Morocco

US 1930. PC: Paramount D: Josef von Sternberg. DP: Lee Garmes. CAST: Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper. Print: UCLA. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 29 Sep 2009. - From this masterpiece I revisited just the "Quand l'amour meurt" sequence with Marlene clad in top hat kissing a woman. - Brilliant restoration by UCLA with great scale of black and white, but there is probably difficulty in the source material, with a loss of detail and finesse, as the rightholders burned the original elements reportedly in the 1950s.

Der Blaue Engel

[The title appears on screen as: Der blaue Engel. But Der Blaue Engel is the name of the bar.] Sininen Enkeli / Blå Ängeln. DE 1930. PC: Ufa. P: Erich Pommer. D: Josef von Sternberg. SC: Robert Liebmann, Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmoller – based on the novel Professor Unrat (1905) by Heinrich Mann. DP: Günther Rittau, Hans Schneeberger. AD: Otto Hunte, Emil Hasler. ED: Sam Winston. M: Friedrich Hollaender. CAST: Emil Jannings (Immanuel Rath), Marlene Dietrich (Lola Fröhlich), Kurt Gerron (Kiepert), Rosa Valetti (his wife Guste), Hans Albers (Mazeppa), Eduard von Winterstein (headmaster), Reinhold Bernt (clown), Rolf Müller (Angst), Gerhard Bienert (policeman), Ilse Fürstenberg (Rath's maid). 106 min. A Transit Film / FWMS print with e-subtitles by AA operated by Lena Talvio. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 24 Sep 2009. - The print has an obviously digi-mastered look. Probably there are no brilliant prints of this film. Paramount burned the negative in ca 1960. The English-language version looks better visually, but is otherwise inferior. - Sternberg's masterpiece revisited (the first 30 minutes). This is my favourite Sternberg film, an ideal combination of style and substance, Marlene Dietrich's ironic, motherly, earthy charm always fascinating. - The most profound film based on the clown themes that were among the obsessions of the cinema in the 1910s and in the 1920s.

Thunderbolt

[The film was banned in 1930 in Finland by the title Pimeimmässä New Yorkissa.]US © 1929 Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. P: B.P. Fineman. D: Josef von Sternberg. SC: Jules Furthman - dialogue: Herman J. Mankiewicz – from a story by Charles and Jules Furthman. DP: Henry Gerrard. AD: Hans Dreier. ED: Helen Lewis. CAST: George Bancroft ("Thunderbolt" Jim Lang), Fay Wray (Mary, "Ritzy"), Richard Arlen (Bob Morgan). 91 min. Print: UCLA (sound version). Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 23 Sep 2009. - Revisited a fascinating gangster film by Sternberg, the first 20 minutes. - The UCLA print looks great. - The story of Ritzy (Fay Wray) who wants to get rid of the possessive gangster boss Thunderbolt (George Bancroft). - Visually powerful, and with already an assured soundtrack. However, the sound makes it all seems slightly more everyday and commonplace: the sound is professional, but the image is masterful.

The Docks of New York

Yö satamassa / En natt i hamn. USA © 1928 Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Assoc. P: J.G. Bachmann D: Josef von Sternberg. Adaptation: Jules Furthman – from the story by John Monk Saunders – titles: Julian Johnson. DP: Harold Rosson. AD: Hans Dreier. ED: Helen Lewis. CAST: George Bancroft (Bill Roberts), Betty Compson (Sadie), Baclanova (Lou), Clyde Cook (Sugar Steve), Mitchell Lewis (third engineer), Gustav von Seyffertitz (Hymn Book Harry), Guy Oliver (The Crimp), Lillian Worth (Steven tyttö). 2195 m /20 fps/ 96 min. Print: UCLA. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 22 Sep 2009. - Revisited a Sternberg masterpiece, the first 30 min. - The definition of light in this portion is beautiful, but I heard from Arto Merimaa that the definition of the rest is uneven, based on the status of the source materials. - 20 fps seems the right speed. - Great poetic montages in the beginning: the harbour of New York - hard work in the ship's boiler room - commotion at The Sandbar - Sadie's suicide attempt and her revival. - Already this part of the film is full with connections to Sternberg's other films. - The group of ragged men dreaming of women in the boiler room: qf. Anatahan. - The commotion at the cheap harbour saloon where beer and cigarettes are consumed: qf. Der Blaue Engel. - The sympathy for the outcasts: qf. The Salvation Hunters. - A visually brilliant movie of "the derelicts of the world". - And yes, there is the fog, the smoke, and the nets.

