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Von Sternberg
Belligerent and evasive, Josef von Sternberg chose to ignore his illegitimate birth in Austria, deprived New York childhood, abusive father, and lack of education. The director who strutted onto the set in a turban, riding breeches, or a silk robe embraced his new persona as a world traveller, collected modern art, drove a Rolls Royce, and earned three times as much as the president.
Von Sternberg traces the choices that carried the unique director from poverty in Vienna to power in Hollywood, including his eventual ostracism in Japan. Historian John Baxter reveals an artist few people the aesthete who transformed Marlene Dietrich into an international star whose ambivalent sexuality and contradictory allure on-screen reflected an off-screen romance with the director.
In his classic films The Blue Angel (1930), Morocco (1930), and Blonde Venus (1932), von Sternberg showcased his trademark visual style and revolutionary representations of sexuality.
Drawing on firsthand conversations with von Sternberg and his son, Von Sternberg breaks past the classic Hollywood caricature to demystify and humanize this legendary director.
Von Sternberg traces the choices that carried the unique director from poverty in Vienna to power in Hollywood, including his eventual ostracism in Japan. Historian John Baxter reveals an artist few people the aesthete who transformed Marlene Dietrich into an international star whose ambivalent sexuality and contradictory allure on-screen reflected an off-screen romance with the director.
In his classic films The Blue Angel (1930), Morocco (1930), and Blonde Venus (1932), von Sternberg showcased his trademark visual style and revolutionary representations of sexuality.
Drawing on firsthand conversations with von Sternberg and his son, Von Sternberg breaks past the classic Hollywood caricature to demystify and humanize this legendary director.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 2010
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About the author
John Baxter
229 books123 followersJohn Baxter (born 1939 in Randwick, New South Wales) is an Australian-born writer, journalist, and film-maker.
Baxter has lived in Britain and the United States as well as in his native Sydney, but has made his home in Paris since 1989, where he is married to the film-maker Marie-Dominique Montel. They have one daughter, Louise.
He began writing science fiction in the early 1960s for New Worlds, Science Fantasy and other British magazines. His first novel, though serialised in New Worlds as THE GOD KILLERS, was published as a book in the US by Ace as The Off-Worlders. He was Visiting Professor at Hollins College in Virginia in 1975-1976. He has written a number of short stories and novels in that genre and a book about SF in the movies, as well as editing collections of Australian science fiction.
Baxter has also written a large number of other works dealing with the movies, including biographies of film personalities, including Federico Fellini, Luis Buñuel, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, George Lucas and Robert De Niro. He has written a number of documentaries, including a survey of the life and work of the painter Fernando Botero. He also co-produced, wrote and presented three television series for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Filmstruck, First Take and The Cutting Room, and was co-editor of the ABC book programme Books And Writing.
In the 1960s, he was a member of the WEA Film Study Group with such notable people as Ian Klava, Frank Moorhouse, Michael Thornhill, John Flaus and Ken Quinnell. From July 1965 to December 1967 the WEA Film Study Group published the cinema journal FILM DIGEST. This journal was edited by John Baxter.
For a number of years in the sixties, he was active in the Sydney Film Festival, and during the 1980s served in a consulting capacity on a number of film-funding bodies, as well as writing film criticism for The Australian and other periodicals. Some of his books have been translated into various languages, including Japanese and Chinese.
Since moving to Paris, he has written four books of autobiography, A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict, We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light, Immoveable feast : a Paris Christmas, and The Most Beautiful Walk in the World : a Pedestrian in Paris.
Since 2007 he has been co-director of the annual Paris Writers Workshop.
Baxter has lived in Britain and the United States as well as in his native Sydney, but has made his home in Paris since 1989, where he is married to the film-maker Marie-Dominique Montel. They have one daughter, Louise.
He began writing science fiction in the early 1960s for New Worlds, Science Fantasy and other British magazines. His first novel, though serialised in New Worlds as THE GOD KILLERS, was published as a book in the US by Ace as The Off-Worlders. He was Visiting Professor at Hollins College in Virginia in 1975-1976. He has written a number of short stories and novels in that genre and a book about SF in the movies, as well as editing collections of Australian science fiction.
