tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post4250496385146786028..comments2023-10-31T10:21:00.796-04:00Comments on Thanks for the Use of the Hall: MoroccoDan Sallitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13136066978329749513noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-35517829179120801012009-12-24T05:23:00.045-05:002009-12-24T05:23:00.045-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administra...This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.bathmate mateushttp://www.bathmateus.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-18436916391681457552009-02-19T11:13:00.000-05:002009-02-19T11:13:00.000-05:00Are you searching for NICE ARABIC SONG?, They can ...Are you searching for NICE ARABIC SONG?, They can make you enjoy very much and also islamic sermon (TAUSIYAH / KULTUM), just click here and they are free for you<br>http://senandungarab.blogspot.com/Zontrisman Sainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08596636321457859079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-47747412615065302322007-07-12T12:18:00.000-04:002007-07-12T12:18:00.000-04:00David: a variation of that story appears in Sternb...David: a variation of that story appears in Sternberg's autobiography, on p. 242. "In Cannes the Pasha of Marrakech once asked me why I had not visited him while in his domain. I told him I would have paid my respects had I ever been in Morocco, whereupon he said he had seen a film of mine and that it contained scenes photographed on streets that he recognized. He smiled when I told him that this was no more than an accidental resemblance, a flaw due to my lack of talent to avoid such similarity."Dan Sallitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13136066978329749513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-26878234229312066442007-07-12T07:27:00.000-04:002007-07-12T07:27:00.000-04:00In terms of realism, there's a story that the ...In terms of realism, there's a story that the King of Morocco was outraged when he saw the film, since he hadn't given Paramount permission to film in his domain. So HE was obviously convinced. Although this COULD be the invention of a publicity department...<br>Sternberg would later outrage a foreign power for real with THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN.D Cairnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10011972431535816835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-54699955704287960572007-07-04T16:02:00.000-04:002007-07-04T16:02:00.000-04:00Daniel - it's true that I was thinking about t...Daniel - it's true that I was thinking about the way that some Sternberg gestures express a philosophical state of detachment (one that generally floats free of the characters and inhabits the film at large). But I agree that that's only one angle on the (vast) subject.<br><br>Sometimes there's no easy answer to the question "Who makes the gesture?" In the case of Amy striking the glass, I chose to think of the gesture as the character's, as reflecting Amy's mental state. The fact that I attributed to Amy a mental state that sounds a lot like Sternberg's sensibility is a clue that the signification is shifty.<br><br>In a different zone of the continuum, think about Amy's expression in the boat scene, as la Bessiere repacks her fallen bag for her. As if following stage directions too rotely, and rather impishly, Amy looks down at la Bessiere, then quickly out over the boat's prow, then down again. It's the kind of acting that we'll see much more of in Sternberg's films after <b>Morocco</b>. There's an aspect of camp here, and definitely humor: it's more the actor making the too-abrupt glances, not so much the character. And yet, if some behavior is being sent up, it's not an obvious movie cliche - certainly nothing that motivates such blatant distancing. Sternberg and Dietrich are lifting themselves a bit above the plot, above the mechanics of storytelling, having a little fun.<br><br>To connect this back to the tapping of the glass: one can attribute the exaggerated eye gestures to Amy, to the character, if one wants. There's a big hermaneutic gray zone in Sternberg's films, a place where character psychology and directorial expression cross back and forth. Does Tom Brown own the big gesture of putting a flower behind his ear? Does Amy own the gesture of kissing la Bessiere's female friend? To an extent, both characters are knowing...but characterization alone doesn't motivate the gestures adequately. <br><br>And then, moving all the way to the other end of the continuum, there are grand gestures that don't obviously have that bit of humorous distance. The ending comes to mind, of course: for instance, Amy's wild gesture of turning back to la Bessiere as she stands under the arch, throwing one arm over her head in melodramatic fashion. Here we're deeper into the realm of camp - and Susan Sontag made a point of using the American Sternberg-Dietrich films as a particular example of the phenomenon. Not being a natural when it comes to camp, it took me a number of years to realize that it's not all about laughing at the subject matter, that camp can be a way to pass quickly to big emotions. For me, that moment is very serious...but Sternberg and Dietrich are maintaining some distance from the gesture by stylizing it, and some viewers take the stylization as comedy. Clearly Amy owns the gesture: it's her anguish that propels Dietrich's arm. But I think we're still in that gray zone, where Sternberg and Dietrich are guiding us carefully and solemnly to the beating heart of melodrama.<br><br>A lot of the time I think that Sternberg wants less to help us see deeper into characters than to make us realize their unknowability. The scene of Tom Brown's dressing-room about-face, which you mention in this context, does contain a few clues to what might be motivating Tom: he overhears that he is standing in the way of Amy's union with la Bessiere; and he spots the fancy bracelet, evidence of the comfortable life that Amy could have. But, of course, all clear signs of decision are withheld: no close-ups, no change of attitude, no change of behavior, no sadness creeping in. All we see is a quintessentially Sternbergian sense of the lightness of physicality, an playful exaggeration of gesture, a sense of Tom stage-managing his own transit.Dan Sallitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13136066978329749513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-80145796523013828322007-07-02T16:34:00.000-04:002007-07-02T16:34:00.000-04:00This is also one of my favorite movies. In regard...This is also one of my favorite movies. In regards to one of your observations, that characters seem to play with objects, this connects in my mind with Sternberg's emphasis on gestures. This emphasis begins most grandly in terms of gestures of behavior, Amy Jolly marching off at the end being most notable and emblematic, but I think can be traced down to turns of the head, bodily posture, and interaction with objects that are part of Sternberg's complex way of having his characters, who are so often masking their real selves or feelings, express themselves.<br><br>The one I most recently noted, and which unfortunately is not from <i>Morocco</i>, is Gloria Grahame's final gesture in <i>Macao</i>, flipping her cigarette away to signify signal her betrayal. I know this isn't quite what you are getting at, as you are talking about abstract mindstates interacting with elements of decor, but I think the link is still there, as this interaction is clued in as a gesture that help the audience see deeper into characters that are kept at a distance, whose motivations introverted and decisions strange (I never get over the strangeness of Cooper's about-face in Amy Jolly's dressing room, scrawling his goodbye on the mirror).Daniel Kasmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00090178978468389578noreply@blogger.com