Jan 24, 2008

Pure romance

Morocco: She enslaved every man in sight until she was enslaved by love.

In her first American film, Marlene Dietrich plays an adventuress who uses her sexuality to get gifts from men--until she meets French Foreign Legionnaire Gary Cooper.

The movie's famous today mainly for the scene in which Dietrich, clad in a white tie and tails, plants a kiss on another woman, but it's the last scene that will set hearts aflutter.

The legionnaires are assembled at the town gate for the march out of town. A mass of women and children congregate behind them, ready to follow their men through the desert. Dietrich stands apart with her wealthy lover. The drum beats. The men march out. Their women follow. Then Dietrich starts to walk. The scene is silent, save for sound of the wind whipping up the desert sand. Marlene removes her shoes and runs to catch up.

The end.

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