Baxter has also written a large number of other works dealing with the movies, including biographies of film personalities, including Federico Fellini, Luis Buñuel, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, George Lucas and Robert De Niro. He has written a number of documentaries, including a survey of the life and work of the painter Fernando Botero. He also co-produced, wrote and presented three television series for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Filmstruck, First Take and The Cutting Room, and was co-editor of the ABC book programme Books And Writing.
In the 1960s, he was a member of the WEA Film Study Group with such notable people as Ian Klava, Frank Moorhouse, Michael Thornhill, John Flaus and Ken Quinnell. From July 1965 to December 1967 the WEA Film Study Group published the cinema journal FILM DIGEST. This journal was edited by John Baxter.
For a number of years in the sixties, he was active in the Sydney Film Festival, and during the 1980s served in a consulting capacity on a number of film-funding bodies, as well as writing film criticism for The Australian and other periodicals. Some of his books have been translated into various languages, including Japanese and Chinese.
Since moving to Paris, he has written four books of autobiography, A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict, We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light, Immoveable feast : a Paris Christmas, and The Most Beautiful Walk in the World : a Pedestrian in Paris.
Since 2007 he has been co-director of the annual Paris Writers Workshop.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 5, 2017
Very satisfying biolgraphy that walks the fine line between being informative and entertaining without outstaying its welcome.
Of course, it's not perfect, not quite. There could have been a bit more opinion by the author as to which of von Sternberg's films he preferred and why rather than just analysis and contemporary reception. Reading this, you get a good idea of the director's flaw so in order to understand why he was great you have to actually watch his films, too.
But overall, I utterly enjoying this.
Predictably and correctly, a major section of the book is dedicated to the relationship, both professional and personal, between Marlene Dietrich and von Sternberg. And what a relationship it was.
Highly recommended to anybody interested in von, and/or Hollywood's most classic era
Of course, it's not perfect, not quite. There could have been a bit more opinion by the author as to which of von Sternberg's films he preferred and why rather than just analysis and contemporary reception. Reading this, you get a good idea of the director's flaw so in order to understand why he was great you have to actually watch his films, too.
But overall, I utterly enjoying this.
Predictably and correctly, a major section of the book is dedicated to the relationship, both professional and personal, between Marlene Dietrich and von Sternberg. And what a relationship it was.
Highly recommended to anybody interested in von, and/or Hollywood's most classic era
July 20, 2017
Insightful biography of Hollywood director Josef von Sternberg, a man of contradictions. His dictatorial manner didn't endear him to the Hollywood community. He saw film as an inherently visual medium, and narrative of minor importance. This attitude served him well in some of his silent films and his first successful films with Marlene Dietrich, but, once success stopped, Hollywood had no further use for this uncompromising man. Most recommended films: Shanghai Express and Docks of New York.
July 12, 2022
Another book of John Baxter's I didn't like. (I did love one of his) I usually give a book 50 pages before abandoning, which I think is fair. I pledged a little farther in this book and made it to page 78, but I have to abandon ship.
The writing is so DRY. Facts and dates and peoples' names are supplied as if on a roster. There's no warmth to this, no life.
I had just finished Maria Riva's book on her mother, Marlene Dietrich and was hoping to learn more about Von Sternberg in the same way, but it's mostly about his films with so many details it gets bogged down. John Baxter's way of writing is not in sync with my reading preferences.
The writing is so DRY. Facts and dates and peoples' names are supplied as if on a roster. There's no warmth to this, no life.
I had just finished Maria Riva's book on her mother, Marlene Dietrich and was hoping to learn more about Von Sternberg in the same way, but it's mostly about his films with so many details it gets bogged down. John Baxter's way of writing is not in sync with my reading preferences.
Read
December 4, 2020A very well written book. I liked how the chapters were kept short and concise to separate the various topics of his life. I also like how the book very much focused on his work and did not labor extensively over his ending years and death.
The writing was very readable, and overall this was a good treatment of Von Sternberg's life and career.
The writing was very readable, and overall this was a good treatment of Von Sternberg's life and career.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews