The Flame of New Orleans

Marlene D plays a dual role. As the Countess, she dresses like an ostrich and is a trickster who gets her way by fainting so she can bag a wealthy suitor. In her other role, she looks exactly the same yet seems to fool the rest of the cast. There you go, it can't be a good film. A Dietrich vehicle that has some amusing scenes at the beginning with potential suitor Bruce Cabot (Catour) resembling a Clark Gable type.

As always, Dietrich just glows star quality. Roland Young (Giraud) plays his part well as a wealthy, interested party and I also thought Anne Revere (Giraud's sister) and Melville Cooper (Giraud's brother-in-law) put in amusing, convincing performances.

As for the other characters, unfortunately, we get comedy sailors that include Andy "clear your throat" Devine (1st Sailor). Not funny. The better comedy comes from a surprising source – Mischa Auer (Zolotov). For a change, Mischa Auer doesn't miss the mark – he's funny in his role (the only time I can remember him successfully doing this) and Franklin Pangborn (Bellows) as Auer's European companion has that kind of face that screams comedy. He reminds me of one of my Portuguese cousins – she looks just like him.

It's a fluffy film that is completely unbelievable but entertains while it is going. I wouldn't recommend it, but it's OK - nothing too gripping going on.

Charming is the perfect word for this movie. Dietrich is at her best as she charms her two beaus, the score is charming, and Rene Clair brings the same light touch he showed the next year in I Married a Witch. Quite funny, but more than any thing else, charming.

Sandwiched in between some of her great films at Universal with John Wayne is this modest programmer for Marlene Dietrich that depends considerably on her charms to carry it off. Perhaps it might have been a much better film had the two leading men she wanted been available.

According to a recent biography of Marlene Dietrich, the two men she wanted for The Flame Of New Orleans were Cary Grant and Adolphe Menjou. She had worked with both before, Menjou in Morocco and Grant in Blonde Venus. She liked Menjou and sad to say MGM wouldn't make him available. At the time she and Cary Grant did not get along all that well, he played the other man in Blonde Venus. But in the interim he had gotten superstardom so Dietrich thought that Grant might prove to be a good screen partner now. Alas, that screen team was never to be.

Marlene and her maid Theresa Harris arrive in New Orleans where from the outset it's made plain to the viewer that Dietrich is out to hook a rich fish from the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. The one she looks to land is rich and fussy Roland Young and she does bait a trap for him. But a roistering sea captain played by Bruce Cabot spoils it all for her though eventually Young falls for her as expected.

Now if you can't figure out who she winds up with, there's something terribly wrong with you.

Cabot does give a strong performance as the captain, I'm sure he was a rougher type than Cary Grant would have been. Of course as was usual with Marlene and her leading man, the obligatory affair was had. But she also said she found Cabot to be something of a boor and dropped him quickly.

Theresa Harris had a very interesting and unusual role for a black actress of the time. She might be a maid, but she functions more like a partner in crime with Dietrich's schemes. She's nobody's fool in this film and even gets a love interest of sorts in Young's driver Clarence Muse.

The film did get an Oscar nomination for Best Art&Interior Direction and the sets were grand. Rene Clair did a very good job of conveying New Orleans of 1841. Still the film is minor league Dietrich and it could have been a lot better if she had gotten the players she wanted as co-stars.

Marlene Dietrich, ever since seeing her for the first time in the brilliant 'Witness for the Prosecution' (where she gives a very memorable performance), was a very engaging actress and performer. Especially in the 30s, where she was in a lot of films that played to her strengths. Also like some of Rene Clair's other films, my personal favourite (and my first watched film of his) being one of the best versions of one of Agatha Christie's best books 'And Then There Were None'.

'The Flame of New Orleans' is worth seeing, if more a one-time watch than repeated viewings worthy. Dietrich did much better before and since, though she is not disgraced here, and the same goes for Clair who doesn't come off too badly still either. There are a good deal of good things here, including Dietrich, but some quite serious drawbacks that take away from the enjoyment somewhat. Making for an inoffensive and above average if not much more than that film.

Admittedly the story can be a little over-complicated and in other places it can be quite flimsy, the central triangle could have done with more personality perhaps too and the ending can be seen from miles off.

Did find Andy Devine a bit wearing at times and his comedy overdone.

However, 'The Flame of New Orleans' benefits greatly from classy production values, the sets and production design being particularly great. The music is immensely appealing to listen to and fits the film's frothy nature very nicely. The script is gently witty, charmingly frothy and has a lively energy. While the story can easily be criticised, at least to me it wasn't dull and it has a genuine charm underneath all the froth.

Clair's direction has the right lightness of touch, and doesn't get pedestrian. Furthermore, Dietrich is luminous and brings a lot of grace and verve to the lead role. Roland Young and particularly Bruce Cabot make the most of their fairly sketchy characters, having quite nice chemistry with Dietrich. The rest of the cast do good jobs, with particularly amusing turns from Theresa Harris and Mischa Auer.

Altogether, good frothy fun though with not everything working. 7/10

You see a wedding dress floating in the ocean, and the story begins of how it came to be there. Marlene Dietrich lives basically upon the kindness and generosity of men. She sets her sights on Roland Young (from "Topper"), who has scads of money. She also has a particular habit of fainting, which she uses to her advantage, whenever it serves her purpose or whenever she doesn't know else to get out of a particular situation. Roland starts to pursue her, but doesn't realize he was already picked from the beginning. She tries to be hard to get, but just enough to get what she wants.

Enter Bruce Cabot who of course meets her in such a way as to antagonize her without them actually seeing each other. When her plans get mixed up with Roland and her reputation gets compromised by a rumor, she resorts to drastic measures.

I had never seen this and loved it, obviously by my rating. Marlene and Bruce's chemistry, its use of time and place, the imagery and colors of the clothes of the time, and its expressive grand music made for the most perfect 80 minutes spent on a movie in a long time.

Featuring a slew of recognizable faces including Mischa Auer, Andy Devine, Franklin Pangborn, Melville Cooper, Laura Hope Crews ("Aunt Pittypat" from "Gone with the Wind"), Anne Revere (Oscar winner for "National Velvet" as the mother), and Eddie Quillan, this is one movie not to be missed.

Eddie Quillan? You don't know him? Sure, you do. You've seen him. You just didn't know it. He was a prolific supporting actor in movies in bit parts like this one and also made memorable appearances in 50s and 60s TV shows, like "The Addams Family." His most famous role was probably that in "The Grapes of Wrath."

Directed by Rene Clair who also made "Le Million", which I reviewed, and "A Nous La Liberte," (some say that is his masterpiece, but I have yet to see, but will) this is yet another example of Dietrich at her sexiest, and all Dietrich fans and film lovers should buy the Marlene Dietrich DVD collection with this on it and sit back and see one of the greatest screen icons ever!