"The Song of Songs" could never have been made once the new and MUCH tougher Production Code went into force in July, 1934. Up until then, believe it or not, films often had a lot of content that might shock folks today! A few films had nudit, such as in 1925's "Ben Hur". A few featured cursing or people flipping 'the bird' as in 1933's "Parachute Jumper". And, a few had practically EVERY sin known to mankind in them, such as with 1932's "The Sign of the Cross"...which depicted lesbianism, bestiality and more! This was because although there was a production code before 1934, studios routinely ignored it because they realized that sex sells! But by 1934, ticket sales waned and various conservative groups were pushing for boycotts...hence the tough new code.
When the story begins, the country girl, Lily (Marlene Dietrich) leaves her home and heads to the big city, Berlin. Soon she meets Richard (Brian Aherne) and he asks her to model for him, as he's a sculptor. Well, she quickly agrees...not realizing it means NUDE modeling! And, despite her misgivings, she goes through with it and the statue is exquisite*. Soon the pair fall in love, though Richard is a putz and isn't willing to marry her. However, his friend, Baron von Merzbach (Lionel Atwill), sees the statue and adores it...and is determined to meet and marry Lily! She doesn't love the Baron, but she is now alone and helpless. What's next? Well, quite a bit! See the film and find out for yourself what happens to sweet Lily.
This is an odd film, as it tries to be a wicked AND a nice film at the same time. You don't see any nudity...just the beautiful naked statue of Dietrich. And, although her character poses nude, she is no libertine but a nice and likable young lady.
So is it any good? Well, considering it has a lot of slick Paramount touches, it's obvious the studio wanted to make a prestige film. The director isn't her usual Josef von Sternberg but they instead assigned the film to Rouben Mamoulian (a very fine director) and it features an excellent supporting cast, lovely sets and period costumes. It simply looks great. As far as the story goes, it's quite good...though the resolution at the end did seem a bit abrupt. Still, this is one of the actress' better films...well worth seeing and very well made.
*To promote the film, apparently Paramount made many copies of the statue and set them to theaters around the country. I would LOVE to find and purchase one of the statues....though I've not been able to find anything more about it on the internet.
