Customer Reviews

Golden Earrings [VHS]

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Marlene Dietrich and Ray Milland star in GOLDEN EARRINGS, a story of gypsies and theives, set against the backdrop of Germany in WW2.

Ray Milland stars as Ralph Denistoun, a British spy in Germany, who is arranging to meet a fellow spy in Stuttgart to steal Hitler's formula for poison gas.

Lost in the Black Forest, he meets a bedraggled gypsy woman, whom he dubbs Lydia (Marlene Dietrich). Lydia's knowledge of the Black Forest, and her quick-acting ways are things that will help Ralph on his mission. He decides to disguise himself as a gypsy and travel to Stuttgart with Lydia under the ruse.

Based on the novel by Yolanda Foldes, GOLDEN EARRINGS is an immensely entertaining and very romantic film.

Available seperately or in a box set with SEVEN SINNERS and PITTSBURGH.

For starters, this movie took me ages to find. I had to order it. Second, I had decided by the time it came in that I didn't want it anymore. Silly me. This movie is wonderful. Romance, adventure, suspense, and even comedy. The comedic moments were fantastic. Some of them weren't intended to be comic, it appears. The moment where Ray Milland first meets Marlene Dietrich is great. He points a gun at her, and she is calm as always. Then, she decides that he is HER man. The water spirits sent him. Well, they're going to eat fish stew. Seeing as Marlene has given Ray the spoon, she uses her hands. She sticks them right in that nasty stew and crams it in her mouth. Ray looks a wee bit sick. When Marlene wants to get romantic (and almost succeeds), Ray says, "What is that ghastly smell?" Marlene grunts (I guess it's a grunt) and tells him it's her hair, which he smells. Jasmine, violet, and cod liver oil (or something) are what she has put in her hair. Yeccchhh. That is one of the funniest scenes in the film. Romance abounds too, but to start with, it's all one-sided. Marlene rubs Ray with her hands so much, he asks her if she has considered sitting on them. They kiss eventually. Marlene sings (I wouldn't call it singing, it's more of a deep moaning) the title song in Hungarian while playing a zither. Talent abounds in this movie, doesn't it? This is one of the greatest movies I've seen, and I recommend it to everyone.

If anyone else but Marlene Dietrich had played the lead in this film, the film would have been awful! Dietrich triumphs in a role no-one would have predicted. mysterious, mesmerizing, seductive, funny, and finally moving as the loyal gypsy(!) Lyddia, Dietrich makes you overlook the films flaws. At times the film drags by, some supporting players seem to have cotton in their mouths as they speak, and some of the dialogue is inane. Through it all, Dietrich is the soul of this movie, holding it all together in spite of the flaws, to make the whole thing work. Worth watching as a romantic piece of Hollywood escapism, and for seeing Dietrich as the fine actress she is.

Marlene Dietrich plays the gypsy Lydia, and in her raggedy clothes, black wig, and dark makeup, gives a whole other take on what sexy is all about. (Her gorgeous legs and bare feet get plenty of look-see throughout the picture.) Set near the beginning of WW II in the Black Forest of Germany, Dietrich helps Ray Milland escape the Nazis and obtain a secret poison gas formula. The plot is a bit thin, but both Milland and especially Dietrich put everything into their roles. The golden earrings are a prop used to help disguise Milland, and when he receives them in a box in London after the war, he knows they come from Dietrich who is waiting for him. It's during his flight back to Germany that he relates the story in flashback. Sure enough, after hiking to the spot he had last left her, years before, Dietrich is waiting for him in her gypsy wagon, and off they ride into the sunset. Worth seeing for the enthusiastic acting of the two principal stars.

This charming movie is one that I take off my shelf and watch from time to time. This movie is definitely an escapism World War II movie, yet even today it's great for that purpose. It's a movie that keeps one interested from start to finish. It's well made and black and white adds even more to the fantasy. The plot is good and the love story is great. Although Marlene Dietrich is portrayed as a semi-dirty gypsy, she still appears glamorous. Ray Milland is very handsome as the leading man. It's a movie that just makes you feel good. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

Miss Dietrich is a wonderful, colorful gyspy in this film... you can tell she had fun playing this role. Mr. Milland is good as the officer trying not to fall in love with Miss Dietrich. This is Miss Dietrich film all the way... her character will put a magic spell on you. Sit back and enjoy this film!

If you enjoy total escapism; Nazis getting their just desserts;Marlene having a ball as a gypsy; and Milland as her man, then get this movie.It is wonderfully romantic,and completely enchanting.Annie

This is a wonderful romance-adventure with plenty of comic touches (we see from "Destry Rides Again" on that Dietrich got much more opportunity to let her talents as a comedienne shine than she ever had under von Stenberg's tutelage, and this is a good example. Not to be missed; the scene where Ray Milland, as the hero Ralph Denistoun, gets a good whiff of Marlene's hair!) She obviously had a lot of fun playing the role of Lydia (learning to play the zither, among other things), and her enthusiasm carries the film. She just can't stay away from the glamorous makeup job, even as a dusky-skinned Gypsy, but her performance is so strong you really don't mind. The ending is just what you would expect and hope for, and it's tear-jerking, but in a happy way. (Ten gets you one if they were remaking it today, they'd completely mess up the ending in the name of - gack - irony.) Marlene gets to help bust up on Nazis - something she, as a dedicated anti-Nazi, doubtless enjoyed very much - as she helps Milland with his secret mission on the eve of World War II. A very sympathetic portrayal of Gypsies; reference is made, in a foreshadowing kind of way, to the horrific fate they would suffer in the Holocaust along with Jews and other "undesirables".

GOLDEN EARRINGS is a superior Dietrich showcase, easily holding its own in the timeless ranks of DESIRE, THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN, and BLONDE VENUS. I agree with an earlier reviewer who asserted that only Dietrich could have successfully carried off the role of a rough-edged Gypsy. In the hands of any lesser actress, Dietrich's vibrant Lydia would have been rendered pure camp. The reported off-screen animosity between Dietrich and Milland lends appreciable spark and heat to their on-screen chemistry, and Lydia's empassioned declaration of love takes its rightful place among the most beautiful and moving romantic moments ever captured on film.GOLDEN EARRINGS also boasts an intriguing gender twist which would never find its way into contemporary macho-laced moviemaking. Dietrich's sexually experienced Lydia relentlessly pursues Milland's chaste and uptight character. She rescues him from peril more than once, and, in the end, when his strongest desire is to make her his life partner, he must leave his own civilized world permanently behind and join her in hers.

I saw this movie "golden earings" when I was a kid
and I always wanted to see it agan. now I own a copy
of it. It was great