"I Am Not A Myth" (My Love Affair With Marlene Dietrich)

Swept up in the spirit of Oscar, I seem to be blogging a lot about movies this weekend. But no Donny Does the Movies Festival would be complete without a post devoted to one of my favorite personalities, Marlene Dietrich.

The morning after I posted "12 Performances the Academy Overlooked", I woke from a dead sleep, bolted upright in bed, suddenly awake, and realized that I had omitted what is arguably (though most film historians will agree on this) Oscar's most heinous snub. It is a performance that is downright effin' brilliant, and Academy voters disgustingly ignored it.

Marlene Dietrich in "Witness for the Prosecution".

Dietrich never considered herself a great actress. She even said she never enjoyed working in films at all. But one can't argue with her cyclonic talent when confronted with her performance in "Witness". Now, I can't say much about this role, because in it lies the biggest plot twist in movies until "The Crying Game" came along 30+ years later. Dietrich pulls off something akin to Houdini-esque magic with what she does here as Christine Vole, transforming herself in a daring way that she never did in any of her films before or after. That's all I will say about this performance. You must see it to believe it.

I've always loved Dietrich. When she died at age 90 in 1992, I became swept up in the mystery and myth that was her life. But as she herself once said, "I am not a myth." Indeed, she was not. Dietrich was a tangible legend that she herself created. Unlike Britney Spears (see yesterday's Britney post), Ms. Dietrich was fully conscious of the fact that she was marketing a unique and valuable product: Herself.

At first, she was helped by the great German film director (and bona fide hunk o' man) Josef von Sternberg, who catapulted her to fame as Lola-Lola in "The Blue Angel" (1930). Dietrich was given complete artistic control: she chose how she was lit to best emphasize her features; how she was made-up, often doing her own hair and makeup; how she would move across the frame to best show off those famous gams and best accentuate the swivel of her tiny hips. She would continue this control for the rest of her career, long after she and von Sternberg parted ways.

Her vanity is now legendary. By the time she was doing her renowned cabaret act in the '60s and '70s, she would physically pin back the skin on her face, concealing the pins beneath her wig, in order to appear more youthful. She wore gowns outfitted with special form-altering devices that would, when the gown was on, give the appearance that she still had the same body in 1970 that she had in 1930. Even as an old woman, Marlene still embraced herself as Dietrich-as-Product, and she did it magnificently.

But there is more to Marlene Dietrich than image and vanity. There is undeniable talent. See any of her films for proof of this. To get the full gamut of her range, I would recommend the following:

-"The Blue Angel" (1930) - It's easy to see why men fall to jello around Dietrich's Lola-Lola.

-"Morocco" (1930) - Dietrich in a man's tux, making out with a woman, in 1930!

-"Dishonored" (1931) - A kick-ass scene with Dietrich checking her lipstick in the blade of the sword of one of her executioners.

-"Destry Rides Again" (1939) - Dietrich down and dirty. And she sings "The Boys in the Backroom" with that unique, unmistakable, husky voice.

-"A Foreign Affair" (1948) - A great flick, but one scene, one song, is eternal: Dietrich performing "Illusions".

-"Witness for the Prosecution" (1957) - See opening of this blog.

-"Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961) - Probably my favorite Dietrich performance and definitely her most serious. Rumor has it she couldn't bring herself to say her lines, she was so disgusted by the character. It was only after some counseling from Spencer Tracy that she was able to continue filming. It's truly an incredible (and devastatingly sad) performance.

Despite this impressive body of work, Dietrich's personal life is still far more interesting. She made no qualms about her bisexuality. She had an open marriage with the same man for 52 years. She slept with half the men (and many of the women) in Hollywood and made no apologies. She denied her homeland of Germany and worked with the Allies in World War II. She was one of the few in America willing to speak out about Nazi atrocities during this time. After she retired from films in the 1960s, she refused to be photographed ever again (even for Maximilian Schell's brilliant documentary, "Marlene" (1984), she consented only to the use of her voice).

I suspect, though, that underneath it all, Marlene Dietrich wasn't as mysterious and mythical as she has been made out to be. She has said that her favorite meal was hot dogs and champagne. Her favorite flower was the unassuming geranium. She rarely made friends with show-biz types (outside of sleeping with them); Mae West was one of her only confidants, and they never saw one another outside of the studio. She even played the musical saw, for god's sake! No, I think Dietrich was a lot less highbrow than people think.

A great actress? Without doubt. A dynamic personality? Surely. A genius who knew her strengths and weaknesses and marketed herself accordingly? Definitely.

A legend? Absolutely.