Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount, 1930-1935 (Indicator)

[Saber Rider]

https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/co...t-1930-1935-le

MOROCCO (1930)
DISHONORED (1931)
SHANGHAI EXPRESS (1932)
BLONDE VENUS (1932)
THE SCARLET EMPRESS (1934)
THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN (1935)
Release date: 19 August 2019
Limited Blu-ray Edition Box Set (UK Blu-ray premieres)

The collaboration between filmmaker Josef von Sternberg and actress Marlene Dietrich is one of the most enduring in all Hollywood cinema. Tasked by Paramount bosses to find ‘the next big thing’, director von Sternberg lighted upon German silent star Dietrich and brought her to Hollywood. Successfully transitioning from the silent to the sound era, together they crafted a series of remarkable features that expressed a previously hitherto unbridled ecstasy in the process of filmmaking itself. Marked by striking cinematography, beautiful design and elaborate camerawork these vibrantly sensuous films redefined cinema of the time, while Dietrich’s sexually ambiguous on-screen personas caused a sensation and turned her from actor to superstar and icon. Lavish, lascivious and wildly eccentric, the films Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich made for Paramount Pictures in the 1930s provide a unique testimony to Hollywood’s Golden Age.

The six films that von Sternberg made with Dietrich in Hollywood are presented here in new restorations on Blu-ray for the very first time in the UK. Containing a wealth of new and archival extras – including new appreciations, interviews, audio commentaries, rare films, outtakes and deleted audio, documentaries… and more! This stunning box set is strictly limited to 6,000 units.


INDICATOR LIMITED BLU-RAY EDITION BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES:

4K restorations of Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress, and The Devil Is a Woman
2K restoration of Morocco
Original mono audio
Morocco audio commentary with Daughters of Darkness’ Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger
Shanghai Express audio commentary with critic and film historian David Thompson
Blonde Venus audio commentary with film and arts critic Adrian Martin
The Scarlet Empress audio commentary with writer and film programmer Tony Rayns
Introductions on all six films by Nicholas von Sternberg, son of Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg, a Retrospective (1969): feature-length television documentary by the acclaimed Belgian director Harry Kümel
Marlene Dietrich: The Twilight of an Angel (2012): Dominique Leeb’s acclaimed French television documentary on Dietrich’s final years
The Fashion Side of Hollywood (1935): a short compilation film of lighting and costume tests from Paramount productions, including The Devil Is a Woman, and featuring costume designer Travis Banton
Lux Radio Theatre: ‘The Legionnaire and the Lady’ (1936): a radio play adaptation of Morocco, featuring Dietrich and actor Clark Gable
If It Isn't a Pain (1935, 3 mins): excised audio of the deleted musical number from The Devil Is a Woman
Von Sternberg at the BFI (2009): an audio recording of the 2009 symposium on von Sternberg held at London’s BFI Southbank
The Art of Josef von Sternberg (2019): Nicholas von Sternberg discusses his father’s works in painting and sculpture
New video essay by film historian Tag Gallagher on the Hollywood collaborations of Dietrich and von Sternberg
New interview with Erica Carter, author of Dietrich’s Ghosts, on the Dietrich’s career before von Sternberg
New interview with So Mayer, author of Political Animals: The New Feminist Cinema, on the queer iconography and legacy of Dietrich and von Sternberg’s films
New interview with Nathalie Morris, film historian and senior curator of the BFI National Archive’s Special Collections, on the costume designs of Travis Banton
New interview with Jasper Sharp, writer and filmmaker, on the life and career of Shanghai Express co-star Anna May Wong
Image galleries: on-set and promotional photography, including rare materials
New English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition exclusive 120-page book with a new essay by Pamela Hutchinson, archival interviews and articles, an overview of contemporary critical responses, film credits and more
UK premieres on Blu-ray
Limited Edition of 6,000 copies
All extras subject to change

REGION B

[CinemaFirst]

Yeah....mighty impressive. I wonder how the picture will compare to the Criterion set...

[filmlover22]

and how the extras stack up, too. Interesting price point - pretty much the same $ as Criterion at the 50% off sales.. hmm.

[CouncilSpectre]

Dietrich + von Sternberg + Indicator:



Bravo boys and girls, bravo!

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by CinemaFirst

Yeah....mighty impressive. I wonder how the picture will compare to the Criterion set...

Originally Posted by filmlover22

and how the extras stack up, too.

Handy reference from the Indicator thread:

Originally Posted by Indicator

With the caveat that the Indicator box specs aren't necessarily finally locked down, this should be a handy guide:

COMMON TO BOTH

• 4K restorations of Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress, and The Devil Is a Woman
• 2K restoration of Morocco
• Original mono audio
• The Legionnaire and the Lady, a 1936 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of Morocco, featuring Dietrich and actor Clark Gable
• The Fashion Side of Hollywood, a 1935 publicity short featuring Dietrich and costume designer Travis Banton
• If It Isn't a Pain (1935, 3 mins): excised audio of the deleted musical number from The Devil Is a Woman

UNIQUE TO CRITERION

• New interviews with film scholars Janet Bergstrom and Homay King; director Josef von Sternberg’s son, Nicholas; Deutsche Kinemathek curator Silke Ronneburg; and costume designer and historian Deborah Nadoolman Landis
• New documentary about actor Marlene Dietrich’s German origins, featuring film scholars Gerd Gemünden and Noah Isenberg
• New documentary on Dietrich’s status as a feminist icon, featuring film scholars Mary Desjardins, Amy Lawrence, and Patricia White
• New video essay by critics Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin
• Marlene Dietrich in Denmark (1971)

