husks, but is really capable of a little romance. For Von Sternberg's first Hollywood picture, he really seems to scale back all the moody Expressionist mise en scene, but he still knows how to catch Dietrich radiating that unique sexual energy she does so well, such as in the famous scene when Amy walks into the audience in her tails and top-hat and kisses a woman on the lips. With Marlene Dietrich, it's all about the cheekbones. I loved the chemistry between Dietrich and Cooper, who trade one smoldering one-liner after another; when he tells her how light she is, she jumps at the chance to tell him that she just feels light because he's so muscular. Perfection.

KEVIN: After a long break we return to the Odyssey, and at last we come to a movie that's not all firsts. We have here our second Von Sternburg/Dietrich collaboration Morocco, also starring Adolphe Menjou and 29-year old Gary Cooper. I enjoyed this film a lot more than Blue Angel, which was actually kind of depressing. Morocco is a beautiful love story between, clichéd as it sounds, two people from very different worlds. Marlene Dietrich was stunning in this one, even more than in her last film we watched. I love the scene when she's performing in that wonderful tuxedo and top hat, the way she looks out at the audience like she rules over every one of them, how she walks through the audience with this strangely androgynous strut and kisses another woman on the lips. There is a great scene between Cooper and Dietrich in her dressing room, a very romantic scene that begins with a kiss before they start flirting. As the film progresses, we find that Jolly (Dietrich) doesn't go through men with the same sadistic indifference as Lola in Angel, but is actually capable of falling in love. Dietrich shows so much of this with just her eyes, and its great that the transition to sound film did not leave behind performers with that ability.

Last film: L'Age d'or (1930). Next film viewed: Soup to Nuts (1930). Next film chronologically: The Criminal Code (1931).

Like most von Sternberg movies, this one is full of light and shadow, layers of fabric and screen space. It all adds up to a dreamlike atmosphere set in a surreal place. Marlene is gorgeous, Gary Cooper is handsome but kind of out of place (the French Foreign Legion?) but, after all, it's a dream. Cooper and Dietrich sizzle in the sexual attraction arena. Fabulous movie and completely unexpected ending!