Peter Bogdanovich Recommends: Directed by Josef von Sternberg

This is part of a series of approximately five-minute reviews and comments about mainly American films; these were all created in the late '80s by Louise Stratten and me for broadcast on television.
I consider this a kind of (I hope) public service to support and encourage film lovers; most of the pictures discussed are available in some form today. PB
*I do not own the rights to any of these film clips and do not mean to infringe on any copyright laws.

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One can understand why von Sternberg was so detested by actors. Those in the fields of cinemotography, art direction and editing all recognized his talents, but von Sternberg rarely, if ever, retruned the favor. Actor William Powell had it inserted into his contract with studios that he would never perform in another von Sterngerg production. Gary Cooper made the same request, Edward Arrnold the same. Von Sternberg made a living hell for Gloria Grahame (an Oscar winner and superb actor) on the fillm Macao (1952). Note that critic Andrew Sarris, in his larglely supportive biographery of von Sternberg, stated that the director had contributed to his own professional demise due to his hostility to actors. A pity, and pathetic, in light of von Stennberg's intelligence and sensitivlity.