Product Details

• Actors: Adolphe Menjou, Bruce Cabot, Cary Grant, Cesar Romero, Dickie Moore
• Directors: Josef von Sternberg, Mitchell Leisen, Rene Clair
• Producers: Emanuel R. Cohen
• Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: April 4, 2006
• Run Time: 441 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000E6ESXK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,288 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Marlene Dietrich: The Glamour Collection (Morocco/ Blonde Venus/ The Devil Is a Woman/ Flame of New Orleans/ Golden Earrings)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Marlene Dietrich was one of the cinema's glorious creatures, an elegant arrangement of bone structure and silver light, blessed with a sly sense of humor. Marlene Dietrich: The Glamour Collection assembles five titles featuring la Dietrich at her best, with a special emphasis on one of the great Hollywood director-star collaborations.

Dietrich and director Josef von Sternberg met in Germany when he plucked her from obscurity for the starring role of The Blue Angel, after which she came to America and instant stardom. A string of films with Sternberg created her image as an exotic source of fascination, both ethereal and sexually knowing. Three of those outings are included in this package. Morocco, their first Hollywood movie together, is a delirious look at a cabaret singer taken with a Foreign Legion soldier (the young Gary Cooper). Dressed in masculine clothes for her act, Dietrich already displays a sexual confidence that fairly burns off the screen. Blonde Venus has a soap opera-ish plot about a woman's fall and rise, but Dietrich's commitment to the part is complete; plus, there's an outrageous faux-African number that begins with Dietrich dressed in a gorilla costume. Cary Grant looks on in astonishment.

The Devil Is a Woman is an unmitigated Sternberg-Dietrich masterpiece, and their final movie together. Here Marlene is a Spanish vixen making life exciting and miserable for Lionel Atwill (a lookalike stand-in for Josef von Sternberg himself). The film is an eye-popping light-painting draped with feathers, mesh, and confetti, all of which are in service to a fundamentally serious inquiry into the knotty business of men and women.

Putting three of the Paramount Dietrich-Sternberg films in this collection and leaving out the other three is either carelessness or marketing strategy. In any case, the other two movies in this package are not at the same level, but certainly good fun. The Flame of New Orleans, director Rene Clair's first Hollywood picture, is a gorgeously photographed comedy with a delightful role for its star. Dietrich is stuck choosing between aristocrat Roland Young and rough sailor Bruce Cabot. The look on her face as she listens to helpful advice about wedding-night conjugal realities from a matron is a riot of erotic mischief. Golden Earrings is a crazy story about Ray Milland getting stuck behind German lines in the early days of WWII, and being taken in by gypsy girl Dietrich. Even here, nearly 20 years after her first stardom, she's still Dietrich. The hair may be dyed black, but the cheekbones are unmistakable. --Robert Horton

Product Description

Undeniably one of the most beautiful and dazzling actresses to ever grace the silver screen, Marlene Dietrich was renowned for her sultry voice and her alluring "bedroom eyes." This unprecedented 5-movie collection pays homage to the legendary Oscar®-nominated leading lady whose extraordinary talents revolutionized cinema and inspired passion in audiences around the globe. See Marlene in her American movie debut as a glamorous cabaret singer in Morocco; experience the heart-wrenching anguish of a woman torn between two men, her successful career on stage and her child in Blonde Venus; join in the mystery and mayhem of Spain’s Carnevale in The Devil Is a Woman; hit the road to jewels and jeopardy in The Flame of New Orleans; and be seduced by a lusty gypsy on a secret mission during World War II in Golden Earrings. It’s a stunning tribute to a screen siren who remains one of the most fascinating women of all time.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars No worries; the prints are very good! April 14, 2006

By Joan Crawford

When you are buying classic movies on DVD, your main concern probably is the quality of the film transfers. Who wants to watch grainy, unrestored black-and-white films when such beautiful transfers of other films have been released (Now Voyager or Mildred Pierce, for example)? My point is all classic films deserve first-rate dvd transfers.

I am happy to report that the films in Universal's Marlene Dietrich collection all look very good. The transfers are not perfect, and quite possibly could have been restored to a greater extent. However, the transfers look just as good as anything WB has been releasing lately. The transfers are about on par with titles from the Greta Garbo or Joan Crawford collections from WB; not perfect, but very nice.

My main complaint is there were not more Dietrich films in this collection. I would love to also have Shanghai Express, The Scarlet Empress, Desire, Angel, Dishonored, and A Foreign Affair. Hopefully, Universal will release a second volume with these titles.

Athough the packaging is attractive, it is cheap. The movies are crammed on two-sided DVDs. It's mystifying why Universal saw fit to cram four titles on one double-sided DVD and one title (Golden Earrings) on one side of the other double-sided DVD (leaving a complete side with nothing on it). It seems a waste of DVD space to me; why not put three more titles in the set with that extra space? Or, for better picture quality, put one title on three DVD sides, and two on one side? My guess is they were in a big, careless hurry.

Luckilly, this is not that big of a deal. The films are here, they look good, and the price is a bargain! In these days, who can afford to spend all their money on movies? WB may be charging the cost of this set for one movie alone, and with about the same transfer quality. At least Universal gives us five films for the cost of one WB title!

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for films, 1 for packaging April 26, 2006

By C. Tolley VINE™ VOICE

Marlene Dietrich was one of the greatest stars the movies ever produced. That said, she deserved better treatment for her films than this. I have no objections to the films presented here. None of th five films were available on DVD before, and their release in this format was way overdue. However, the packaging was negligible. Five films on two discs, divided this way: four films on one disc, with one film on the other. No liner notes of any kind, and practically no extras whatsoever. A still gallery of any sort would have great here, as well as any kind of Dietrich documentary, which was notably absent. The films themselves look fine, and the addition of a subtitle option was very welcome. I've viewed each film, and they look fine to me. I have these movies on video, and they all look better in this set. The pricing was very fair, as there is nothing extra added to drive up the price. One would think Universal would come up with something better to honor such a legendary star. Just look at the Greta Garbo Collection which is out now. One disc per film(except for the silent films), plus a documentary. Dietrich in her day was Garbo's main rival, and just as popular. Her films have aged much better than Garbo's, and her influence on culture and fashion continues to this day. I hope that sometime in the future, we'll be treated to a true Dietrich collection, done correctly, with the films given the whole archival treatment they deserve.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars GLAMOUR , YES..... April 5, 2006

By Mark Norvell

...but that's about it. While this hotly awaited (at least by me) collection contains three of Dietrich's Josef von Sternberg films ("Morrocco", "Blonde Venus" and "The Devil is A Woman") and one by Rene' Clair ("Flame of New Orleans") it , alas, does not contain Dietrich and von Sternberg's "Shanghai Express" which it could have sorely used. The 5th film "Golden Earrings" is not one I would have chosen. And the packaging here is less than appetizing. Very cheaply done. Although the films look OK, cramming them onto 2 discs does not give them the respect they are due. They should have been individually packaged with their original poster art, etc. This would have made a fine collector's item. Dietrich (and esp. von Sternberg) were unique, even for their era. Watch "Devil is A Woman" for example. The Travis Banton costumes, the setting of Carnivale in Spain during the 1800's, Dietrich's slightly over the top performance as a femme fatale---all beautifully and baroquely realized by von Sterberg. Quite unlike anything else from the 1930's. But for fans , this is it and I guess we should be grateful they're even out at all in watchable prints. Still, it's sad that this set could've been done so differently...for the better that is.