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Morocco (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Morocco ' is a 1930 American pre-code romantic drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, and Adolphe Menjou. Based on the novel 'Amy Jolly' (the on-screen credits state: from the play 'Amy Jolly') by Benno Vigny and adapted by Jules Furthman, the film is about a cabaret singer and a Legionnaire who fall in love during the Rif War, and whose relationship is complicated by his womanizing and the appearance of a rich man who is also in love with her. The film is famous for a scene in which Dietrich performs a song dressed in a man's tailcoat and kisses another woman (to the embarrassment of the latter), both of which were considered scandalous for the period.
Dietrich was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, von Sternberg for Best Director, Hans Dreier for Best Art Direction, and Lee Garmes for Best Cinematography. In 1992, 'Morocco' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
In Mogador, Morocco in the late 1920s, a unit of the French Foreign Legion returns from a campaign. Among the legionnaires is Private Tom Brown. Meanwhile, on a ship bound for Mogador is the disillusioned nightclub singer Amy Jolly. Wealthy La Bessire tries to make her acquaintance, but she rebuffs him.
Amy becomes the headliner at a nightclub. After a performance, she sells apples to members of the audience, including La Bessire and Brown. When Amy gives the latter his "change", she slips him her key.
On the way to Amy's house, Tom encounters Adjudant Caesar's wife. She clearly has a clandestine relationship with him, which she desires to maintain, but Tom rejects her. He enters Amy's house and he and Amy become acquainted. She is embittered with life and men after repeated betrayals, and asks if Tom can restore her faith in men. He answers that he is the wrong man for that. Unwilling to risk heartbreak yet again, she asks him to leave before anything serious happens.
Back in the street, Tom encounters Caesar's wife again, while her husband watches undetected from the shadows. Meanwhile, Amy changes her mind and comes after Tom, who heads back with her to her house. Madame Caesar hires two ruffians to attack Tom, but he manages to seriously wound both.
The next day, Tom is brought before Caesar, who is Tom's commanding officer, for injuring the two natives. Amy helps Tom's case by testifying that he was attacked, but Caesar makes Tom aware that he knows about Tom's involvement with his wife. La Bessire, whose affections for Amy continue unabated, knows of her feelings for Tom and offers to use his influence to lighten Tom's punishment. Instead of a court-martial, Tom is reassigned to a detachment commanded by Caesar that is leaving soon for Amalfi Pass. Suspecting that Caesar intends to rid himself of his romantic rival while they are gone, Tom decides to desert and run away with Amy.
Tom goes to Amy's nightclub dressing room. He overhears La Bessire offer to marry Amy, and her politely reject the proposal, before knocking on the door. La Bessire leaves Amy alone with Tom, who tells her that, if she will join him, he will desert and board a freighter to Europe. She agrees to go along and asks Tom to wait while she performs. Once he is alone, he notices a lavish bracelet that La Bessire has given to Amy. Though he has fallen in love with her, Tom decides Amy would be better off with a rich man than with a poor Legionnaire. He writes on the mirror, "I changed my mind. Good luck!" and leaves.
In the morning, Amy arrives in the town square with La Bessire so she can bid Tom farewell. She asks La Bessire about some women following the company, remarking that the women must be mad. La Bessire responds, "I don't know. You see, they love their men."
On the way to Amalfi Pass, Tom's detachment runs into a machine-gun nest. Caesar orders Tom to deal with it, and Tom suspects it is a suicide mission. To his surprise, Caesar decides to accompany him. After drawing his pistol (apparently to kill Tom), Caesar is shot and killed by the enemy.
Back in Mogador, Amy accepts La Bessire's marriage proposal and tries to make herself love him, but she still pines for Tom. At an engagement party, she hears the return of what is left of Tom's detachment. She leaves the party and is told Tom was wounded and left behind to recuperate in a hospital. She informs La Bessire that she must go to Tom, and, wanting only her happiness, he drives her to the hospital. It turns out Tom had been faking an injury to avoid combat and, when this was discovered, he was assigned to a new unit in the Legion.