UNIQUE TO INDICATOR

• Morocco audio commentary with Daughters of Darkness’ Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger
• Shanghai Express audio commentary with critic and film historian David Thompson
• Blonde Venus audio commentary with film and arts critic Adrian Martin
• The Scarlet Empress audio commentary with writer and film programmer Tony Rayns
• Introductions on all six films by Nicholas von Sternberg, son of Josef von Sternberg
• Josef von Sternberg, a Retrospective (1969): feature-length television documentary by the acclaimed Belgian director Harry Kümel
• Marlene Dietrich: The Twilight of an Angel (2012): Dominique Leeb’s acclaimed French television documentary on Dietrich’s final years
• Von Sternberg at the BFI (2009): an audio recording of the 2009 symposium on von Sternberg held at London’s BFI Southbank
• The Art of Josef von Sternberg (2019): Nicholas von Sternberg discusses his father’s works in painting and sculpture
• New video essay by film historian Tag Gallagher on the Hollywood collaborations of Dietrich and von Sternberg
• New interview with Erica Carter, author of Dietrich’s Ghosts, on the Dietrich’s career before von Sternberg
• New interview with So Mayer, author of Political Animals: The New Feminist Cinema, on the queer iconography and legacy of Dietrich and von Sternberg’s films
• New interview with Nathalie Morris, film historian and senior curator of the BFI National Archive’s Special Collections, on the costume designs of Travis Banton
• New interview with Jasper Sharp, writer and filmmaker, on the life and career of Shanghai Express co-star Anna May Wong

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

Originally Posted by CinemaFirst

I wonder how the picture will compare to the Criterion set...

"Better"

[Aclea]

So, how long before Criterion announce a UK release for their set?

[Si Parallel Universe]

Really can't wait for this

[rapta]

Great news. I'm in, though not sure I'll get it from Indicator direct as the bundle deal isn't that appealing this time around (10% off the box set but not the extra title).

Originally Posted by Aclea

So, how long before Criterion announce a UK release for their set?

I don't think Universal would sublicense them to two parties, or they'd get into legal trouble.

Then again, maybe Sony UK will announce it then cancel it a week or two later when they realise Indicator are already releasing them.

[Foggy]

Indicator releases have been a little hit and miss with me, but this is an absolute must buy!

[Darby1985]

Originally Posted by rapta

I don't think Universal would sublicense them to two parties, or they'd get into legal trouble.

Then again, maybe Sony UK will announce it then cancel it a week or two later when they realise Indicator are already releasing them.

That's the joke he's making!

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by rapta

Then again, maybe Sony UK will announce it then cancel it a week or two later when they realise Indicator are already releasing them.

This is Criterion UK we're talking about, and their preferred modus operandi is

[Show spoiler]

[peerpee]

Originally Posted by rapta

Great news. I'm in, though not sure I'll get it from Indicator direct as the bundle deal isn't that appealing this time around (10% off the box set but not the extra title).

It's 12% off the box set.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by rapta

i don't think universal would sublicense them to two parties, or they'd get into legal trouble.

Then again, maybe sony uk will announce it then cancel it a week or two later when they realise indicator are already releasing them.

C-658VsXoAo3ovC.jpg

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Darby1985

That's the joke he's making!

Sorry, I thought he was being literal. Been a long day!

Originally Posted by peerpee

It's 12% off the box set.

My mistake. I'll buy it either way, just don't have another Indicator title I want right now - been buying basically every title I was interested in on release.

[McCrutchy]

It's now live at Amazon for £55.

[coenesque]

Could anyone who’s seen the films themselves before comment in the quality of the actual films? I know they’re historically important, but are they good too? Very interested in this I think though.

[Aclea]

I'd be tempted to say that it was worth it just for The Scarlet Empress, what with Sam Jaffe unforgettably playing the Tsar like the demented evil bastard child of Harpo Marx and Marty Feldman, while Marlene is probably cinema's least convincing ingenue ever, but then that's surely all part of the joke (not that von Sternberg was noted for ever openly displaying a sense of humour). If nothing else, Von Sternberg seems to be having fun with all the sadism, and in many ways its excess mirrors the Russian court of the day - downmarket opulence, extravagant, surreal, crude and randy, with the best throne since De Mille's King of Kings and a court filled with inbred illiterates like something out of the Beverly Hillbillies without the horse sense - even if the overall impression of all the smut and spectacle is of a big budget Golden Age Carry On romp. He actually makes De Mille look restrained.

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

It's now live at Amazon for £55.

Yes, just pre-ordered it. $62 shipped to the US! Not bad at all...looking forward to it..

[TravisTylerBlack]

Originally Posted by coenesque

Could anyone who’s seen the films themselves before comment in the quality of the actual films? I know they’re historically important, but are they good too? Very interested in this I think though.

Short answer: Yes.

Scarlett Empress and Shanghai Express are both masterpieces featuring two of the absolute best Dietrich performances.

Morocco is an undisputed classic and also the film that famously gave us Marlene being brilliant in a tuxedo.

Blonde Venus is uneven but ultimately enjoyable. Joel Schumacher’s “Batman & Robin” infamously lifted a certain sequence involving a gorilla suit from this one.

The other two are both reputedly good, if not quite on the same level as the above four. Quite honestly I need to finish watching my Criterion as it’s been years since my last viewing of ”Dishonered” and “The Devil Is A Woman” on TCM.