3 Classic Marlene Dietrich Films at the Loew’s Jersey Theater

posted by friendsoftheloews on September 17, 2008 at 9:39 am

JERSEY CITY, NJ — A New Season of Classic Film Begins With

Dietrich

September 26 & 27

At the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ 07306 Tel. (201) 798-6055 Fax. (201) 798-4020 Web. www.loewsjersey.org
A Not-For-Profit Arts Center

Rediscover the EXPERIENCE of going to the movies: The BIG screen. The Mighty organ. In a GRAND palace.

“Glamour is what I sell. It’s my stock in trade.” — Marlene Dietrich

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Friday, September 26 at 8PM: The Blue Angel — Starring Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings, Kurt Gerron, Rose Valetti, Hans Albers. Directed by Josef von Sternberg. (1930, 106mins., B&W, Deutsche Universum Film AG [Germany]. Unrated, but not recommended for children.) Shown in the German language version with English subtitles. A brief description of the film is provided below, under “More Movie Info”.

Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for seniors (65+), students with ID & children (12 & younger).**

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Saturday, September 27 at 7PM: Shanghai Express — Starring Marlene Dietich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Eugene Pallette. Directed by Josef von Sternberg. (1932, 80mins., B&W, Paramount.) Unrated, but may not be suitable for children. A brief description of this film is provided below, under “More Movie Info”.

Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for seniors (65+), students with ID & children (12 & younger).**

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Saturday, September 27 at 9PM: Destry Rides Again — Starring James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Winninger, Mischa Auer, Brian Donlevy. Directed by George Marshal. (1939, 94min. B&W, Universal.) Unrated, but is suitable for most audiences. A brief description of this film is provided below, under “More Movie Info”.

Jimmy Stewart’s centenary is being celebrated this year.

Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for seniors (65+), students with ID & children (12 & younger).**

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Combo discounts are available for multiple screenings during the Dietrich series.

All titles will be screened in 35mm.

The Loew’s Is Easy To Get To: The Loew’s Jersey Theatre, at 54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ, is directly across JFK Boulevard from the JSQ PATH Center with trains to and from Lower and Midtown Manhattan and Newark’s Penn Station, is minutes from the NJ Turnpike & easily reached by car or mass transit from throughout the Metro Area.

Half-price off-street parking is available in Square Ramp Garage adjoining the Loew’s. Patrons present a coupon to garage attendant when they leave. Coupon is available at our box office.

What’s Special About Seeing A Movie At The Loew’s? The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre is one of America’s grandest surviving Movie Palaces. We show movies the way they were meant to be seen: in a grandly ornate setting — on our BIG 50 ft wide screen! The Loew’s runs reel-to-reel, not platter, projection, which often allows us to screen an archival or studio vault print that is the best available copy of a movie title.

The Loew’s Jersey is managed by Friends of the Loew’s, Inc. as a non-profit, multi-discipline performing arts center.

For directions or more information: Call (201) 798-6055 or visit www.loewsjersey.org

Classic Film Weekends are presented by Friends of the Loew’s, Inc.

Press inquiries call Colin Egan at (201) 798-6055 or CEL (201) 344-7477. Or email

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AND COMING OCTOBER 3 – 5 :

Wonder Weekend
— The Grand Re-Dedication & Celebration
of the Loew’s Jersey’s “New” Wonder Morton Organ

Nationally acclaimed organist Jelani Eddington in concert on Fri., October 3 at 8PM and Lew Williams on Sat., October 4 at 3PM.
Dennis James accompanying “Flesh and the Devil” starring Greta Garbo on Sat., October 4 at 8PM.
And Ralph Ringstad, Jr., newly appointed house organist for the Loew’s, with the Silver Starlight Orchestra
performing American standards on Sun., October 5 at 4PM.

For ticket pricing and more info, call (201) 798-6055 or go to www.gstos.org

For 11 years, volunteers from the Garden State Theatre Organ Society have worked to install a “new” organ in the Loew’s Jersey. Like most grand Movie Palaces, the Loew’s Jersey was built with a massive pipe organ. Unfortunately, our original organ was removed in 1974. But that organ was one of five identical “Wonder Mortons” made by the famous Morton Organ company for five Loew’s theaters. Amazingly, the Garden State Theatre Organ Society found one of the other four Wonder Mortons stored in a warehouse; it had been removed from the Loew’s Paradise in the Bronx years before. (To show how truly identical the two organs are, some pipes of the Paradise organ are labeled “Loew’s Jersey”; they had been mixed up at the factory when the instruments were being made!) It took two tractor trailers to deliver that “new” organ to the Loew’s Jersey in 1997. And GSTOS volunteers have been working ever since to install the hundreds of pipes, miles of cable, massive console and thousands of other parts.

