User reviews

After her stunning international success in The Blue Angel, Marlene Dietrich was open to all kinds of film offers from all countries. She shrewdly negotiated with Adolph Zukor at Paramount Pictures in the USA and made her feature film debut in Morocco co-starring with Paramount's number one leading man Gary Cooper. She couldn't have predicted it, but it was a permanent move away from Germany.

Dietrich was a package deal for with her came the director of The Blue Angel Joseph Von Sternberg. No doubt Von Sternberg created the image that we now know her for, sensual, alluring, and standing by her man when she does make her choice.

One thing about Morocco I found different than most of the films I've seen of Dietrich is that she's not in control of the situation. In most films she usually is, but in Morocco Cooper's very much in charge. She's got a wealthy man in Adolphe Menjou panting after her, but she can't see him for beans. It's Gary Cooper an ordinary dogface Foreign Legionaire that she's fallen for.

Cooper in fact plays a part Tyrone Power would affect great success with later, a hero/heel. Cooper is carrying on an affair with the wife of one of the officers at his post when he meets Dietrich. The man must have had something going for him.

Von Sternberg did a great job in creating the atmosphere of not only Morocco, but of the Foreign Legion. Men with forgotten pasts and dubious futures, living only for the moment.

Although I think Marlene Dietrich did better films than Morocco in her Hollywood years, Morocco was a grand and auspicious beginning for her.

It's interesting to read other reviews of Morocco. Some people just don't seem to have a clue, and it would be fascinating to learn what they think of as a good film from this era. Nevertheless, I was surprised to see that only one reviewer mentioned the sound, and that was to criticize it. Sternberg's use of sound as a tool jumped right out at me. There are numerous scenes in this film which have the possibility of being overly tedious and run the risk of being boring. Much is made of Sternberg's visual prowess and the rich texture displayed here, but I'm surprised that everyone seems to be missing the effect of the sound. Throughout the film, in scenes which need to build tension yet are visually somewhat tiresome (Legionaires marching in the street for example) Sternberg uses various sound devices artfully. We hear the monotonous drumbeat as the men march. The longer this goes on, the more irritating it becomes and as a result, puts the audience on edge. This adds to the tension of the scene immensely. The same thing happens in other parts of the film when we hear a short nearly monotone musical phrase repeated over and over ad nauseum, or when the sound of the wind blowing through the trees also becomes irritating. Each time, the scene is intended to build tension and each time, Sternberg's use of sound perfectly complements the visual to achieve the desired effect. This movie is on my "you gotta see this one" list.

"Talkies" had been around just a couple years when Paramount made "Morocco," but watching this film one might think it was a late silent movie. That's because of the dialog - or paucity of it. "Morocco" is a film with few lines and even fewer words in those few lines. But then, the two leads in this early desert flick never were known for their verbosity or lengthy lines of dialog. Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich both grew up in the silent era, and had many films under their belts by 1930. And, both of their careers were noted for roles with little dialog. As very good actors, their expressions and movements spoke a lot.

This is a good movie that gives a feel for the desert, a foreign legion setting, and life in colonial Africa. The time is during the Rif war of 1911-27, between Spain with France as an ally, and Berber tribes from the Rif (mountainous) region of Morocco. The film is based on German novel, "Amy Jolly, the Woman from Marrakesh," by Benno Vigny. Dietrich plays Mademoiselle Jolly, who is a cabaret singer. She is the woman of a love triangle that includes Cooper. Cooper is in a sultry role as Legionnaire Tom Brown.

Cooper was 29 and Dietrich 28 when this film was made. Both got their starts in silent films - Cooper in the U.S. and Dietrich in Germany. Cooper had been in some 50 movies before this and Dietrich had been discovered in Berlin. This was her Hollywood debut.

This is a good early look in sound films of two great stars of the silver screen. Jolly performs a couple of numbers that are risqué.

While traveling from Europe to Morocco by ship, the cabaret singer Mademoiselle Amy Jolly (Marlene Dietrich) meets the wealthy Monsieur La Bessiere (Adolphe Menjou) that offers to "help" her in Morocco, but Amy refuses his offer. Mademoiselle Amy Jolly is hired by Lo Tinto (Paul Porcasi) to sing in his nightclub and in her debut, she meets Monsieur La Bessiere again having dinner with his friends Adjutant Caesar (Ullrich Haupt) and his wife Madame Caesar (Eve Southern). He invites Amy to stay with him, but the singer feels attracted by the lady-killer Legionnaire Tom Brown (Gary Cooper). Amy invites Tom to go to her apartment after the show but their encounter does not work very well. Tom leaves her apartment and Amy follows him. Meanwhile Madame Caesar stalks Tom on the street but he returns with Amy to her apartment. However two thieves attack him and he self-defends and kills the guys. Tom is arrested and Adjutant Caesar unsuccessfully tries to force him to confess that he had met his wife. Monsieur La Bessiere offers to help Tom but he is assigned to a suicide mission with the Foreign Legion. La Bessiere proposes marriage to Amy, but she is divided between her true love with Tom and the comfortable life she might have with the millionaire.

