La femme et le pantin

Original title: The Devil Is a Woman

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Marlene Dietrich in La femme et le pantin (1935)

A young man is warned by a captain about a temptress; nonetheless, he finds himself falling in love with her.A young man is warned by a captain about a temptress; nonetheless, he finds himself falling in love with her.A young man is warned by a captain about a temptress; nonetheless, he finds himself falling in love with her.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

4.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total

Photos44

+ 38

Top cast24

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Marlene Dietrich

Concha Perez

Lionel Atwill

Capt. Don Pasqual 'Pasqualito' Costelar

Edward Everett Horton

Gov. Don Paquito 'Paquitito'

Alison Skipworth

Senora Perez

Cesar Romero

Antonio Galvan

Don Alvarado

Morenito

Tempe Pigott

Tuerta
(as Tempe Piggott)

Francisco Moreno

Alphonso
(as Paco Moreno)

Max Barwyn

Pablo
(uncredited)

Eumenio Blanco

Minor Role
(uncredited)

Eddie Borden

Reveler with Balloon
(uncredited)

Jill Dennett

Maria
(uncredited)

Luisa Espinel

Gypsy Dancer
(uncredited)

John George

Street Beggar
(uncredited)

Lawrence Grant

Duel Conductor
(uncredited)

Hank Mann

Foreman on Snowbound Train
(uncredited)

Edwin Maxwell

Tobacco Plant Manager
(uncredited)

Kewpie Morgan

Coachman
(uncredited)

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The Spanish government threatened to bar all Paramount films from Spain and its territories unless the film was withdrawn from worldwide circulation. They protested the unfavorable portrayal of the Spanish police. Paramount destroyed the original print after its initial run, and it remained out of circulation until 1959. According to Andrew Sarris in his biography of Josef von Sternberg, a copy of the work was provided by von Sternberg for a screening at the 1959 Venice Film Festival, and The Devil Is a Woman received a limited re-release in 1961. Marlene Dietrich herself kept a print of the film in a bank vault for safe keeping, as it was her favorite film. She feared the film would otherwise be lost. New prints were struck from her private copy in the 1980's for art house release. The superb quality of the prints in circulation now , and on DVD are because of this fact.

Quotes
Capt. Don Pasqual 'Pasqualito' Costelar: As the devil would have it, I was in town one day with nothing to do and joined some fool committee or other that was investigating labor conditions in a cigarette factory. I'd heard there were some pretty girls there.

Connections
Featured in Marlene (1984)

Soundtracks
Capriccio Espagnol, Op.34
Music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Played during the opening credits and as background music often

User reviews42

Featured review

The one thing everyone seems to miss

The one thing everyone seems to miss Is that Lionel Atwill looks a lot like Sternberg. Looking at the Dietrich/Sternberg collaborations it's hard not to notice that Adolph Menjou, Herbert Marshall, and Lionel Atwill seem to be Sternberg surrogates, which knowing about the Dietrich/Sternberg relationship, adds a perversity and depth to viewing the films.

If you look at the screen test for Blue Angel available on the blue angle DVD, you can already see Dietrich's disdain that seems an enormous part of her screen character in their collaborations. The Devil is a Woman is a story of a man who ruins his career in pursuit of a woman. Pretty hard not to see parallels to Sternberg's career. This was his last big budget film and one that remains a lasting testament to "l'amour fou."