Nine months ago, the sound of a pipe organ was heard in the Loew’s Jersey for the first time in over three decades. Since then, the organ has been being “voiced” — the daunting task of fine-tuning such a massive wind instrument. Last spring, some audiences heard “sneak previews” of the organ as it played entrance music before film shows, and couldn’t believe how extraordinary the organ sounded even before it was fine-tuned.

But now the voicing is done — and the Loew’s Jersey’s “new” organ is ready to take its place among the most remarkable musical instruments in the Metropolitan Area. It is not only capable of accompanying silent films but also of giving classical and popular concerts in a clear, powerful yet beautiful voice. That extraordinary range will be on full display in the organ’s grand debut.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • More Movie Info – – – –

The Blue Angel
Marlene Dietrich became an immediate international star on the strength of her performance as the temptress Lola Frohlich in The Blue Angel, Josef von Sternberg’s superb portrait of obsessive love and ensuing degradation. Emil Jannings plays a strict and humorless schoolmaster who is shocked when he discovers that boys in his class have been spending time at a sleazy cabaret called The Blue Angel, where an entertainer named Lola (Dietrich) keeps the men in thrall. Rath goes to the club in hopes of catching his students, but instead finds himself entranced by the carefree atmosphere of the club and captivated by Lola’s earthy, sensual beauty. When word of Rath’s infatuation with Lola spreads to his students, he is taunted mercilessly, and eventually dismissed from the school. While Lola agrees to marry Rath, she shows little affection for him and delights in humiliating him. Director Von Sternberg skillfully paces the film so that the descent of the Professor (Emil Jannings) is both believable and understandable. And it is clear that the camera adores Lola (Dietrich) every bit as much as does the professor. The film is also infused and, perversely, enriched by the bleakness and desperation that gripped German society in 1930. The Blue Angel is one of the masterpieces of the early sound era, notable in using sound to enhance atmosphere and establish characterization. It was shot in both German and English language versions; the German is preferable, as most of the cast were obviously more expert in that tongue. Dietrich introduced her theme song, “Falling In Love Again”, in this picture. – From Mark Deming & Richard Gilliam, allmovie.

Cast
Emil Jannings – Prof. Immanuel Rath; Marlene Dietrich – Lola Frohlich; Kurt Gerron – Kiepert, a Magician; Rose Valetti – Guste, his wife; Hans Albers – Mazeppa; Karl Huszar-Puffy – Innkeeper; Eduard von Winterstein – Headmaster; Carl Ballhaus – Pupil Ertzum; Reinhold Bernt – The Clown; Gerhard Bienert – Policeman; Wilhelm Diegelmann – Captain; Ilse Furstenberg – Rath’s Maid; Robert Klein-Lork – Goldstaub, a Student; Rolf Muller – Angst, a Student; Hans Roth – The Janitor; Roland Varno – Pupil Lohmann

Production
Josef von Sternberg – Director; Erich Pommer – Producer; Robert Liebmann – Songwriter / Screenwriter; Karl Vollmoeller – Screenwriter; Carl Zuckmayer – Screenwriter; Günther Rittau – Cinematographer; Hans Schneeberger – Cinematographer; Frederick Hollander – Composer (Music Score) / Songwriter; Franz Waxman – Composer; (Music Score); S.K. Winston – Editor; Emile Hasler – Set Designer / Production Designer; Otto Hunte – Set Designer / Production Designer; Fritz Thiery – Sound/Sound Designer; Smauel Lerner – Consultant/Advisor; Roland Petit – Choreography; Heinrich Mann – Short Story Author

Shanghai Express
Shanghai Express is one of the best, and arguably the most popular, of the seven films that director Josef von Sternberg made with Marlene Dietrich. As usual, the strikingly photographed Dietrich looks like a goddess. But she also delivers a fine performance as Shanghai Lily, a woman of debatable reputation. “It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily,” she purrs. She certainly has more than one man to contend with in this exotic Far-Eastern adventure. Among her fellow passengers on the Shanghai Express are her disillusioned former fiancé Clive Brook; over-fervent missionary Lawrence Grant; dope smuggler Gustav von Seyffertitz; and mysterious Eurasian businessman Warner Oland. As the train chugs through the more treacherous passages of war-torn China, Oland reveals himself as the leader of a rebel group, who plans to hold the passengers hostage to secure the release of his imprisoned followers. Director von Sternberg creates a suspenseful atmosphere, rich with memorable characterizations. Still, the film’s visual design is perhaps its most distinctive aspect; Lee Garmes' cinematography won him an Academy Award. And in keeping with the overall look, Shanghai’s sets and costumes are brilliantly ornate. The story would be remade in 1942 as the little-seen Night Plane from Chungking and in 1951 as Peking Express, neither of which could achieve the allure of the von Sternberg production. – From Hal Erickson & Brendon Hanley, allmovie

