Friday, February 28, 2020

Romancefest 2019: Desire


Written by Edwin Justus Mayer, Waldemar Young and Samuel Hoffenstein. Story by Hans Szekely and Robert A. Stemmle. Directed by Frank Borzage. Starring Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, John Halliday and William Frawley. USA, 1936.

An automotive engineer from the US embarks on a vacation tour of Europe by car. There he runs into a jewel thief, and through a series of mix ups becomes embroiled in her attempts to get a stolen necklace back to France. Of course, along the way, they make the familiar trip from bickering to flirting to all out love.

This is a funny, lighthearted romp probably most interesting for letting Marlena Dietrich flex her comedy muscles rather than playing a femme fatale or tragic figure. Turns out you can be sexy and funny too! Who knew. Gary Cooper does what he does best and the whole thing moves along at a nice clip, like most screwballs.

No comments:

Post a Comment