"Morocco" is the first film of Marlene Dietrich in America with a strange triangle of love among a cabaret singer, a legionnaire and a millionaire. The romance has a daring scene for a 1930 film, when Marlene Dietrich kisses Eve Southern on the lips and a magnificent conclusion, unusual in Hollywood movies. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Marrocos" ("Morocco")

Marlene Dietrich made her American debut in "Morocco," directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou. Dietrich plays a sexy cabaret performer who has two men in love with her, Cooper, a member of the foreign legion, and Menjou, a wealthy man who can give her the world.

This is an early talkie so the rhythm is a bit off and it moves somewhat slowly. Dietrich is beautiful and quite sexy, and she is equaled by the tall, gorgeous Cooper, about 30 years old here and a true hunk if there ever was one.

The end of the film is absolutely stunning and worth the whole film. The restless beating of the drums is really something, too.

MOROCCO is first and foremost an atmospheric film. Anyone who looks for more didn't understand what Josef von Sternberg created here. It's pure atmosphere. A reverie. The film is at times creaky but it's understandable because it was made over 70 years ago! There are several stand-out scenes in MOROCCO, including the famous kiss scene and the one when Marlene breaks a pearl necklace but what makes this Sternberg film so memorable is the stunning ending. Suddenly, the creaky film looks positively contemporary. Are we really in 1930s and not the wild 1970s?!?! The brilliant ending MAKES the movie. Without it, it would probably have been an enjoyably moody but average 1930s flick. With it, MOROCCO becomes a timeless classic. It's probably the most stunning ending ever made, with so many layers of meaning with that one prolonged static shot. It's visually brilliant and sexy on so many levels.

MOROCCO is exactly the sort of film you'd expect to find MARLENE DIETRICH in at this early point in her career as the seductress working as a cabaret singer where she attracts the attention of a young legionnaire GARY COOPER and a wealthy older man, ADOLPHE MENJOU. There's never any doubt that the screen chemistry between Dietrich and Cooper in the first cabaret scene will lead to their ultimate romantic attachment, but some viewers will be surprised at the film's memorable ending.

It's easy to see that sound was new when this was made. Some of the dialog sounds stilted and words are spoken more slowly than necessary even by pros like Menjou to make sure the microphone catches every syllable. But the story moves at a nice pace, the exotic settings are photographed in subtle shadings of B&W, and Dietrich gets to warble a few songs in that inimitable style, although her voice sounded much better later on in her career when technical improvements in sound helped improve the quality of her husky vocalizing.

It's a pleasure to see the young GARY COOPER in an early understated performance opposite the sizzling MARLENE DIETRICH--both contribute to the eye candy appeal of a rather sultry epic from Von Sternberg.

Morocco is such a classic of the early silver screen, if you've never seen it, you've got to rent it. It doesn't make Gary Cooper look like a very nice guy, but if you know about his personal life, you already know he wasn't a very nice guy. This is the film famous for Marlene's tuxedo clad performance before she kisses a woman in the audience. This is one raunchy movie! Marlene does look very ravishing in it, so if you're a fan of the German actress, you've got to see one of her classics.

Gary Cooper joins the French Foreign Legion, and he has a fling with a nightclub singer who takes their bedroom romp more seriously than he does. He's a playboy, and he warns her that anyone who falls for him is asking for trouble, but she doesn't listen. This Pre-Code movie spells everything out for the audience. When Gary's superior catches him making sign language at a native girl, he orders him back in line. "What are you doing with those fingers?" he demands. "Nothing...yet," is Gary's answer. Pre-Code, people! In her nightclub, Marlene Dietrich bestows Gary Cooper a flower from her basket. He thanks her but insists the price is too expensive. "You can have it for free, if you like," she offers. Gary smirks and tells her he always pays for what he gets.

Poor Adolphe Menjou, the impeccably dressed (of course), wealthy suitor of Marlene, who offers to marry her. Why he would want to marry a trampy singer, I don't know. But he offers her everything in the world, and she can't give him an answer because she's hung up on Gary. How does this love triangle end? You'll have to watch this famous classic to find out.