The next morning, Amy and La Bessire watch Tom's new unit march away. She catches Tom's eye and the two wave goodbye. When Amy sees the handful of women following the legionnaires they love, she leaves La Bessire, kicks off her high-heeled shoes, and follows Tom into the desert.
Cast
* Gary Cooper as Lgionnaire Tom Brown
* Marlene Dietrich as Mademoiselle Amy Jolly
* Adolphe Menjou as Monsieur La Bessire
* Ullrich Haupt as Adjutant Caesar
* Eve Southern as Madame Caesar
* Francis McDonald as Sergeant Tatoche
* Paul Porcasi as Lo Tinto
;Uncredited (in order of appearance)
* Albert Conti as Colonel Quinnovieres
* Thomas A. Curran as a nightclub patron
* mile Chautard as French General
* Michael Visaroff as Colonel Alexandre Barratire
* Juliette Compton as Anna Dolores, a woman who clings to Tom
* Theresa Harris as a camp follower
Background
Even before Josef von Sternberg's 'The Blue Angel' was released to international acclaim in spring of 1930, Paramount Pictures took a keen interest in its new star, Marlene Dietrich. When the Berlin production was completed in January, Sternberg departed Germany before its premiere on April 1, confident his work would be a success. Legend has it that Dietrich included a copy of author Benno Vigny's story 'Amy Jolly' in a going-away gift package to Sternberg when he sailed for America. He and screenwriter Jules Furthman would write a script for 'Morocco' based on the Vigny story.Weinberg, 1967. p. 55: "It was Dietrich who suggested to Sternberg an obscure novel, 'Amy Jolly' (subtitled The Woman of Marrakesh) ... which was to serve as inspiration for their first American film together."
On the basis of test footage Sternberg provided from the yet unreleased 'The Blue Angel', producer B. P. Schulberg agreed to bring Dietrich to Hollywood in February 1930 under a two-picture contract.Baxter 1971 pp. 7576Silver,2010 When she arrived in the United States, Sternberg welcomed her with gifts, including a green Rolls-Royce Phantom II, which featured in some scenes of 'Morocco'.
Dietrich "was subjected to the full power of Paramount's public relations machine", launching her into "international stardom" 'before' American moviegoers had seen her as Lola Lola in 'The Blue Angel', which appeared in U.S. theaters in 1931.Baxter, 1993. p. 32Sarris, 1998. P. 210: "... Marlene Dietrich did not appear on American screens until after the release of 'Morocco' ([December] 1930), actually her second stint with Sternberg."Weinberg, 1967. p. 55: "She scored a personal triumph unmatched by any actress on the screen since the [debut] of Garbo."
Production
Sternberg's depiction of "picturesque" Morocco elicited a favorable response from the Moroccan government, which ran announcements in 'The New York Times' inviting American tourists to enjoy the country "just as Gary Cooper [was seduced by the] unforgettable landscapes and engaging people."Silver, 2010 However, the movie was filmed entirely in southern California, and Sternberg felt compelled to personally reassure the Pasha of Marrakesh that 'Morocco 'had not been shot in his domain.Sarris, 1966. P. 30
Cinematographer Lee Garmes and Sternberg (himself a skilled camera technician) developed the distinctive lighting methods that served to enhance Dietrich's best facial features, while obscuring her slightly bulbous nose.Baxter, 1971. P. 80: "... the lumpy Dietrich nose ..."
According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, Cooper and Sternberg did not get along. Sternberg filmed so as to make Cooper look up at Dietrich, emphasizing her at his expense. Cooper complained to his studio bosses and got it stopped.
Shooting for 'Morocco' was completed in August 1930.Baxter, 1971. P. 81
The final scene of 'Morocco' is recreated in the 1946 Mexican film 'Enamorada', directed by Emilio Fernndez.
