VON STERNBERGIANA: MARLENE & JOE DISH 'BLUE ANGEL'

Continuing our recent riff on the great (and greatly obnoxious) Josef Von Sternberg, above I've posted a ten or so minute mini-doc of Marlene Dietrich and Von Sternberg each discussing 'The Blue Angel' and how she got the part of Lola-Lola (amongst other things). The doc incorporates footage of Dietrich's nightclub act as well as an interview done with her at a slightly later date. The Von Sternberg interview is riveting as you've simply never run into anyone quite as insufferable as he is. Or is it something of a deadpan joke? His pronouncements are astonishing ("Miss Dietrich was a very good assistant"..."actors are nothing..." etc.), insensitive and extraordinary. For a much better and deeper look at Von Sternberg, click here and here for a two part documentary made in the mid-sixties when Sternberg was promoting his autobiography "Fun In A Chinese Laundry".  I'd have embedded them but the fellow who put them up has denied me that privilege for reasons that will be buried with him.

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