The above one-line summary is the only reason to watch this movie - a great reason, too. Forget the story. Forget Gary Cooper's most lame acting ever. The ten-minute nightclub scene packs more unabashed eroticism with Marlene fully clothed, than any two hours of Demi Moore completely undressed.

When "Morocco" came in 1930, the American public finally got to see the star of the German movie "The Blue Angel" That movie wasn't ready for the American market when "Morocco" came out,but rumors about Dietrich's performance were already flying. Dietrich is very good in "Morocco",a atmospheric story of passion and love.She is more natural looking then she would be in her later movies with von Sternberg. Gary Cooper, young and handsome at the time, is the young legionnaire she falls deeply in love with.Who would blame her for deserting her other suitor,who's rich and a very nice fellow, for this hunk of a man. The other part of the love triangle is played by Adolphe Menjou.He's almost Dietrich's equal in this movie.I always feel sorry for him and his unrequited love for Dietrich. "Morocco" is an entertaining movie you have to see several times to enjoy completely.I found it hard to sit through the first time,the second time I really enjoyed it.

Gary Cooper meets Marlene Dietrich in this good-looking film. Need we say more! But I will say that Gary has never looked so appealing and so young. He was very much a pretty boy in his younger days. And, Marlene is a great entertainer with the help of memorable songs.

The plot, who cares! But seriously, there is very little to know. Adolphe Menjou is in love with her, but she basically won't have much to do with him, as long as Coop is around. My favorite little detail is the way it opens and closes. Look closely at the people walking and the animals by them. Its predictable premise may not be much to intrigue the hard to please, but with Marlene who's so good she was nominated for Best Actress, it should be a great way to spend a night at the movies.

Before there was Mogadon, there was Mogador - a town in Morocco in which the wealthy "La Bessiere" (Adolphe Menjou) might have wished for more of the former! His problems all stem from his infatuation with the recently arrived cabaret dancer "Amy" (Marlene Dietrich) who is wowing the crowds in her elegant tuxedo, top hat and stilettos. Also amongst her audience is the roguish legionnaire "Brown" (Gary Cooper) who takes a shine to her and even pays 20F for one of her apples! What now ensues is a lightly comedic love-triangle enterprise peppered with two full length numbers from Dietrich and a little naughtiness from Cooper that sends him deep into the treacherous desert. To be fair, Cooper is not the most impactful here - his performance is just a little too undercooked, but she is on great form as she mischievously plays both men and I did feel a little sorry for Menjou's lovestruck character used to buying everything he wanted. The production is gently tempered with a little sexual fluidity. That's not especially new for European audiences, but I reckon those across the pond might not have been quite so used to a woman so demonstrably fully equipped to function and thrive in a man's world! The scene at the end really did make wonder if "Amy" had really thought things through, though...

Josef Von Sternberg's debut Hollywood feature saw him introduce his German countrywoman to English-speaking audiences in this melodrama of the Foreign Legion played out in the Morocco of the title. The story went that Gary Cooper, himself likewise on the cusp of future stardom, was upset that the director concentrated too much attention on Dietrich but while it's undoubtedly true that this is the case, he himself doesn't come off too badly, both at the end of the movie and career-wise, in seeing his stock rise as a result of his role here.

He's the rebellious but jaded Foreign Legionnaire happy, like so many of his colleagues, to take advantage of the favours offered up by the pursuing band of women who follow them around almost like groupies. Then he bumps into Dietrich's cabaret singer, naturally an excuse for her to parade her long legs and vamp a few songs at the local nightclub.

She's as much a free spirit as him, or so it seems, as we see brilliantly demonstrated in the film's notorious scene of Dietrich suited and heeled planting a kiss on the lips of an abashed upper-class female in one of the most scandalous scenes of the time and which no doubt fuelled speculation ever after about her own sexuality in real life.

Cooper, after warding off the charms of his C. O.'s errant wife moves in on Dietrich but has a rival in the form of a surprisingly young Adolphe Menjou, a sophisticated rich playboy with money to burn, but who nevertheless upholds his own moral code in how to woo a woman even when she's an aspiring nightclub singer.

This triangle plays out at the heart of the movie with both men's hopes raised and dashed as Dietrich struggles about whether to follow her heart or her head. You can probably guess which wins but even if you're right, you'll surely still be impressed by the wordless climax of the movie when we see how far and to what depths she'll lower herself to get her man.

Being such an early talkie, the film naturally can appear to play slowly and at times statically and silently, which may reflect either Von Sternberg's newness to the device or his own artistic vision of how to interpret the narrative.

