To begin with, this was another Marlene Dietrich production to rival a Greta Garbo vehicle – namely the same year's MATA HARI (which I own as an original DVD, through Warners, but have yet to check out). It is actually the most overlooked of the 7 collaborations between star and director; even so, German 'enfant terrible' film-maker Rainer Werner Fassbinder once named it one of his all-time Top 10 films! The reasons for this neglect being its inherently archaic quality (the film seems to belong to the Silent era as, indeed, the plot – ironically, supplied by Sternberg himself! – lacks substance and, even more so, credibility: we are told that Dietrich could have been WWI's greatest spy but she only handles two assignments before being captured, her risking life and honor – hence the title – for the sake of uncouth enemy agent and co-star Victor McLaglen and, just as incongruously, an obviously infatuated young officer is shown flipping at her execution!) and cornball tone (Austrian Dietrich disguised as a naïve Russian cleaning lady and cringe-inducingly meowing like a cat in order to flirt with her 'targets', not to mention having McLaglen irritatingly sport a constant grin throughout!). The film does look forward to subsequent (and superior) entries in the 'series': Dietrich would be re-united with both Warner Oland and Gustav von Seyffertitz in her very next venture with Sternberg, SHANGHAI EXPRESS (1932), while the carnival scenes early on (in which McLaglen feigns to be a cripple!) would be reprised in their last effort, THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN (1935)!
Dietrich is literally picked off the streets by Seyffertitz, but he is immediately impressed with her when, offering the protagonist the opportunity of spying against her fatherland, she asks to be excused and summarily fetches the Police! Oland's womanizing weakness (actually an Austrian traitor in cahoots with Russian McLaglen) naturally makes her the ideal choice to expose him: when she does, he congratulates her and, in a nice reversal of the above-mentioned scene with Dietrich's superior, absents himself to commit suicide! Next, she goes after Oland's contact but, having fled back behind his own lines, Dietrich follows in pursuit: they engage in a game of cat-and-mouse but their mutual attraction holds them at bay; when McLaglen is eventually captured, she asks that the two be left alone, ostensibly for questioning but he is given a chance to escape instead! Tried and condemned to death by firing squad, Dietrich bravely faces her destiny: surprisingly, the actual shooting is not flinched upon (no loving final close-up for the star here!), the camera resting on a dejected Seyffertitz passing by the country's insignia embedded in the walls as he walks out of the barracks, his shadow hanging tall over the scenery.
Exquisitely lensed by Lee Garmes, it is mainly in moments such as this that the film really comes to life; with this in mind, while it may not hang together dramatically nowadays, DISHONORED shows off the director's uniquely pictorial sense, as well as moulding the mythic Dietrich image of a mystery woman who could turn men's heads with her alluring beauty but is herself driven by love above all else...
Dietrich is literally picked off the streets by Seyffertitz, but he is immediately impressed with her when, offering the protagonist the opportunity of spying against her fatherland, she asks to be excused and summarily fetches the Police! Oland's womanizing weakness (actually an Austrian traitor in cahoots with Russian McLaglen) naturally makes her the ideal choice to expose him: when she does, he congratulates her and, in a nice reversal of the above-mentioned scene with Dietrich's superior, absents himself to commit suicide! Next, she goes after Oland's contact but, having fled back behind his own lines, Dietrich follows in pursuit: they engage in a game of cat-and-mouse but their mutual attraction holds them at bay; when McLaglen is eventually captured, she asks that the two be left alone, ostensibly for questioning but he is given a chance to escape instead! Tried and condemned to death by firing squad, Dietrich bravely faces her destiny: surprisingly, the actual shooting is not flinched upon (no loving final close-up for the star here!), the camera resting on a dejected Seyffertitz passing by the country's insignia embedded in the walls as he walks out of the barracks, his shadow hanging tall over the scenery.
Exquisitely lensed by Lee Garmes, it is mainly in moments such as this that the film really comes to life; with this in mind, while it may not hang together dramatically nowadays, DISHONORED shows off the director's uniquely pictorial sense, as well as moulding the mythic Dietrich image of a mystery woman who could turn men's heads with her alluring beauty but is herself driven by love above all else...