La belle ensorceleuse

The Flame of New Orleans (1941)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Claire Ledeux (Marlene Dietrich) is the most beautiful and most wanted woman in New Orleans. She can pretty much have her pick of any man and sure enough there are two of them wanting her. One is a successful and rich businessman (Roland Young) who could offer her anything. The other is a sea captain (Bruce Cabot) with plenty to offer.

The "flame" had clearly ran out by the time this movie was made. If you've never seen a Dietrich movie then you'll probably enjoy this one slightly more but if you've seen many of her films then you're going to notice this plot from pretty half a dozen earlier films. Once again we get a pretty standard plot that has Dietrich looking beautiful, seducing two men and of course she also gets a song to sing.

The biggest problem with THE FLAME OF NEW ORLEANS is the fact that there's just nothing here that we haven't already seen before. This certainly gives the film a very dull flavor because there's just nothing here to keep us overly amused and especially when you consider that the Dietrich-Cabot-Young love triangle isn't nearly the best we've seen from the previous films. All three cast members certainly do a good job with their performances but when there's no much of a story there's just so much you can do.

Director Rene Clair adds a little style to the picture but there's just nothing overly special here.

René Clair lost some of his charm when he went to Hollywood, but chances were good that he couldn't lose it all. I quite love his 1942 film I Married a Witch, starring Veronica Lake. I think I like this Marlene Dietrich vehicle even better. Oh, this is a charmer, all right. The plot is too complicated to describe here, but the story is very clever and very entertaining. The film is sweet, romantic and quite funny. The cast is exceptional. Bruce Cabot is surprisingly great as the leading man. You might remember him as the block of wood who won out over the monkey in King Kong. He must have gained some talent as he aged; he's much more handsome at this point, and has an effortless charm, reminiscent of Clark Gable. Roland Young plays his rival. One thing I'll always love about Golden Age Hollywood is the bevy of character actors, something we have entirely lost in the present. Here we have Mischa Auer, Anne Revere, Andy Devine, Theresa Harris and Franklin Pangborn. I had thought for sure Morocco was the best reason to own Universal's Marlene Dietrich set, but, so far, this is the best.

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.

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!

French director, Rene Clair, went to Hollywood to direct German Marlene Dietrich in this role where she played a con-artist known as the Countess and/or Lili. The story is set in New Orleans in the 1800s and has a fabulous art direction with costumes and set designs that are first rate. The problem with this film is really in the writing. It never holds up to me. While I love the cast, Dietrich is supported by a first rate cast and crew of Hollywood's golden age of cinema where even character parts were done brilliantly. I enjoyed the relationship between the Countess and her African American maid, Clementine, in the film as her friend and confidante. The countess has too many suitors much like any Marlene Dietrich film. The one suitor is a poor sailor with a pet monkey and the other is Giraud, an older, wealthy but unattractive man. In this film, the Countess is expected to get married like all women are expected to do in this day and age. The film begins with a mystery of a wedding dress found in the Mississippi River. There are plenty of light hearted moments as well. Still, this film is fine to watch.