Morocco Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Morocco Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 3, 2018

Josef von Sternberg's "Morocco" (1930) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include new documentary feature with film scholars Gerd Gemunden and Noah Isenberg; new program with film scholar Janet Bergstrom; vintage radio adaptation of the film; and more. The release also arrives with an 80-page illustrated book featuring essays by critics Imogen Sara Smith, Gary Giddins, and Farran Smith Nehme, as well as detailed technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The singer

The famous sequence in which Marlene Dietrich’s character kisses another woman who has been enjoying her performance with her partner in the smoky nightclub survived by a whisker. It was the 1930s and some very powerful people apparently thought that it was too risky for the big screen, so Dietrich did some extra work to save it. It is not the groundbreaking sequence that some critics have argued it is, but it has a purpose and without it the film unquestionably would have turned out differently.

The beautiful vaudeville singer Amy Jolly (Dietrich) arrives in exotic Morocco to try her luck in a nightclub that has become the favorite spot of the soldiers from the French Legion. On the night when she makes her first appearance in the club, Amy encounters the handsome legionnaire Tom Brown (Gary Cooper), and even though she immediately realizes that he is a womanizer becomes attracted to him. She then flirts with him and he promptly finds the way to her new home.

The singer also attracts the attention of the aging aristocrat Monsieur La Bessiere (Adolphe Menjou), who is a bachelor and has been dreaming of meeting a sophisticate European beauty to settle down with. So while Amy begins to fall in love with the handsome legionnaire, La Bessiere showers her with expensive gifts and eventually declares that he wishes to marry her. The marriage will provide Amy the financial security that so many women desire, La Bessiere bluntly explains, and together they can travel the world and everything that it has to offer. Soon after, the legionnaire gets in trouble with a captain whose wife he has been secretly seeing him, and after he is sent on a dangerous mission Amy marries La Bessiere. For a while she enjoys her new life of luxury, but when news reaches the town that the legionnaire’s unit was nearly wiped out in battle she decides to find out whether he was able to escape. While looking for her former lover, Amy realizes that can’t grow older with La Bessiere.

Morocco introduced Dietrich to American audiences and was her first Hollywood project with Josef von Sternberg. The film also earned the legendary actress her one and only Oscar nomination.

Dietrich already looks like a Hollywood star while trying to decide whether to follow her heart or choose financial security, but the story of her adventurous singer is quite predictable. It is why the little things that she does -- like the ‘spontaneous’ kiss in the club -- are so significant, as they essentially become the primary reason to see the film.

The film has a lovely exotic vibe as well, though von Sternberg and his crew never left the West Coast. Indeed, all of the Moroccan footage, including the desert battles, was shot on location in California and Arizona.

*This home video release of Morocco is sourced from a brand new 2K master that was struck from a 35mm safety fine-grain held by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Morocco Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.19:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Josef von Sternberg's Morocco arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the book provided with this Blu-ray release:

"A new digital transfer of Morocco was created in 2K resolution on a Lasrgraphics Director film scanner at Roundabout Entertainment in Burbank, California, from a 35mm safety fine-grain held at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The film's original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm safety fine-grain.

Transfer supervisor: Lee Kline/Criterion Post. New York.
Colorist: Keenan Novi/Criterion Post."

There are some minor density fluctuations but the overall appearance of the film is very good. Obviously, without age-related and source limitations clarity and depth would be better; delineation should be more convincing as well. However, there is a pleasing consistency in the visuals that makes it clear that work was done to ensure that given the available elements the end result is optimized as best as possible. This is essentially all that one can demand from a project of this nature because there are external factors that are responsible for the present type of visual appearance. The grading is very convincing as well -- there are nicely balanced blacks and whites with optimized natural gray nuances. There are no traces of sharpening adjustments. Debris, cuts, damage marks, an other conventional age-related imperfections are either minimized as best as possible or completely removed. All in all, this is a strong organic presentation of Morocco that will likely remain its definitive presentation on the home video market. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Morocco Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio can be quite 'thin' at times, with sporadic 'flat' spots in the upper frequencies as well. However, you should keep in mind that recording equipment that was used during the production of Morocco was in some ways quite primitive, so what may seem like an obvious issue is usually a native source limitation. There is one particular sequence early into the film where background hiss also makes its presence felt, but after going over it a couple of times my opinion is that the hiss also appears to be a byproduct of the recording audio. The dialog is stable and easy to follow.

Morocco Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Weimar on the Pacific - in this new documentary feature, film scholars Gerd Gemunden and Noah Isenberg discuss the classic cinematic image of Marlene Dietrich, her work with Josef von Sternberg, and her time in Hollywood. The documentary was produced exclusively for Criterion in 2018. In English, not subtitled. (30 min, 1080p).

• Janet Bergstrom - in this video featurette, film scholar Janet Bergstrom discusses the production history of Morocco. The featurette was produced by Robert Fischer for Fiction Factory in 2014. In English, not subtitled. (32 min, 1080p).

• The Real Amy Jolly - in this new video interview, Deutsche Kinemathek curator Silke Ronneburg discusses the real Amy Jolly and some of the differences between her and the character played by Marlene Dietrich in Morocco. The interview was conducted in 2018. In German, with optional English subtitles. (5 min, 1080p).

• The Legionnaire and the Lady - presented here is a vintage radio adaptation of Morocco which was presented by Lux Radio Theatre on June 1, 1936. In English, not subtitled. (60 min, 1080p).

• Book - 80-page illustrated book featuring essays by critics Imogen Sara Smith, Gary Giddins, and Farran Smith Nehme, as well as detailed technical credits for each film in the box set.

Morocco Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you compare the first films that various European actors made in Hollywood during its early days you will quickly realize that Marlene Dietrich's arrival was amongst the most impressive. Obviously, her previous working experience with Josef von Sternberg certainly helped, but Morocco makes it quite clear that she did not have to undergo a sizeable transformation to have the proper star appearance. So, the Oscar nomination that she earned for her American debut is anything but surprising. (On the other hand, the fact that Dietrich never won an Oscar Award even though she appeared in plenty of better films is quite shocking). Criterion's release is sourced from a very good new 2K restoration of the film, and is included in the Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood six-disc Blu-ray box set. RECOMMENDED.