Book description
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 knew: 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. John Baxter, codirector of the annual Paris
Writers Workshop, is the author of Immovable Feast: A Paris Christmas
and We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light, as well
as biographies of many Hollywood luminaries including Federico Fellini,
Luis Buñuel, Steven Spielberg, Ken Russell, George Lucas, Woody Allen,
Stanley Kubrick, and Robert DeNiro. He lives in Paris, France.
