Morocco (Standard Edition)

Another Dietrich-von Sternberg film which continues unspooling in the mind long after the final credits. Ditch any 21st century expectations of what makes a great movie - in 'Morocco'. there's no plot to speak of, no tricksy editing and no action sequences. Although the story involves a alleyway mugging by knife-wielding assassins, and an attack on an enemy machine-gun post, these are dealt with in a casual, languid, distant manner, and never allowed to get in the way of von Sternberg's expressionist play of manners.To contemporary audiences the film is almost laughable. The actors take whole minutes to cross rooms and exchange clipped, enigmatic dialogue; Gary Cooper's Legionnaire Tom Brown seems to be forever arriving and leaving; while Dietrich's Amy is alternately cool as a cucumber or dizzy with pent-up distress. Cooper and Dietrich never ever say what they feel, instead they hide their emotions behind wry smiles, cigarette smoke and banter. Everything is unspoken. And nothing's filmed on location; von Sternerg's Morocco is a country of the imagination, all light and shade, whose shadowy turbaned residents are mostly seen and not heard, and only provide a exotic alien backdrop to the unfulfilled love affair at centre-stage.The movie contains some classic movie moments - Dietrich in tux and topper, kissing a woman on the lips; the love-scene in the bedroom with Cooper's fan foreplay; the polite dinner party where Dietrich scatters pearls in all directions when she hears the distant drums of the returning army; her distraught and frantic search through the ranks of the wounded soldiers; and the truly astonishing and surreal climax in the wind-whipped sands of the Sahara.

This review is for the BLURAY from PH/INDICATOR released July 2022. Filmed in 1930 the transfer is as good as perhaps you might expect, even if, to my untrained eye it is a 9 out of 10. Sound is good and subs are fine. Plenty of extras for those who enjoy commentaries etc. What about the film? Personally I think it is one of Diterich's finest (even if her hair style leaves a bit to be desired). She is sexy, tough but vulnerable and works well with top billed Cooper. I didn't really get why she was so obsessed with him when after initial "contact" he shows little enthusiasm for her. That should not take away any of the power of the film - the direction, sets and acting - and "that (brief) kiss", all done nearly 100 years ago. A cinematic milestone, though viewers may struggle to get into it in 2022. A good current price (£10) make this a worthwhile punt if you are in doubt (but you shouldn't be!!)

I was aware when I decided to buy this DVD that the style of playacting might feel a little dated, but I was curious to see what it was like - partly for that reason. The disillusionments that the characters have behind them, and which influences their actions and reactions so much are not fully gone into, and the Moroccan environment is scetchy. All the same, the film is not uninteresting. Gary Cooper , Marlene Dietrich and the other main characters are nice to look at, and I do not regret buying the DVD.

I like Marlene Dietrich. I like watching old films like these, they're easy going... It's worth getting just for the cabaret scene with her wearing that suit and top hat and kissing that woman.

Based on the novel Amy Jolly by Benno Vigny and adapted by Jules Furthman, the film is about a cabaret singer and a Legionnaire who fall in love, but their relationship is complicated by his womanizing and the appearance of a rich man who is also in love with her. The film is most famous for the 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 rather scandalous for the period.Great Academy Award winning Performance Marlene playing along side Gary Cooper. "Pass me the Foster Grants".

an enjoyable movie

Dietrich is dynamite!In this movie (her debut in America) her instructer made sure, that no one forgot Dietrich again.Memorable scenes!!

I can see why Gary Cooper had the part of Beau Geste in 1939, in Moroco he is a Legionair as well.The teaming with Marlene Deitrich was right. This was one of a string of films where Cooper was not a cowboy. He had a few years to go before his best film "The Story of Dr Wassell" this film was Cooper at his best.A.Ricketts

I bought this movie because I like Vintage Hollywood Films

It is a totally artifial "Africa", built on the studio grounds. But the atmosphere is unbelievably intense, thanks to camera work - in one sequence an absolutely modern camera, moving with the actress - and the interplay of light and shadows, the movement of the actors/actresses and the music ( a little bit too much Foreign Legion drumming and trumpets, though). Marlene Dietrich has totally come into her own here, "created" and built up, of course, by Josef von Sternberg, and the scene where she moves down from the stage to be among the audience, very saucy in tophat and tails, and kisses a woman on the mouth is, of course, legendary. You get the impression that in the late 1920ies and the early 1930ies anything was possible between the sexes, and that it was shown on film, too, for everyone to see - before the Code came down on the American movie industry or - in Germany - the Nazi darkness. An absolutely amazing film !

Dans la série des films sur le Légion, Sternberg nous raconte l'histoire d'une envoutante chanteuse qui se fait mettre à mal par le beau Gary Cooper sur fond de sable chaud. le tout a quand même sacrément vieilli.

Very poor film quality, but I took no stars off for that. The movie is a classic and Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper are very good in this portrayal of the far away and very rough land of Morocco, especially in the era between the world wars. If you like rocks and sand, you’ve got it. It is a movie about forlorn and desperate people struggling against life itself. The power of love shows, at least in Morocco, how lonely folks will do almost anything for real love. A kept woman does not have real love, and Marlene knows it. So where can a kept woman find this elusive product? On the hot sands of the desert — where else? Life in the French Foreign Legion is shown as impossibly rough and dangerous. Sweat and flies are key ingredients to the realism built into the film.The final few moments of this film are worth its price. How often have you seen a blockbuster star turn their back on the camera for minutes as the story engulfs the character? Chaplain got away with it for a few seconds in a short comedy, and a few others, but very few. Marlene and her director pull it off with panache. It really is one of the best moments in movie history.While the viewer will have to struggle with the poor film quality, the movie is worth it.AD2

I've seen many documentaries about Morocco, but this is the most thorough, thoughtful, and well-rounded one. Rick Ray is a masterful cinematographer, but he also includes a lot of historical and cultural information with the eye candy. He visits every spot a first-time visitor wants to see, and then some. He covers Fez and Marrakech, and also the Middle Atlas and the Merzouga Dunes. Before seeing this, I was a bit apprehensive about shopping/bargaining . . . others make it seem intimidating, but Rick treats it quite properly as a fun game (as do the Moroccans). In fact, Moroccans come off as universally charming and hospitable. If he gives short shrift to any topic, it's the food (he's obviously not a foodie). If you are fortunate enough to actually be planning a trip to Morocco, you'll definitely want to see this film.