"Witness For The Prosecution" with Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power

This is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie play written for the screen and directed by Billy Wilder. The story is a murder trial in London at the close of the Second World War.

Charles Laughton stars as the beleaguered and aging Barrister Sir Wilfrid, who has just been released from the hospital. He is recovering from a severe heart attack and cannot take on any more important and exciting cases. A private nurse, played by Elsa Lanchester, follows him about to ensure that he takes his pills and does not smoke his favorite cigars. Much of the film has him outwitting her efforts.(Laughton and Manchester were real life husband and wife.)

Tyrone Power plays an innocent man accused of a capital crime. He meets and befriends an elderly widow who turns up dead one week after having named him heir to her estate. The only person who can provide him with an alibi is his wife, Marlene Dietrich, who plays her character with an icy coldness. She claims that her marriage to Leonard Vole (Power) was a sham and this allows her testimony to be used against her husband, much to his detriment.

Billy Wilder drew remarkable performances from both Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich. Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester are superb in their respective roles and the whole production is flawless.

Ultimately setting her husband free with false testimony and a surprise witness, the ending is explosive as the full realization of what has transpired is laid bare before your eyes. In a climactic scene worthy of Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder pulls off an ending in which the schemers become their own victims.

With one of the best courtroom scenes ever filmed, this is a movie not to be missed.

Marlene Dietrich - "Lili Marlene" - The Biography of a Song.

In the film "Judgment at Nuremberg", with Spencer Tracy and Marlene Dietrich, there is a song which plays in the pub scenes and alehouses. It is a wonderful melody, which belies the bleak surroundings of that bombed out city. It was also the one song which was most favored by the soldiers of both sides during the war. Ms. Dietrich used to sing this song on the Bob Hope tours. I often wonder how she must have felt, a German born star who had found worldwide fame in America, as she toured the bomb ravaged cities of her continent of birth.

The song itself was taken from an old German poem titled "The Song of a Young Soldier on Watch." It was written in 1915 by Hans Leip, who was a schoolteacher from Hamburg, and first recorded in 1939 by Lale Andersen under the title "The Girl under the Lantern".

It appears that the Germans first used this song when they occupied Yugoslavia in 1941, when Yugoslavia's "Radio Belgrade" became "Soldatensender Belgrad", tasked by the Germans with entertaining the German troops.

There have been many versions of this song recorded, both before and after Ms. Dietrich's, which was recorded sometime around 1943. But hers remains the penultimate rendering of this timeless classic. Maybe it's because she was completely anti Nazi and had been ordered by Adolph Hitler to return to Germany as far back as 1935. Her refusal to return resulted in her films and records being banned from the country of her birth.

When the war broke out and the USO tours began, Ms. Dietrich was one of the first to join up in an effort to entertain the troops. And "Lili Marlene" was a natural for her to do. It was German, as was she, and by doing this song, which was also being used by the Germans in their own propaganda; it was like kicking sand in the Fuhrer's face.

At any rate, her performance and recording of this song have made it synonymous with her name. Not a bad legacy at all.

If you are looking for an in depth history of this song you can do no better than this link;

http://280th-usasa-berlin.com/BA%20002%20101%20Lili%20Marlene.html

Note: These are the best translations of the song lyrics I could find. The poem was drastically altered from the original, yet still maintains its integrity. You will notice a great discrepancy in the lyrics, from artist to artist, depending on the various arrangements and styles of singing.

"Lili Marlene" by Hans Leip (altered for Ms. Dietrich about 1942)

Outside the barracks by the corner light,
I'll always stand and wait for you at night.
We will create a world for two.
I'll wait for you the whole night through.
For you, Lilli Marlene.
For you, Lilli Marlene.

Bugler tonight, don't play the Call To Arms,
I want another evening with her charms.
Then we will say goodbye and part.
I'll always keep you in my heart.
With me, Lilli Marlene.
With me, Lilli Marlene.

Give me a rose to show how much you care,
Tied to the stem, a lock of golden hair.
Surely tomorrow you'll feel blue.
But then will come a love that's new.
For you, Lilli Marlene.
For you, Lilli Marlene.

When we are marching in the mud and cold,
And when my pack seems more than I can hold.
My love for you renews my might.
I'm warm again, my pack is light.
It's you, Lilli Marlene.
It's you, Lilli Marlene.

My love for you renews my might,
I'm warm again, my pack is light.
It's you, Lilli Marlene.
It's you, Lilli Marlene.


(This is the original 1937 recording)

"Lili Marlene" by Hans Leip (Original 1937 lyrics)

Underneath the lantern,
By the barrack gate.
Darling I remember
The way you used to wait.
'Twas there that you whispered tenderly,
That you loved me,
You'd always be,
My Lili of the lamplight.
My own Lili Marlene.

Time would come for roll call,
Time for us to part.
Darling I'd caress you
And press you to my heart.
And there neath that far off lantern light,
I'd hold you tight,
We'd kiss good night.
My Lili of the lamplight.
My own Lili Marlene.

Orders came for sailing,
Somewhere over there.
All confined to barracks.
'Twas more than I could bear.
I knew you were waiting in the street.
I heard your feet.
But could not meet.
My Lili of the lamplight.
My own Lili Marlene.

Resting in our billet,
Just behind the line.
Even though we're parted.
Your lips are close to mine.
You wait where that lantern softly gleamed.
Your sweet face seems
To haunt my dreams.
My Lili of the lamplight.
My own Lili Marlene.
My Lili of the lamplight.
My own Lili Marlene.

And this is the translation of the original poem, from which the song was composed;

"Lili Marlene"(Semi-literal Translation of original poem)

In front of the barracks, at the large entrance gate
Stood a lamplight, and if it’s still standing there,
We want to see each other there again
We want to stand at the lamplight
As before, Lili Marlene, as before, Lili Marlene.