Reception
Premiering in New York City on December 6, 1930, 'Morocco's success at the box office was "immediate and impressive".Baxter, 1971. P. 80Weinberg, 1967. p. 56: "... swept the world, as did 'The Blue Angel'."
Accolades for the film were issued by Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein, screenwriter Robert E. Sherwood, and filmmaker Charles Chaplin, who said of the film, "yes, [Sternberg] is an artist ... it is his best film [to date]."Weinberg, 1967. p. 58
The film garnered Academy Award nominations for Best Director (Sternberg), Best Actress (Dietrich), Best Art Direction (Hans Dreier), and Best Cinematography (Lee Garmes), though it did not win any awards.Ross, 2009. Pp. 12
Titled 'The Legionnaire and the Lady', Marlene Dietrich and Clark Gable performed the story on radio as the first Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on June 1, 1936.
Critical response
Charles Silver, curator at the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Film, offers this assessment of 'Morocco':
Theme
With 'Morocco', Sternberg examines the "interchange of masculine and feminine characteristics" in a "genuine interplay between male and female."Sarris, 1966. P. 29-30
"When Love Dies": Dietrich's male impersonation
Dietrich's "butch performance" dressed in "top hat, white tie and tails" includes a "mock seduction" of a pretty female cabaret patron, whom Dietrich "outrages with a kiss."Baxter, 1971. P. 79 Dietrich's costume simultaneously mocks the pretensions of one lover (Menjou's La Bessire) and serves as an invitation to a handsome soldier-of-fortune (Cooper's Tom Brown), the two men being presented by Sternberg as contrasting conceptions of masculinity."Sarris, 1966. P. 29-30, p. 15This famous sequence provides an insight into Dietrich's character, Amy Jolly, as well as the director himself: "Dietrich's impersonation is an adventure, an act of bravado that subtly alters her conception of herself as a woman, and what begins as self-expression ends in self-sacrifice, perhaps the path also of Sternberg as an artist."
La Bessire's humiliation
Dietrich's devoted suitor, Menjou's La Bessire, "part stoic, part sybarite, part satanist", is destined to lose the object of his desire. Menjou's response to Dietrich's desertion reveals the nature of the man and presents a key thematic element of the film:The La Bessire character has autobiographical overtones for Sternberg, as Menjou has looks and mannerisms that resemble the director.Baxter, 1971. P. 79: "... no doubt [Sternberg's] motive for casting Menjou ..." Critic Andrew Sarris observes: "Sternberg has never been as close to any character as he is to this elegant expatriate."
Dietrich's high-heeled march into the dunes
The "absurdity" of the closing sequence, in which Dietrich, "sets out into the desert sands on spike heels in search of Gary Cooper", was noted by critics at the time of the film's release.Sarris, 1966. P. 29: "C.A. Lejeune of 'The London Observer'" The image, however odd, is part of the "dream dcor" that abandoned "documentary certification" to create "a world of illusions." As Sarris points out, "The complaint that a woman in high heels would not walk off into the desert is nonetheless meaningless. A dream does not require endurance, only the will to act."Sarris, 1966. P.29-30Film historian Charles Silver considers the final scene as one that "no artist today would dare attempt":
Awards, nominations and honors
The film was ranked 83rd on the American Film Institute's 2002 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions.
References
Sources
* Baxter, John. 1971. 'The Cinema of Josef von Sternberg'. The International Film Guide Series. A.S Barners & Company, New York.
* Ross, Donna. 2009. Morocco. Library of Congress, National Film Preservation Board. Retrieved July 10, 2018. https://www.loc.gov/programs/static/national-film-preservation-board/documents/morocco.pdf
* Sarris, Andrew, 1966. 'The Films of Josef von Sternberg'. New York: Doubleday.
* Sarris, Andrew. 1998. "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet." The American Talking Film History & Memory, 19271949. Oxford University Press.
* Silver, Charles. 2010. 'Josef von Sternberg's Morocco'. Retrieved July 10, 2018. https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/07/13/josef-von-sternbergs-morocco/
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