The Last Command

Viimeinen määräys / Sista kommandot. US (c) 1928 Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Pres: Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky. Supervisor: J.G. Bachmann. Associate P: B.P. Schulberg. D: Josef von Sternberg. SC and Adaptation: John F. Goodrich - from a story by Lajos Biró - intertitles: Herman J. Mankiewicz. DP: Bert Glennon. AD: Hans Dreier. CAST: Emil Jannings (Grand Duke Sergius Alexander), Evelyn Brent (Natacha Dabrova), William Powell (Leo Andreyev). 2410 m /22 fps/ 96 min. A DFI print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 17 Sep 2009. - A soft print with low contrast. - A favourite Sternberg masterpiece of mine revisited (30 minutes from the beginning). Sternberg is in brilliant command of the means of expression in late silent cinema. The breadlines of Hollywood. The circumstances of the extras. The eve of revolution in Russia. - The moving camera, the montage, the expressive close-up. - Emil Jannings had had great directors before, notably Ernst Lubitsch and F.W. Murnau, but his greatest director was Sternberg in The Last Command and Der Blaue Engel. Sternberg dared to expose his extremes as the mighty man at the height of his prestige, and the crushed man who descends into madness, degradation and the gutter. - There is a connection between this concept and Orson Welles (his favourite theme of the mighty man who is bound to perish), and a direct link is Herman J. Mankiewicz.

The Salvation Hunters

US © 1925 Academy Photoplays. Original distributor: United Artists. Financier: George K. Arthur. P+D+SC+story+AD+ED: Josef von Sternberg. DP: Edward Gheller. Assistants: George Ruric, Robert Chapman. LOC: San Pedro (California). CAST: George K. Arthur (boy), Georgia Hale (girl), Bruce Guerin (child), Otto Matiesen (man), Nellie Bly Baker (woman), Olaf Hytten (brute), Stuart Holmes (gentleman). 5930 ft / 1807 m /20 fps/ 79 min. A Fondazione Cineteca Italiana (Milano) print from MoMA. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 15 Sep 2009. - A passable dupe print with signs of wear and tear and occasional signs of nitrate decomposion in the source. - Revisited: Josef von Sternberg's poetic and boldly original first feature film, "dedicated to the derelicts of the earth". - "They have conquered a mighty battle over themselves".

The Epic That Never Was

An account of the making of the unfinished film I, Claudius (GB 1937). - GB 1965. D: Bill Duncalf. SC: Bill Duncalf; Op.: Charles Parnall, David Findlay, David Samuelson, Alan Featherstone, Robert Kauffman; ED: Brian Keene; Narrator: Dirk Bogarde; WITH: Robert Graves, Josef von Sternberg, Merle Oberon (Messalina), Flora Robson (Imperatrice Livia), Emlyn Williams (Caligola), Eileen Corbett (segretaria di edizione), John Armstrong (costumista). In the vintage footage only: Charles Laughton (Claudius); PC: Bill Duncalf per BCC (TV) 35mm. 71’. From: collezionista. - Presenta Janet Bergstrom, earphone translation in Italian, viewed at Cinema Lumière 2, Bologna, 3 July 2009. - A rare 35mm screening of the fine documentary. - I had seen it before on Finnish television in January 1978 ("Minä Claudius", suurelokuva jota ei ollutkaan). - Now, with having seen many Sternberg prints with a duped look, the great revelation was to see this print which looked like it's struck from the original negative. At least, with access to the original negative. - Janet Bergstrom stressed that Sternberg himself was the main editor of his films; this is confirmed in the statement of Eileen Corbett in this documentary. - Thus, the edited footage of I, Claudius is literally the director's cut. - And also the definition of light in the negative has been approved by Sternberg, himself an ASC cinematographer.

