Marlene
Book description
A lush, dramatic biographical novel of one of the most glamorous and alluring legends of Hollywood's golden age, Marlene Dietrich-from the gender-bending cabarets of Weimar Berlin to the lush film studios of Hollywood, a sweeping story of passion, glamour, ambition, art, and war from the author of Mademoiselle Chanel. Raised…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Marlene as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
A novel about Marlene Dietrich held a natural attraction for me, as Dietrich was one of Dolores del Río’s close friends in Hollywood. Gortner paints a vivid picture of decadence in pre-War Berlin, where Dietrich finds work in music halls. There, she meets Joseph von Sternberg, who casts her as the lead of The Blue Angel, the film that launches her career. As antisemitism grows in Germany, von Sternberg, who is Jewish, leaves for Hollywood, and Dietrich follows him. Paramount Pictures finds in her the answer to MGM’s sexy Swedish star, Greta Garbo, and casts her in one hit…
From Bárbara's list on female stars who made a difference.
Marlene Dietrich is one of the iconic figures of 20th century Hollywood—actress, singer, photographer’s dream model. She carried the exotic and scandalous and artistic aspects of Weimar Germany with her when she arrived in Hollywood, and leveraged them into stardom. But the rise of fascism and the onset of World War II put her native country in conflict with her adopted one. Gortner’s novel relies on first-person narrative to explore Dietrich’s life, professional and personal, in a revealing and moving fashion. This novel is a reminder that Golden Age Hollywood would have been a very different place without the…
From Margaret's list on set in golden age Hollywood.
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