Marlene Dietrich was a German-born, iconic classic film star known for her cool confidence, sultry expressions, and acting talent. She’s also known for her association with long-time collaborator and director Josef von Sternberg, who took ownership over her image and took credit for “discovering” Dietrich. The Blue Angel (1930), made in Germany, was the film that launched Dietrich’s career. After The Blue Angel saw success, Dietrich and von Sternberg came to America, and Dietrich signed a contract with Paramount. This launched Dietrich into the Hollywood star system, and her career would never be the same. 

Unlike the powerful publicity system that had been established in Hollywood by the 50’s, Paramount used strategies like the star vehicle and star/genre association to establish Dietrich’s reputation as a trained and talented actress. The star vehicle is a film made with a star’s image/career in mind, and these films would give space for her to showcase her acting talents. As for genre, Dietrich’s films shared a film noir style and featured musical acts. Before she acted in films, Dietrich was a vaudeville performer– the ‘moment before stardom’ that gave Dietrich’s actor star image a sense of legitimacy. She also played similar characters, which created a sense of familiarity for her roles. 

To promote her films, Paramount released a series of publicity photos of Dietrich that encapsulated her established attributes and communicated the style and tone of her films. The photos were in high contrast black and white, film-noir style. Dietrich herself is centered in these photos, in one of them she is defiantly smoking a cigarette, looking right at the camera, slightly intimidating. Her facial expressions are serious, denoting drama, and parts of her face or body are obscured by either her hat or the dark background. Her cheek and jaw bones are defined and sharp, lending to a beauty without softness.

So, why was Dietrich so popular? What about her image resonated with the discourse of her time? In Stars Part 2, Richard Dyer says that “star images function crucially in relation to contradictions within and between ideologies, which they seek variously to ‘manage’ or resolve.” (38) For Marilyn Monroe, the ideology her image seeked to ‘resolve’ was the question of female sexuality. For Dietrich, I think her image more broadly caused the audience to question how women should behave and present themselves. This is evident in Morocco, as Dietrich’s character Amy performs at a club in drag to the chagrin of the club manager and to the shock and awe of the large audience. 

It could be argued that Dietrich’s image was empowering for women who watched her films and perhaps felt trapped in their limited options of acceptable gender expression. Dietrich showed women, especially in Morocco, that transgression was not only possible, it was glamorous. Even if it caused a commotion, her performance gained the attention of Tom Brown, played by Gary Cooper. This is unfortunately where I feel that any sort of meaningful empowerment stops–Dietrich’s character is performing for men, and her stunt dressing as a man was brief and designed to be shocking, rather than portrayed as a legitimate mode of expression for her. Right after that performance, she emerges in a tight-fitting dress, emphasizing that she is, in fact, a woman who will play the part, even if she steps outside the lines for a moment.