Morocco (1930)

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writers:

Benno Vigny (play)
Jules Furthman (adaptation)

Release Date:

6 December 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Drama

Plot:

The Foreign Legion marches in to Mogador with booze and women in mind just as singer Amy Jolly arrives from Paris to work at Lo Tinto's cabaret...

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Foreign Legion | Romantic Rivalry | Army | Topless

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 wins

Cast

Gary Cooper	...	Légionnaire Tom Brown
Marlene Dietrich	...	Mademoiselle Amy Jolly
Adolphe Menjou	...	Monsieur La Bessiere
Ullrich Haupt	...	Adjutant Caesar
Eve Southern	...	Madame Caesar
Francis McDonald	...	A Sergeant
Paul Porcasi	...	Lo Tinto, Nightclub Owner

Also Known As:

Amy Jolly (USA) (working title)
Marokko (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Coeurs brûlés (France) [fr]
Herzen in Flammen (Germany) (theatrical title) [de]
Marocco (Italy) [it]
Marocko (Sweden) [sv]
Marokko (Denmark) [da]
Marokko (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
Maroko (Poland) [pl]
Maroko (Greece) [el]
Marrocos (Portugal) [pt]
Marruecos (Spain) [es]
Morocco (Finland) [fi]
Yanik kalpler (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18 | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Guadalupe Sand Dunes, Santa Barbara County, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The infamous scene where Marlene Dietrich kisses another woman - which was added to the script at Dietrich's suggestion - was saved from being cut by the censors by Dietrich herself: she came up with the idea of taking a flower from the woman before kissing her and then giving the flower to Gary Cooper, explaining that if the censors cut the kiss the appearance of the flower would make no sense.

Quotes:

Amy Jolly: You'd better go now. I'm... beginning to like you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Marlene (2000)

Soundtrack:

What Am I Bid for My Apple?

Best film by Dietrich-Sternberg team.

A classic. One of those magic films in which everything works. The casting is a miracle: Dietrich and Cooper, the hottest couple in film history. Marlene never was better than in this film (well, in Shangay express perhaps), even if she looks too big (anyway not as much as in Der blaue engel). It retains the atmospheric brilliance and fascination of that famous (and overrated) first collaboration. Improuvements since that film: much better rhythm (the main problem with Der Blaue Engel, which at times looks completely dead), it gives more importance on gestures, faces and PEOPLE (not just icons or characters). One wonderful song and one of the best love scenes in all history (the one in the bedroom with Cooper playing with a fan and Dietrich showing her legs, neither of them were ever better than in here). The ending is appropriate, and you feel that after all that beauty and magical scenes, in that one hour and a half three people have changed, they just have a different attitude in life and a better understanding of what they need and what they look for). From my point of view the other masterpiece by Sternberg-Dietrich is Shangai Express.