Either way, I was convinced, boosted by the star appeal of Cooper and particularly Dietrich, who is indeed shot beautifully by her director. Alluring and seductive in her day job, conflicted and confused in her personal life, she does a fine job conveying both.

Slightly dated it may be in more ways than one, particularly in its treatment of women, but this was still a fascinating and at times compelling feature from pre-Code Hollywood and a launching pad for two of the most enduring of its Golden Age stars.

Either if you're a man or a woman, you'll fall for Amy Jolly, that would be read 'amie jollie' = beautiful friend, in French speaking Morocco. Marlene Dietrich not exactly at her best, but very sexy, playing gracefully from a man-eater 'Carmen' (plenty of suggestions linking both characters) to a female sutler, following 'her man' into the desert. First, on high heels shoes, than taking her shoes off, and going on naked feet, along with a handful of native women, and donkeys, and she-goats. One tends to forget the great director (von Sternberg) behind this great woman-star, and that's unjust. The script may have been good, but it would not develop onto this smooth running 90 minutes of relative inaction (for 21st century standards), but for the cleverly devised sequences, photography, and dialogues.

I'm so glad I finally saw this movie yesterday on the big screen, at a special session. Those who can't afford this luxury, certainly can afford renting, nay, buying this video?

Marlene Dietrich is aboard ship to Mogador. An officer explains to fellow passenger Adolphe Menjou she's probably a vaudeville performer; they call one-way passages like her a suicide ticket. Her first night performing at Paul Porcasi's place she's a sensation. Soon she's beginning a tentative relationship with Foreign Legion private Gary Cooper. But Menjou is still in there, pitching.

Josef von Sternberg & Miss Dietrich's first American film still shows a lot of hesitancy with sound. There are vast silences between lines, giving this movie an air of being a chapter-heading show, with the lines explaining what is going on.... but you don't need to be told, the heat is palpable: not just the sexual heat, but the desert heat. Unfortunately, the prints available are not in great shape, and Lee Garmes' sharp images of vonn Sternberg's always rococo set designs are as much inferred as seen.

'Morocco' may not be the best of the seven Marlene Dietrich-Josef Von Sternberg collaborations, but there is so much to love and what is loved about their other collaborations is seen aplenty in 'Morocco' as well.

Its weak link is the story, which does creak in the pacing at times, especially in the more uneventful stretches, and it is also threadbare thin and clichéd. Occasionally it is a little stagy in the dialogue too.

However, Dietrich makes her character a real person, her toughness hard-hitting, her risqué-ness sensual and her vulnerability deeply touching. Cooper has rarely looked so young and is incredibly handsome, while his acting was stronger in later years he is still likable and at ease. Menjou is wonderfully dapper. Sternberg directs sumptuously and with adroit atmosphere, of which 'Morocco' is rich in.

There are many memorable scenes, including Dietrich's ornate and deliciously outrageous first appearance, one of the most erotic nightclub scenes on film, a wonderfully romantic love scene and one of the most unforgettably hot kisses in cinematic history.

Visually, 'Morocco' looks great, especially in the luminous lighting and ravishingly atmospheric cinematography. The music is very catchy with some parts ahead of their time. Most of the script is clever and sophisticated and there is still a huge amount to keep one engrossed despite the unexceptional story.

In summary, very good and rich in atmosphere film that has a lot that is hard to forget in the long run. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Marlene Dietrich made her American debut in this romantic drama directed by mentor Josef Von Sternberg. Released in the US before The Blue Angel Dietrich more or less reprises the role of the cabaret singer with a past littered in relationships gone wrong.

Amy Joly books one way passage on a tramp steamer to Morocco. There she finds work at a raucous club that plays to both swells and boisterous legionnaires where she meets and becomes attracted to one Pvt. Brown (Gary Cooper), a sybaritic hound who is immediately drawn to her but not about to give up his ways with other women.

Lee Garmes chiaroscuro photography of the medina and portrait work on its glamorous leads along with Hans Drier's lush set design gives Morrocco a solid exotic ambience but it labors under a weak storyline. Sacrificing development Von Sternberg seems to be more concerned with making love to the glacial presence of the alluring Dietrich in a variety of leggy outfits, highlighted by her in top hat and tales planting a kiss on a giddy young lady at the club.

Adolph Menjou as a wealthy pursuer brings a sophisticated magnanimity to his role while Paul Porcasi as the frazzled cabaret manager provides some comic relief. The over the top climax is a bit ridiculous but it did little to impede the Von Sternberg Dietrich combination and runaway success of some of the finest looking productions of the early 30s they would going forward make together.