The Song of Songs

Rouben Mamoulian's pre-Code melodrama was shot in Hollywood, but German-born Marlene Dietrich makes for apt casting as Lily, German peasant girl-turned-sophisticated baroness. Mamoulian's adaptation, following two silent films, draws from Hermann Sudermann's 1908 novel and Edward Sheldon's 1914 play. After her last surviving parent passes away, Lily moves to Berlin to live with her boozy aunt, Frau Rasmussen (Alison Skipworth, acting up a storm), who vows to kick her out if she messes around with any men. Lily takes sustenance from memories of nightly readings with her father from the Bible's Song of Solomon, aka the Song of Songs. While she works in her aunt's bookstore, she catches the eye of Richard (Brian Aherne), a sculptor from across the street, who she ends up modeling for in the nude. When Richard's benefactor, Baron Von Merzach (Lionel Atwill, Dietrich's The Devil Is a Woman co-star), visits his atelier, she ends up with two admirers—but only one wins her heart. Since Richard doesn't make enough to provide for her, the Baron bargains with him in private, exclaiming, "Let me have her!" as if she were a piece of property. He claims he can "mold" her into a great lady, just as Richard molded her form out of clay. When Frau Rasmussen finds out about Lily's midnight excursions, she tosses her out into the cold, just as the Baron finds a way to push Richard out of the picture. Lily has no other choice but to throw her lot in with the old goat who wears a skull hat and monocle. Soon, she's taking piano lessons and wearing fancy frocks. After the Baron invites Richard over to show off the newly refined Lily, she manages to escape from both men, convinced that someone who really loves her would never split the scene the way Richard did. Left to her own devices, she drinks, smokes, and sings in saloons. Out of these disparate parts, Mamoulian conjures up a happy ending, yet it doesn't quite ring true. It isn't the actors' fault, they're all up to the task, but Leo Birinsky and Samuel Hoffenstein's screenplay resolves some of the more obvious obstacles to Lily's success by simply ignoring them. It's still a fine showcase for Dietrich, who transforms from shy waif to worldly woman. The actress, who often appears to be glowing from within, looks as glamorous here as in any of the films she made with Josef von Sternberg. Cinematographer Victor Milner also works overtime to capture the sparkle of sunlight on foliage, a fairytale-like reminder that nothing is meant to be taken too literally. As film historian Ephraim Katz has noted, Mamoulian (Queen Christina) was known for his "stylized, rhythmic, lyrical impressionism," and The Song of Songs is a fine example of that. If there's no nudity, there's one particular statue, presumably modeled after Dietrich's physique, that leaves little to the imagination. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)