Josef von Sternberg, een retrospektieve

BG 1969. D: Harry Kümel. DP: Ghislain Cloquet; WITH: Josef von Sternberg, Dorothée Blank; P: Jacques Ledoux, Denise Delvaux, BRT 16mm. 75’. In English and Flemish. From: Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique per concessione di VRT. - Presenta Eric De Kuyper, earphone translation in Italian and English, viewed at Cinema Lumière 2, Bologna, 30 June 2009. - A low contrast 16mm print. 16mm is the original format of the material shot for this documentary. - Shortly before his death in 1969 Josef von Sternberg (born 29 May 1894) gave this interview to the Belgian television. He is mentally in great shape. He is smoking. - JvS: I'm a very complicated man. The older I get, the more complicated I become. - I was a great collector. I had everything. I was the unhappiest man. I got rid of everything. It's best to be without anything. When you wish for something you are reasonably happy. - Complete freedom is very dangerous. You must have things against which to operate. - The paradox: I don't think I'm an artist. The artist produces nothing. The artist is recognized after death. Talent is not easy. It is easier to be a genius than to have talent. An artist knows when to stop. - Matisse: the canvas takes possession of him. - I have made very few films. - Ice cold: the only way to create passion. - The wind of life breathes in my films. - There is hardly any difference between women and men. Women have more sense. - Cigarettes in films: creating motion on screen. Every second some perceptible movement. There has to be motion all the time. - Actors are like children: only body, no brain. - Masks in Asian theatre: you have a thousand masks. - I am Marlene. - JOSEF VON STERNBERG LIGHTS DOROTHEE BLANK (THE LAST FILM OF JOSEF VON STERNBERG?): Dorothée Blank: A Conception. First we see the normal face. Then: the selection of wigs. JvS makes up Dorothée's face. "It is really not her face, but I impose it on her". "Alien to her, alien to me". He sets a fan. "Forget about everything". "Make backlight stronger". "Bring it down". "I'm not doing this for television, I'm doing this for film". Using the cucoloris (the cookie). Using the exposure meter. "Don't make it automatic". "Make believe you're a tree". Dorothée Blank gets tired. Masks in front of her: sorrow, weariness. "An actor does not cry". "The business is to simulate. To hide and to reveal". "The essential remains hidden". - I was very grateful to see this complete documentary. I had only seen the Dorothée Blank sequence before (on German tv in the 1980s).

Dossier The Sea Gull

Presenta Janet Bergstrom. Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 4 July 2008. - Traces of Josef von Sternberg's lost film, produced by Charles Chaplin. I saw the beginning of this presentation only.

Morocco

US 1930. PC: Paramount. D: Josef von Sternberg. Starring Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou. Print: UCLA. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Arlecchino, 3 July 2008. - The last 30 minutes. - The film is spellbinding, and the print probably the best there is (but Paramount burned the negatives and the best original materials in the 1950s).

An American Tragedy

Amerikkalainen murhenäytelmä / En amerikansk tragedi. US (c) 1931 Paramount. P+D: Josef von Sternberg. SC: Samuel Hoffenstein - based on the novel by Theodore Dreiser (1925). DP: Lee Garmes. Starring: Phillips Holmes (Clyde Griffiths), Sylvia Sidney (Roberta /Bert/ Alden), Frances Dee (Sondra Finchley). 95 min. E-subtitles in Italian. Print: UCLA. Viewed at Arlecchino, Bologna, 1 July 2008. - I had seen this film previously on TV only, and it was very moving to experience it on the big screen. The print bears the marks of the Paramount tragedy. The UCLA print has been lovingly prepared but looks at least partly like a 16mm blowup. - Sternberg made the film with great feeling and commitment against the grain, as Dreiser is a naturalist and Sternberg an anti-naturalist. - The coldness of the performance of Phillips Holmes may have distanced audiences. Montgomery Clift was more successful in making the tragic protagonist both emotionally engaging and terrible in his calculation.

The Salvation Hunters

US 1925. PC: Academy Photoplays. D: Josef von Sternberg. Starring George K. Arthur (the boy), Georgia Hale (the girl), Bruce Guerin (the child). 1814 m /20 fps/ 79 min. Print: UCLA. Presenta: Janet Bergstrom & Nicholas von Sternberg. Grand piano: Donald Sosin. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 28 June 2008. - Sternberg's first film is boldly personal and visually expressive. It's about three human beings that are about to fall into the gutter. The recurrent image is the dredge. It's a film about thought, as Sternberg announces: the thought of salvation, redemption, transcendence.