Sternberg here doesn't even bother to hide his "not giving a flying f... about story and characters" attitude, it's almost admirable, really. There are plot gaps throughout the film that the viewer is just supposed to accept. Characters have no past and not more than one goal + one desire. For most characters the desire comes in the shape of Marlene's character and indulging in that desire certainly never benefits their reaching of the goal. What's stronger, their desire or their discipline when it comes to reaching their goal? Well, this changes from scene to scene and from character to character.
Sternberg fails miserably in making an unengaging film, he engages through style. His films shouldn't be exciting but I find them to be just that. The sets here are a lot less imposing than they are in 'Shanghai Express' and in 'The Scarlet Empress' and the light and shadow play isn't nearly as prevalent. But just as in those movies the frame is pretty narrow and he instead crams those frames with a lot of detail. Somehow he can show a person standing in front of just a few meters of wall for the entirety of the scene and make the viewer visualize the rest of the location which no doubt does exist and surely is magnificent if only the cinematographer would choose to zoom out, just that he never does.
Marlene has a scene in which the glamorous Austrian hooker transforms into a simple-minded Russian lower class cleaning woman in which not only her appearance but also her whole being changes drastically, it's quite impressive. And has any filmmaker ever used this many superimpositions? He knew how to use them, too, superimpositions being an essential part of his storytelling.
Sternberg fails miserably in making an unengaging film, he engages through style. His films shouldn't be exciting but I find them to be just that. The sets here are a lot less imposing than they are in 'Shanghai Express' and in 'The Scarlet Empress' and the light and shadow play isn't nearly as prevalent. But just as in those movies the frame is pretty narrow and he instead crams those frames with a lot of detail. Somehow he can show a person standing in front of just a few meters of wall for the entirety of the scene and make the viewer visualize the rest of the location which no doubt does exist and surely is magnificent if only the cinematographer would choose to zoom out, just that he never does.
Marlene has a scene in which the glamorous Austrian hooker transforms into a simple-minded Russian lower class cleaning woman in which not only her appearance but also her whole being changes drastically, it's quite impressive. And has any filmmaker ever used this many superimpositions? He knew how to use them, too, superimpositions being an essential part of his storytelling.