Our two shadows appeared as one
That we were so much in love, one saw immediately.
And everyone should see it
When we are standing by the lamplight
As before, Lili Marlene, as before, Lili Marlene.

The sentry had already called out: They are sounding curfew.
“It can cost three days.” “I’m coming momentarily, comrade.”
Then we said goodbye.
How much I wanted to go with you,
With you, Lili Marlene, with you, Lili Marlene.

It [the lamplight] knows your footsteps, your graceful walk
Every evening it is burning, but it forgot about me long ago.
If harm should come to me,
Who will stand at the lamplight,
With you, Lili Marlene, with you, Lili Marlene?

From the quiet place, out of the earthly ground
I am lifted as in a dream to your loving lips.
When the evening mist swirls in
I will be standing at the lamplight
As before, Lili Marlene, as before, Lili Marlene.

This post is for Eddie Ray.

"Marlene" by Charlotte Chandler

This is a book that may very well not have been written. Marlene Dietrich had been retired since the late 1960’s, and with the exception of a few guest “spots” here and there, she was living in an apartment in Paris, one of her beloved cities, when the author, Ms. Chandler, was able to obtain permission to interview her, for this book, in the late 1970's.

If you have never read one of Ms. Chandler’s biographies you are missing a real treat. Her books on Mae West, Groucho Marx, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, to name a few, are more than just biographies. They are personal insights into the stars themselves, in their own words, prompted by Ms. Chandler’s unique way of getting them to open up. And in this book, Marlene Dietrich does just that.

I have always been fascinated by Marlene Dietrich. To me she represented the gritty days prior to the Second World War, when Berlin was a bubbling cauldron of politics, art, music and sex. Who can forget seeing her dressed in a man’s tuxedo while singing to a cabaret full of cigarette smoke and finely dressed patrons? Not me. And yet, in spite of that outward bravado, the Marlene Dietrich known by her colleagues and friends, is surprisingly simple, and at the same time very complex.

From her early film roles in German cinema, to her heady days in Hollywood, and her service at the very front lines of World War Two, she was a most unusual woman.

When Ms. Dietrich was filming “Destry Rides Again”, a western with James Stewart, she became pregnant by him. He asked her what “she was going to do about it?” This was a tremendous insight into Mr. Stewart, who has always been one of my favorite actors. He couldn’t offer to marry her, she was already wed, but still, according to Ms. Dietrich, he should have at least asked. Not that she would have accepted. She was in an open marriage, one in which both parties accepted one another, as well as their mutual affairs.

Part of this book is a narrative by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., with whom the iconic Ms. Dietrich had a five year relationship. He describes his surprise at meeting Ms. Dietrich’s husband, along with his lover, in London. It was all very civilized, but a bit strange, nonetheless. Some of the most interesting stories begin with Mr. Fairbanks; like the time Marlene Dietrich wanted to return to Germany to kill Adolph Hitler with a poisoned hair pin. Hitler was a big fan, and had even ordered her to return to Germany. In any case, she would have been searched before being left alone with him, but the hairpin would probably have worked. She knew that she would probably never get out of Germany again, but considered the risk worth taking in order to regain her native country. At the time that this story took place, Ms. Dietrich was having an affair with Joseph P. Kennedy, father of the future President. It strikes me as no co-incidence that the CIA, under John Kennedy, contemplated using a poison pin to kill Castro in Cuba.

An interesting aside here is that Ms. Dietrich would often be a guest in the Kennedy home, even as she was having an affair with the elder Mr. Kennedy. Years later, when JFK was in the White House, and Jackie was out of the country, she was invited to the Executive Mansion, where the President wasted no time in making his desires known. In Ms. Dietrich’s words, “He was even faster than his father.”

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was madly in love with her, and he recounts some of the most enjoyable stories in the book. They were both in love; he with her, and she with love itself. He did several nude sculptures of her, all of which he broke the heads off of, so the sculptures would not be exploited after her death.

At one point, as England stood poised on the edge of war with Germany, and at the same time that King Edward was about to abdicate the throne for the American divorcee Wallis-Simpson, Ms. Dietrich planned to seduce him to thwart his impending marriage. She couldn't stand to see him throw his royalty away for "that flat chested American woman."

When World War Two broke out she volunteered to work with Bette Davis and all the other Hollywood actresses in the USO, dancing with, and even cooking for the soldiers who passed through. But she felt she wasn’t doing enough, so she sold all of her belongings to join the war effort, going way past where Bob Hope would even go. She saw the death camps, and even had relatives in there. When told she was only allowed 56 pounds of luggage for the trip, she tossed away her gowns and makeup kit, electing to stuff the pockets of her flight suit with dime store fake fingernails, which she felt she could not do without, as they made her feel more feminine.

But there was another side to her that will surprise many people. She loved to cook, and clean the houses of her various lovers. Several are quoted as saying that she never looked more beautiful than when wearing a hairnet, frying eggs for breakfast.

When she elected to appear in the film “Judgment at Nuremberg”, in 1961 with Spencer Tracy, she was able to add authenticity and even some dialogue to her part, as well as the film. This was her last major film, but not the end of her career.

In the 1960’s she did a show in Las Vegas which is still spoken of today by those old enough to remember it. She appeared on stage, singing. Her voice was that of the classic chanteuse. Her musical director was a young Burt Bacharach, who even accompanied her on her tour of the Soviet Union. To quote Ms. Dietrich, “When Burt said; ‘Terrific baby, terrific;’ I could have died of happiness.”

This was a delightful book to read, filled with the stuff that legends are made of. And Ms. Dietrich was that; a legend; even in her own time. If you have never read one of Ms. Chandler’s books, “Marlene” is a great place to start.