Getting more search traffic to this blog with terms related to Marlene Dietrich… Wonder why? Oh, right, the wonderful ease it is to find her draped in the largest, most beautiful furs. While I do strive for a little variety, of course, I admit I have trouble passing those images up when I see a “new” one, especially when it’s embed-able. Big fur hat tip to Shanghai Lily, of course.
Deitrich’s Fox Fur Trim
Imagine my surprise when a commenter suggested that one of my favorite fur film moments was not, in fact, fur at all. I speak of Shanghai Express.
The fringe on the garment she wears in the “hat” sequence, which I had presumed was sable, is feathers, or rather down pelts, simliar to the ones that made up the also rather visually appealing white coat she wore in the Dietrich in London special. I see no reason to doubt this assertion, after all, it’s not like they were suggesting there was no fur at all, or that everything in The Mad Miss Manton was fake. No, actually quite reasonable now that I look at it again.
I’ll blame my sable dreams on a combination of low resolution and highly wishful thinking.
Ah, but someone didn’t desecrate her grave because Marlene Dietrich wore a lot of goose down. Thus, finding photos of her wearing real fur is not exactly difficult. What is always enjoyable is finding those few that just knock you off your feet when you see them for the first time. This is one such example:
So the Shanghai Express collar wasn’t sable. I’m pretty dang sure this is fur, so I’ll get over it by picturing this one instead.
Furs on Film – Shanghai Express
So, everything is back to “normal,” which is to say all the reviews have been updated to replace the example shots and all the galleries have been returned. Wanted to get that out of the way before I went ahead with a new post. I haven’t done this since October, so I should probably start with an easy one without much personal significance so I picked… oh crap.
Shanghai Express – The Film
Yes, after months of my complaining, TCM ponied up with the Shanghai Express. This waste of Internet bandwidth pretty much is here again because they did. The story of the 1932 film is of a whimsical train ride through the Chinese countryside between Beijing and Shanghai. Among the notable passengers are “Shanghai Lily” (Dietrich) and Cpt. Harvey (Clive Brook) in addition to others, including an incognito rebel leader (Warner Oland) who eventually takes over the train to find a valuable hostage. Harvey and Lily are “old friends” whose career paths diverged a bit after they broke up five years ago. Harvey is a successful (and highly-ransomable) military surgeon on his way to perform a procedure on the Governor-General of Shanghai and Lily is a prosti- er “courtesan.”
Shanghai Express – The Furs
Actually mostly this film is about the camera making sweet, sweet love to Marlene Dietrich, as well it should. Actually, if you want to know more about the background to the film, check out this TCM Spotlight blog post on it. Lily’s obviously pretty good at her work, since she can afford a very nice wardrobe, which includes a couple of furs and a couple of “other.”
We’ll start with Lily’s “getting off the train” fur. It is thusly named because it is the fur she invariably takes with her anytime she leaves the train. It is a dark cloth coat with a very full silver fox collar. The sizable feathery hat is a one timer, though.
Chronologically this coat appears briefly first, then the “marquee” fur scene on the train appears, then it returns. I’m going to explore this fully instead of bouncing around. The cinematographer, Lee Garmes, should be congratulated for his work on both.
Some of the “iconic” shots of Dietrich come from this film, including this one, where, though it’s sadly hard to tell, she’s wearing the fox collar.
This is couple seconds later, a shot from the opposite angle where the size of the collar is very visible.
Another favorite of mine is in the film. Anna May Wong is Hui Fei, a friend and fellow courtesan who, as usual, is totally deprived of fur. Here Lily wears her silver fox while she talks Miss Wong’s character down from a rash course of action.
Building suspense… This isn’t fur, I know, and I don’t care, she looks amazing in it.
It appears in yet another iconic shot.
Here we are, the train sequence. On paper if you told me a scene featured a brown sable collar and cuff (singular), I’d probably not be too interested in watching it. Yet I will say this is probably one of the greatest fur fashion scenes of all time.
This is the scene where we learn the history of Lily and Captain Harvey, and where Dietrich’s, I believe the clinical term is “smoldering sexuality,” is not just on display, it’s burning through the screen.
There’s a catalog of closeups throughout, and I added way more than I probably should have to the full gallery.
We learn that Lily tested Harvey all those years ago and it didn’t go well. They start the process of kissing and making up.
All a deft move to borrow his hat and produce what I consider one of the most iconic images of Marlene Dietrich.
One of the important things to note as you’re watching this sequence is that her coat has only one cuff, the right.