Cast
Marlene Dietrich – Shanghai Lily; Clive Brook – Captain Donald Harvey; Anna May Wong – Hue Fei; Warner Oland – Henry Chang; Eugene Pallette – Sam Salt; Lawrence Grant – Rev. Carmichael; Louise Closser Hale – Mrs. Haggerty; Gustav von Seyffertitz – Eric Baum; Emile Chautard – Maj. Lenard; Leonard Carey – Minister; Willie Fung – Engineer; Forrester Harvey – Ticket Agent; Claude King – Albright; James B. Leong – Rebel; Miki Morita – Officer

Production
Josef von Sternberg – Director / Producer; Adolph Zukor – Producer; Jules Furthman – Screenwriter; Lee Garmes – Cinematographer; W. Franke Harling – Composer (Music Score); Hans Dreier – Production Designer; Travis Banton – Costume Designer; Harry Hervey – Short Story Author

Destry Rides Again
Tom Destry (James Stewart), son of a legendary frontier peacekeeper, doesn’t believe in gunplay. This makes him the object of widespread ridicule when he rides into the wide-open town of Bottleneck, the personal fiefdom of the crooked Kent (Brian Donlevy). His detractors laugh even louder when Destry signs on as deputy to drunken sheriff Wash Dimsdale (Charles Winninger). But the laughter subsides when Destry casually proves himself a crack shot, despite his abhorrence of firearms. Later, when saloon chanteuse Frenchy (Marlene Dietrich), Kent’s gal, takes umbrage at Destry’s indifferent reaction to her charms, she vows to make a fool of the new deputy.

Destry Rides Again was a huge moneymaker as well as critical hit in 1939 — a year that had more than its share of great films. At nearly 70 years old, the film holds up remarkably well as entertainment and cinematic accomplishment. Destry’s major success at the box office made it a spectacular comeback for Marlene Dietrich. Hard as it may be to believe today, Dietrch had been declared “box office poison” and dumped from her contract with Paramount because of what the studio deemed to be the weak box-office performance of her last films. After Destry, however, Dietrich was unquestionably back on top. And in addition to Deitrich’s stellar performance, James Stewart created one of the screen’s most likable characters in Tom Destry even though at times he seems a bit too inclined to fight for a self-described pacifist. The film was based on a story by Max Brand who, though little remembered today, was a prolific and popular author of his day who created such memorable screen successes as the Dr. Kildare series. Brand was killed at the height of his career while serving as a war correspondent during WWII. — From Hal Erickson & Richard Gilliam, allmovie.

Cast
James Stewart – Tom Destry; Marlene Dietrich – Frenchy; Charles Winninger – Wash Dimsdale; Mischa Auer – Boris Callahan; Brian Donlevy – Kent; Irene Hervey – Janice Tyndall; Allen Jenkins – Gyp Watson; Una Merkel – Lily Belle Callahan; Warren Hymer – Bugs Watson; Tom Fadden – Lem Claggett; Samuel S. Hinds – Judge Hiram Slade; Billy Gilbert – Loupqerou, the Bartender; Jack Carson – Jack Tyndall; Richard Alexander – Cowboy; Chief John Big Tree – Indian in Saloon; Billy Bletcher – Pianist; Virginia Brissac – Sophie Claggett; Loren B. Brown – Juggler; Dora Clement – Woman; Bill Cody, Jr. – Small Boy; Harry Cording – Rowdy; Carmen D'Antonio – Dancer; Harold DeGarro – Juggler; Lloyd Ingraham – Turner, the Express Agent; Dick Jones – Eli Whitney Claggett; Joseph King – Sheriff Keogh; Edmund MacDonald – Rockwell; Bud McClure – Stage Driver; Philo McCullough – Bartender; Bob McKenzie – Doctor; Harry Tenbrook – Stage Rider; Ann E. Todd – Claggett Girl; Minerva Urecal – Mrs. DeWitt; Lillian Yarbo Clara

Production
George Marshall – Director; Joe Pasternak – Producer; Max Brand – Book Author; Felix Jackson – Screenwriter; Henry Myers – Screenwriter; Gertrude Purcell – Screenwriter; Hal Mohr – Cinematographer; Charles Previn – Musical Direction/Supervision; Frank Skinner – Composer (Music Score); Miton Carruth – Editor; Martin Obzina – Art Director; Jack Otterson – Art Director; Russell A. Gausman – Set Designer; Vera West – Costume Designer; Bernard B. Brown – Sound/Sound Designer; Vernon Keays – First Assistant Director

Theaters in this post

• Loew's Jersey Theatre