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Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend

Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend
By Steven Bach

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Product Description

In an achievement as grand and sweeping as Dietrich's own life, Steven Bach reveals the woman and examines her myth in a biography that will stand as the ultimate authority on a singular star. Based on six years of research and hundreds of interviews—including conversations with Dietrich herself—this is the last, best word on one of the century's greatest movie actresses and performers, an icon who embodied glamour and sophistication for audiences around the globe.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #966542 in Books
  • Published on: 2000-04
  • Released on: 2000-04-04
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 672 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This massive, admiring biography refutes the notion that Marlene Dietrich's femme fatale image was wholly the invention of director Josef von Sternberg. Bach, a film producer and author of Final Cut, who studied with von Sternberg, portrays the latter as a megalomaniac whose amorous frustrations with the star he had created drove him to maintain that she was a puppet who danced to his strings. Bach rejects the standard comparisons with Garbo as he plumbs Dietrich's special blend of erotic power, irony and humor and limns a strong-willed woman whose innumerable sexual affairs satisfied a simple need for companionship. He divulges that Dietrich's sister Elisabeth, whose existence the actress denied, belonged, with Elisabeth's husband, to a group that entertained Nazis at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Strong on film and stage criticism but less intimately revealing than Donald Spoto's Blue Angel (Forecasts, July 13), this engrossing biography is especially good on Dietrich's early career, her valiant anti-Nazi efforts and her phoenixlike rebirth as a troubadour-actress. More than 100 photos, a filmography and a discography will also please fans. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

New York Times Book Review
"If you open it to the right pages in the right mood, you can practically hear the applause still ringing."

From AudioFile
Film star Marlene Dietrich is referred to as "the embodiment of erotic sophistication." When she died in 1992, Steve Bach had already spent six years researching this biography. Roddy McDowell seems to enjoy reading this role, but he finds little artistic challenge in reciting historical research, however lightweight. The program contains just two voicesÐthe uncelebrated narrator's and the star's. McDowell distinguishes Marlene's voice with a little girl's whimper. The result is a sympathetic treatment of this goddess actress, which seems to complement the intent of the author. D.W.K. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Dietrich: the Lord of Discipline5
Having read Maria Riva's book on her mother along with Dietrich's own autobiography, I didn't really expect any new revelations from this book -- but I couldn't have been more wrong! Mr. Bach is to be congratulated on his fascinating and respectable work honoring Miss Dietrich and her life. What a remarkable performer and a remarkable human being. We could sure use a few more like her in today's world. This is a must read for fans of the Lady and the Legend!!