The left is bare, yet as the sequence plays out, its hard to notice anything but Dietrich and the fur.
Sadly, all stupendously great things come to an end. Some needs to rediscover this “vertical collar” technology stat!
And that’s it. What would I improve? Well, sure, I could say that the train sequence would have been a little better had Dietrich been wearing Irene Dunne’s coat from The Awful Truth, but that almost seems a bit disingenuous. After all, part of the magic of the sequence is the fact that Dietrich and the cinematographer did so much with what, on paper, wasn’t all that great. The film as whole comes up well, with a solid 14% ratio that doesn’t even include that fancy feather number she wears at the beginning and end of the film.
Fur Runtime: approx 11 minutes
Film Runtime: 80 minutes
On-Screen Fur Ratio: 14%
Full Gallery: Fur Fashions of the 1932 film Shanghai Express
Dietrich in Fur – Shanghai Express
Originally uploaded by shanghai ІiІy
Not sure I’ve mentioned this… oh, yes, I have… but I’m a big fan of this scene from Shanghai Express and continue to wait patiently for TCM to show the film, which used to air almost every freaking month, again.
Ironically this publicity shot provides a much clearer view of exactly how much fur “isn’t” there, whereas it’s almost impossible to tell from the way she was shot in the film itself.
Working on an actual update for next week.
Paramount Postcard of Marlene Dietrich in Fur
Originally uploaded by Truus, Bob & Jan too!
So, the blog survived another major WordPress update. Since the blog is technically about fashion I thought maybe a change of “clothing” was in order, so I kicked in the latest “official” theme and messed around with the background and masthead image.
Presented today is Miss Marlene Dietrich, so synonymous with “movie stars wearing fur” that someone went to the trouble of desecrating her grave over it. That’s a hell of an endorsement in my book.
I have my very old Dietrich in Fur page, which relies heavily on old caps of the film Pittsburgh, which TCM has stubbornly refused to re-run in ages. It’s a prime candidate for full review. The train scene in Shanghai Express is also an all-time classic, even though it’s not fox and not an entire coat. It was filmed in such a way that neither of those facts matter.
Fur Super Star – Marlene Dietrich
I’d say I’m starting this series out on an easy one, but that’s the point. Marlene Dietrich is one of those figures who is quite clearly associated with furs. Her on screen fur wardrobe is stocked with classics.
This list is not meant to be exhaustive. I’m concentrating on films I have clips from, and little else. I think it’s a bit disappointing to just write about something and not actually be able to show you.
Shanghai Express
Despite the fact that this is neither fox, nor all fur, it ranks as one of my favorite fur outfits of all time. The coat in this scene is virtually all collar and cuffs, which earns big bonus points. What further heightens the power of the scene is that, with the exception of the introductory shot, you’d never know it wasn’t full fur coat.
After Marlene approaches from the interior of the car, every subsequent shot of her is completely framed in fur. The massive size of the collar and cuffs of the coat make them the only parts visible in the scene. The added touch of appropriating the uniform hat of her old flame only further heightens the beauty of the shots.
This a prime example of a scene where the cinematographer knew exactly how screamingly hot Marlene Dietrich in furs truly was.
Pittsburgh
The white fox cape in Pittsburgh isn’t the only fur in the film, or even the only one Dietrich wears, but it’s the greatest. The runner up is a massive collared coat that I lack a decent still frame on. This massive white fox is an example of why I love the furs of 30’s Hollywood. This type of fox will show up a few more times in the posts like this come, trust me.
The huge fox is fully framed only briefly as they approach the door to the hero’s love pad and enter. The subsequent shots still make good use of Miss Dietrich, as they refrain from pulling in too tightly, allowing us to drink in a fuller view of her shoulders and chest, both beautifully framed in the gleaming white fox.
Oh, and she smokes, too. Once she makes it to the couch, the scene smoothly revolves around her lighting up, in fact.
Stage Fright
Someone apparently noticed Marlene Dietrich looks very good smoking in furs. Like Pittsburgh, this much shorter sequence involves Miss Dietrich lighting up, this time with a full bodied white fox stole on her shoulder.
This is a slightly more “mature” Dietrich, but she wears it better than many of her contemporaries did at the time.
Dietrich in London
It’s probably one of the more famous furs of all time. Marlene Dietrich is probably associated with furs more so because of this one mega-fur than any other reason. Compound that with the fact that shots from this concert performance are used a “B-reel” virtually any time she’s mentioned.
Not that I mind. That thing is amazing.
Full Gallery: Marlene Dietrich in Fur