Von Sternberg

John Baxter

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780813126012
• eBook ISBN: 9780813139944
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Belligerent and evasive, Josef von Sternberg chose to ignore his illegitimate birth in Austria, deprived New York childhood, abusive father, and lack of education. The director who strutted onto the set in a turban, riding breeches, or a silk robe embraced his new persona as a world traveller, collected modern art, drove a Rolls Royce, and earned three times as much as the president. Von Sternberg traces the choices that carried the unique director from poverty in Vienna to power in Hollywood, including his eventual ostracism in Japan. Historian John Baxter reveals an artist few people knew: the aesthete who transformed Marlene Dietrich into an international star whose ambivalent sexuality and contradictory allure on-screen reflected an off-screen romance with the director. In his classic films The Blue Angel (1930), Morocco (1930), and Blonde Venus (1932), von Sternberg showcased his trademark visual style and revolutionary representations of sexuality. Drawing on firsthand conversations with von Sternberg and his son, Von Sternberg breaks past the classic Hollywood caricature to demystify and humanize this legendary director.

Index

The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the e-Book. Please use the search function on your e-Reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

Acosta, Mercedes de

Adlon, James

Adolph, Karl

Adorée, Renée

Ahearne, Brian

Albers, Hans

Alexandrov, Grigori

All Quiet on the Western Front

Alraune

American Society of Cinematographers

American Tragedy, An (film)

American Tragedy, An (novel)

Amy Jolly, Die Frau au Marrakesch

Andriot, Lucien

Angel

Anna Christie

Archainbaud, Georges

Arlen, Richard

Armstrong, John

Arnheim, Rudolf

Arnold, Edward

Arthur, George K.

Arzner, Dorothy

Asher, Harry

Astaire, Fred

Atwill, Lionel

Bacall, Lauren

Backwash

Baclanova, Olga

Badger, Clarence

Bad Girl

Baer, Max

Baker, Josephine

Baker, Nellie Bly

Ballard, Lucien

Ballbusch, Peter

Ballin, Hugo

Ballin, Mabel

Bancroft, George

Bankhead, Tallulah

Banky, Vilma

Banton, Travis

Barry, Joan

Barrymore, John

Bast, William

Beautiful and Damned, The

Beery, Wallace

Belling, Rudolf

Bellows, George

Bennett, Joan

Bergan, Ronald

Berger, Ludwig

Bergner, Elisabeth

Bern, Paul

Bernhardt, Kurt

Bernhardt, Sarah

Big Parade, The

Big Sleep, The

Bing, Herman

Biro, Lajos

Birrell, Tala

Birth of a Nation, The

Bizeul, Jacques

Black Cat, The

Blackmail

Black Oxen

Black Parrot, The

Blind Husbands

Blonde Venus

Blue Angel, The (film; 1929)

Blue Angel, The (film; 1959)

Blue Angel, The (musical)

Blue Light, The

Bogarde, Dirk

Bogdanovich, Peter

Bohemian Girl, The

Bolkosky, Sidney

Borges, Jorge Luis

Borschke, Karl

Borzage, Frank

Bow, Clara

Bradley, David

Brady, William A.

Braver-Mann, B. G.

Brecht, Bertolt

Breen, Joseph

Brent, Evelyn

Brest, Arthur George. See Arthur, George K.

Brice, Monte

Britt, May

Brody, Richard

Brook, Clive

Brooks, Alden

Brooks, Louise

Brown, Clarence

Brownlow, Kevin

Brulatour, Jules

Buchse der Pandora, Die (Pabst)

Buchse der Pandora, Die (Wedekind)

Buñuel, Luis

Burke, Thomas

By Divine Right

Cabanne, Christy

Cafe Elektric

Cain, James M.

Campbell, Mrs. Patrick “Stella,”

Capellani, Albert

Capra, Frank

Capricci...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Screen Classics
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• The Man Who Asked for Onions
• Vienna
• Love and Other Distractions
• An Artist’s Life
• The World, the Flesh, and William A. Brady
• In Uniform
• Over There
• Out There
• Photographing a Thought
• A Genuine Genius
• Three Sheets to the Wind
• The Ascent of Paramount
• The City of Dreadful Night
• A Great Man
• Came the Dawn
• The Lady with the Legs
• Falling in Love Again
• The Woman All Women Want to See
• Spies
• Talk Like a Train
• Come Early, Stay Late
• Russian Dolls
• Moscow Rules
• The End of the Affair
• Cardboard Continental
• Far Cathay
• The Claudius Trap
• Family Ties
• The War at Home
• Americana
• The Seven Bad Years
• Because I Am a Poet
• The Lion Is Loose
• “Why Have I Not Been Given a Woman?”
• Acknowledgments
• Filmography
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index