The Song of Songs

Moviecut—The Song of Songs

source: The Song of Songs

Ruben Mamoulian surprised me with this film. It's a melodramatic story, but very well edited, both image and sound. Therefore the film looks amazingly modern. There is good rythm in the scenes. Marlene Dietrich is rather natural compared with her later films. She is not the sexgoddess as we know her. It is a gift Mamoulian has over the 1930 divas. I never thought he was a great director, but since Becky Sharp I find his films interesting and great works of art.

This film is a strange opposite of Blue Angel. In this one Dietrich is an angel, who is taken from innocent to mature by 2 men. It is a delightful reverse. An underrated film for many reasons, especially that this one did not get the proper release to theaters and television that some of her other films did. Ahern, as the sculptor manages to create a terrific statue of Dietrich and then falls in love with the real thing. Meanwhile, a plot is hatched with a German Colonel to make Dietrich a Baroness, and after she is left by Ahern, she does this to get revenge. Precode, she sells herself for money, and the * image of her statue dominates this film. What is really outstanding, is that Dietrich thick accent is hardly noticeable in this one. She sings a very good song, and plot wise, this one works better than many of her films. Dietrich's acting is perfect, her looks are great, and her direction seems to let her bloom in this film more than most of her other films. There are plenty of good reasons to check this one out.

If Song of Songs were Marlene Dietrich's first movie, it would be a shoe-in that she rise to instant stardom. This movie would make a star out of anyone and have everyone in the country talking about her. As it was, Marlene had already rocked Hollywood in The Blue Angel and shocked audiences with her tuxedo-clad, lady-kissing song in Morocco, so there was little higher to rise. She managed to top herself...and un-top herself in this movie where she models * for sculptor Brian Aherne. This is one of the most explicit pre-Code movies I've ever seen, and that's saying quite a bit! It also shows quite a bit, so put the kiddies to bed before pressing play. Marlene starts off the movie as an innocent, devoutly religious, young girl. She's an orphan sent to live with her aunt and work in a library, but when she sees the handsome, tortured artist working across the way from her bedroom window, her life changes. Brian spots her, too, and he comes to her at the library to ask her to pose for him. He uses the old line, "You mustn't think of me as a man," to get her to disrobe, and when she finally does, he falls in love with her body. Another man, Lionel Atwill, falls for the sculpture as well. He marvels at Brian's creation and vows to have the model for himself. As much of a visual sensation as this movie is, it's also quite sad. Marlene is so sweet and innocent at the start of the movie, and she even raises the pitch of her normally low voice. She's adorable! It's heartbreaking to see her get corrupted, but she certainly is beautiful from start to finish. This is such a nasty movie! In one scene, Lionel looks at Brian's initial sketches of Marlene's naked body as he's getting ready for bed. In another, Brian watches Marlene undress and fondles his clay statue. You can practically see him drooling! I was never a Marlene Dietrich fan, but it's no mystery why she was popular after this movie. As handsome as Brian is, it's a waste for him to be in the film. No one's looking at him!

Made in 1933 and Dietrich going * to pose for a sculpture in this very good film. As her aunt, Alison Skipworth stole every scene she was in pretending to be so ethical, but winding up doing just about anything for liquor and a couple of bucks. Brian Ahearne is excellent as the sculptor who loves Dietrich, but is hesitant when it comes to marriage. Confused, he gives or consents to have Dietrich go with the elderly baron who she marries. He makes her into a charmed lady, but she is unhappy and caught escaping from a fire in the riding teacher's house, she becomes a wayward woman. Surprisingly there is no violence in the film where you would think there would be. The unexpected rather happy ending to all this was really surprising and well appreciated. Dietrich goes from a shy girl to quite a temptress in this worthwhile film.

The plot to this film is pretty simple, but wow, Marlene Dietrich is fantastic in the leading role, and director Robert Mamoulian makes the most of his actors and the script in crafting a beautiful film. Dietrich skillfully handles her role which shifts from a naïve young country girl, to a model and lover of a sculptor, to the unhappy wife of an older man, and lastly to a cabaret girl. Her performance is especially impressive for the time, when over-acting and exaggerated facial gestures were common; Dietrich by contrast is polished and smooth, sexy in a sultry, understated way, and quite a singer on top of all that. Director Robert Mamoulian, who also directed the brilliant Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1931, pulls all the right strings here, and there are some beautiful shots, examples of which are shifting clouds in front of the moon and sunlight reflecting off the water as Dietrich is out riding. The movie is also elevated by quotes from the poetry of the Biblical book of the Song of Songs, and it's a nice mix of sophistication and pre-Code naughtiness. The scene when Dietrich disrobes for a * modeling session, where Mamoulian cuts to sculptures to represent her body, brings a smile. The plot itself isn't going to blow you away, but Dietrich will. Very enjoyable.

