DESIRE (1936) B/W 89m dir: Frank Borzage

w/Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, John Halliday, William Frawley, Ernest Cossart, Akim Tamiroff, Alan Mowbray, Zeffie Tilbury, Enrique Acosta, Stanley Andrews

From The Movie Guide: "Clearly the product of a gilded cocktail shaker. Bearing the stylistic stamps of both producer [Ernst] Lubitsch and director Borzage, this is a sophisticated romantic comedy about a lovely jewel thief , Madeleine du Beaupre (Dietrich), who tricks a gem dealer (Cossart) out of a priceless string of pearls and flees Paris after implicating a stuffy psychiatrist (Mowbray). She drives wildly toward the Spanish border and nearly runs down Tom Bradley (Cooper), a young American engineer on vacation. She uses him as an unwitting accomplice in smuggling the pearls out of the country. Cleared by Spanish customs, he drives off with Madeleine in hot pursuit. The romantic chase is on! What began as mere expediency soon develops into love --- with numerous complications along the way, of course.

"Successful with the public, DESIRE was one of the most elegantly produced films of the 1930s; the sets, costumes, and decor all shimmer with hot light. Borzage, who also directed the silent classic SEVENTH HEAVEN, added his sweetly romantic warmth to the deft, spicy production plans already laid out by Lubitsch for this wonderful film. Playing with both conviction and wit, Dietrich achieves one of her best performances away from mentor Josef von Sternberg; here she is slightly less exotic and rather more human than in her other films. Cooper, too, in his second pairing with Dietrich (after the memorable MOROCCO) really shows his flair for sophisticated romance with this one. He makes the most of the funny yet impossibly romantic line, 'All I know about you is you stole my car and I'm insane about you.' The remarkable John Halliday, whose presence graces any film, leads a terrific supporting cast. One of the ultimate expressions of Paramount Studios chic, DESIRE remains one of its desirable star's finest films."