Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend

by Steven Bach

Overview

From the stages of Berlin to anti-Nazi efforts and silver-screen stardom, Steven Bach reveals the fascinating woman behind the myth surrounding Marlene Dietrich in a biography that will stand as the ultimate authority on a singular star. Based on six years of research and hundreds of interviews—including conversations with Dietrich—this is the life story of one of the century’s greatest movie actresses and performers, an icon who embodied glamour and sophistication for audiences around the globe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780816675845
Publisher:	University of Minnesota Press
Publication date:	03/16/2011
Pages:	640
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Steven Bach (1938–2009) taught American literature before becoming a film producer and head of production for United Artists. He was involved with dozens of films, including Sleuth, Manhattan, Raging Bull, and The French Lieutenant’s Woman. He wrote the critically acclaimed best seller Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of “Heaven’s Gate.”

Table of Contents

A Note from the Author
OVERTURE
A Visit to the Theater: 1929
I. BERLIN
One. Beginnings: 1901–1918
Two. Weimar and Back: 1919–1921
Three. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: 1922–1927
Four. The Perfect Couple: 1923–1929
Five. Breakthrough: 1928–1929
Six. The Blue Angel: 1929
II. HOLLYWOOD
Seven. Fame: 1930–1931
Eight. Empress of Desire: 1931–1932
Nine. Apotheosis: 1933–1934
Ten. Tribute and Farewell: 1934–1935
Eleven. Saving Dietrich: 1935–1936
Twelve. Exile: 1937–1939
Thirteen. Phoenix: 1939–1941
Fourteen. Home Front: 1942–1943
Fifteen. Lili Marlene: 1944–1945
Sixteen. Survivor: 1946–1947
Seventeen. Pro: 1947–1950
Eighteen. Star Quality: 1950–1952
Nineteen. Solo: 1952–1954
Twenty. Back in Business: 1954–1958
Twenty-one. Helen of Troy: 1954–1958
Twenty-two. Odyssey: 1960–1967
Twenty-three. “Queen of the World”: 1967–1975
Twenty-four. Monstre Sacré: 1976–1982
IV EXIT MUSIC
Coda: “Allein in Einer Grossen Stadt”: 1983–1992
Appendix A. Theater Chronology
Appendix B. Filmography
Appendix C. Discography
Acknowledgments
Source Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"The finest picture-star biography I have read." —Peter Bogdanovich, Los Angeles Times


"Dietrich will never have a more meticulous, eloquent, or sympathetic biographer." —Times Literary Supplement


"If you open it to the right pages in the right mood, you can practically hear the applause still ringing." —New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

This massive, admiring biography refutes the notion that Marlene Dietrich's femme fatale image was wholly the invention of director Josef von Sternberg. Bach, a film producer and author of Final Cut, who studied with von Sternberg, portrays the latter as a megalomaniac whose amorous frustrations with the star he had created drove him to maintain that she was a puppet who danced to his strings. Bach rejects the standard comparisons with Garbo as he plumbs Dietrich's special blend of erotic power, irony and humor and limns a strong-willed woman whose innumerable sexual affairs satisfied a simple need for companionship. He divulges that Dietrich's sister Elisabeth, whose existence the actress denied, belonged, with Elisabeth's husband, to a group that entertained Nazis at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Strong on film and stage criticism but less intimately revealing than Donald Spoto's Blue Angel (Forecasts, July 13), this engrossing biography is especially good on Dietrich's early career, her valiant anti-Nazi efforts and her phoenixlike rebirth as a troubadour-actress. More than 100 photos, a filmography and a discography will also please fans. Author tour. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A hefty biography which draws depth from extensive interviews with Dietrich and from Bach's scholarly and professional work connected with the movie industry. Includes many photos of the star growing up, and some movie stills. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Gigantic chef-d'oeuvre: a 600-page life that puts Dietrich before us as no book has ever done and whose writing sets a new standard for celebrity biographies. Bach (Final Cut, 1985) spent six years researching and writing this life; talked with Dietrich (who deplored biographies that pitted her legend, and did not authorize this one); as a student, spent two years with Dietrich's most famous director, Josef von Sternberg, viewing with him all seven films Sternberg made with the actress; and had sole access to secret tapes of talks between Dietrich and Maximilian Schell made during Schell's creation in 1982 of the celebratory, fascinating Marlene: A Feature, when Dietrich was in her 80s. Two qualities distinguish Bach's work: He writes with superb intelligence and grace, without a single dull or merely journalistic passage. And, as a former producer (involved in Woody Allen's Manhattan and Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, among other films), his ideas on how Dietrich's effects were achieved through lighting, film stocks, dissolves, acting, singing techniques, etc., strengthen his every inquiry into her roles, not only in film but in cabaret, stage acting, song recording, and so on. Bach's history of the star's bisexuality, frank but tasteful, in no way demeans her legend. His Marlene stands before us at every moment—a teenager casting bedroom eyes at her violin teacher; using her voice, when acting or singing, as a suggestive musical instrument; showing her legs with innocent desirability; and gathering weight and light as she ages from childhood to blazing sexuality as the fastest girl in Berlin and, at last, into cantankerous, witty fragility. A great pearl.

Kirkus Reviews