This was the first movie that started my cinephilic obsession with Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg. I was interested in this film for more than just the two or three stars associated with it. I had lived in Shanghai as an English teacher there. While I lived there I went to many places that are great for cinephiles. There is one great place called the Old Film cafe which looks like a speakeasy. When I went there they were showing Scent of a Woman. I watched while I had my drink. It was like traveling back in time to the 20s or 30s. Really enjoyable. During my stay in Shanghai I also went to an Australian film festival and the Shanghai Film Festival both of which were housed in restored old style theater. The theater had all it's old style adornments still intact. It was also like traveling back in time. Here in the states almost all of those kinds of theaters have been torn down and replaced by the ever present multiplex. Which is too bad. It would have been great if some of those great theaters of the golden age of Hollywood could have been preserved. Onward Christian progress I suppose?
Anyway I bought the film when I was living in Queens burrough of NYC. Around the same time I made my first of many trips to the East Village and to its many art house theaters. It was a great experience and a great time in my life. I was much less anxious and rushed by other things. I was younger, thinner, and smarter. I remember going to a petite francais diner. It was a great time. A time when my interest in Cinema reached a new point. A turning point into a more serious direction.
The film is good. It's not great. It's short only about 90 minutes. The film is great for at least one thing, it's obsession with Marlene. It shows her in the most beautiful light. In her feathered boa costume looking seductive and luxurious. And of course those bedroom eyes. The film really plays up to that infatuation. I didn't mind at all.
Marlene manages to rescue her lover, make it to Shanghai, and end up happily ever after. For Marlene fans, this one is not to be missed.
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