Marlene Dietrich is a newly orphaned country girl who gets sent to her aunt, Alison Skipworth. Soon, Brian Aherne, the sculptor who lives across the street, decides she would be a good model for his work based on Solomon's Song of Songs and Beethoven's Pathetique. After about half an hour, they are a couple, running up and down the flowered mountains which Berlin seems to be liberally supplied with. Enter Lionel Atwill, a military baron, who wears a forage cap with a skull on it and a furry panache that sticks straight up. He marries Marlene and takes her to his schloss, which is liberally decorated with phallic symbols and his mistress. Things turn out poorly, and Marlene becomes a good-time girl who sings cynical songs. Isn't it always that way? While Mamoulian has a lavishly directed set, alas, he cannot raise a performance out of DIetrich to make us think she is a good girl in an early scene. She disrobes with the easy fluidity of someone who has spent a lot of time naked since she was twelve, and shows no shyness as she models * for Aherne, after about ten seconds of his "It's art!" speech. Aherne is ok. Atwill is disgusting and disgusting and Skipworth is disgusting and funny.

This picture was a big reversal for Marlene Dietrich. Besides her first picture without Von Sternberg as director, it is the first one in which she goes from ingenue to demi-monde, instead of starting out as one. Here she is cast as a country girl who comes to the big city and befriends a sculptor of nudes (Aherne). She becomes his model, until he kisses her. Then the scales fall from their eyes and she becomes his lover. It is an extremely effective scene. Matters evolve (or devolve) as a Prussian Colonel (Lionel Atwill) also takes an interest in his model. Atwill, who normally plays diabolical and unsavory types, has one of his best roles as a lecherous soldier and plays it to the hilt. It is a riveting portrayal and commands your attention whenever he is on screen. Alison Skipworth, one of Hollywood's best character actresses, plays her dipso aunt in what is her best role since "Outward Bound". The storyline is not the thing here but it is fascinating to watch a master like Mamoulian at work and to watch Dietrich play against type, as well as watching the aforementioned Atwill in a performance that is sublime. Those are the surprises, not the plot - it's been done many times before and since.

The Song Of Songs was Marlene Dietrich's first American film without her German Svengali, Josef Von Sternberg. Maybe the German Von Sternberg might have been able to do something more with German author Hermann Sudermann's melodramatic plot. Something was terribly missing in the translation. When we first meet Dietrich she's an innocent country lass just lost both her parents come to live with her big city aunt, Alison Skipworth. Skipworth hasn't any great maternal feelings for her niece, but she does give her room and board and her job assisting at Skipworth's bookstore requires no great strain. In fact Marlene is a bright young woman and takes to the job. She gets a different job soon enough when sculptor Brian Aherne hires her as a model for a * statue. Some of the * sketches and the statue itself would not have made it in the film two years later when The Code was in place. She gets silly romantic notions about Aherne, but the guy whose mojo she gets going is Baron Lionel Atwill who's willing to marry her and does on the rebound. Of course that doesn't work out, for crying out loud it's Lionel Atwill she's marrying and who catches her with riding instructor Hardie Albright during a fire when both flee the scene. After that she becomes the Marlene whom we met in Shanghai Express, Shanghai Lily. Curiously enough Dietrich's character is Lily Czepanek. The film is carried by Dietrich on the strength of her performance, she transforms herself into several different characters, the country innocent, the degraded baroness, to the jaded woman of the world. It took more than one man to turn her into German Lily. One thing I was very much looking forward to is hearing her sing Jonny after having Dietrich's recording of it on one of my record albums. The song is by Frederick Hollander who wrote Falling In Love Again for her. The record I have is in the original German, Dietrich sings it in English in the film. I'm hear to tell you that the German comes across far better than the English. That come hither voice loses a lot in translation. Rouben Mamoulian does his best with the film, but it's a let down after such work as Love Me Tonight. Anyway Dietrich was back with Von Sternberg after this film didn't light the world on fire.