Morocco U

The film that sealed Dietrich’s reputation as androgynous movie goddess, “Morocco” features her again as a cabaret artiste, famously strolling on stage in a man’s tailcoat and brazenly kissing a woman in the audience.

Her character falls in love with a legionnaire (Gary Cooper) but is also courted by a rich benefactor who wants to marry her.

Shot nowhere near Morocco but on set in America, the film has a dreamy, balletic mood more akin to stories of the Arabian Nights than a historical document of the Foreign Legion.

It is also extremely risqué for its time, both director and star later expressing surprise that it got past the censors!

It received four Oscar nominations including Best Actress and Best Director, and was selected for the U. S. National Film Registry as a film of cultural and aesthetic importance.

Film Bites: not just a pretty face - the making of marlene

Delve a little deeper with the Showroom’s Film Bites strand. We take a director, genre or theme to explore over three consecutive Sunday afternoons. This series, in collaboration with Magic Lantern Film Club, looks at three of the films of Austrian-American director Josef Von Sternberg (1894-1969), known for his work with Marlene Dietrich.

These three films explores the alchemical reaction between two artists. They illustrate the beginning, early bloom and end of the Dietrich / von Sternberg partnership - and the emergence of Dietrich as a feminist icon.