The Devil Is a Woman (1935)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director/Cinematographer: Josef von Sternberg

Writers: John Dos Passos, Pierre Louÿs

Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Atwill, Edward Everett Horton, Alison Skipworth, Cesar Romero, Don Alvarado, Tempe Pigott, Francisco Moreno

Dietrich is delightful, and von Sternberg photographs her (and everything else, for that matter) exquisitely, but this light-hearted adaptation of Louÿs’s much filmed novel, detailing the oft disastrous effects that a sexy enchantress has on the men in her life, while being entertaining enough whilst it lasts, is soon (except for a few memorable images) forgotten, and there’s a certain inconsequentiality about the whole enterprise – reasonably fun, none the less. Iain.Stott