One of six films that Austrian-born Josef von Sternberg made with German star Marlene Dietrich in Hollywood, marking one of the most legendary partnerships in cinema history. Like Garbo's Mata Hari released in the same year, this atmospheric pre-Code romantic spy thriller was loosely based on the popular story of the sultry Dutch double agent. Dietrich plays a young widow turned streetwalker who is recruited to spy on the Russians for Austria during WWI.
Adopting code name X-27, Dietrich’s heroine devotes her gifts for seduction to the patriotic cause, until she finds a worthy adversary in Russian colonel Kranau (Victor McLaglen), who draws her into a fatal game of cat and mouse and tests the strength of her loyalties. Re-imagining his native Vienna with customary extravagance, Von Sternberg stages this story of spycraft as a captivating masquerade in which no one is who they seem and death is only a wrong note away.
Programme
Spying as a way of filming, and the camera as an espionage tool. From more control to more confusion. Classics to contemporary highlights.
Read more about this programmeWhile the Russian Revolution is in full swing, a British secret agent has to prevent Bolsheviks signing a treaty with Germany. Against his better judgement, he falls in love with a beautiful Russian woman. Major events, love and loyalty feature in this early classic by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca).
80'
USA
IFFR 2019
Three stories of espionage in the Middle East, with images shot on a trip to Cairo in 2016, another to Tehran in 2008 and never-seen-before footage from Sana'a, Yemen. A love story and a suspense tale, mixed in with a dash of comedy and paranoia.
25'
Argentina
IFFR 2019
Impressive docudrama set in Korea about interrogation techniques used on prisoners. Was not allowed to be screened for 45 years.
64'
United Kingdom
IFFR 2019