There are countless publications and films about the life of Marlene Dietrich. None, however, focus so explicitly and thoroughly on her political commitment, especially during the Second World War and in the years that followed as in this documentary. Dietrich’s youngest grandson, producer and filmmaker J. David Riva is concerned precisely with this still-important period of her life, when she turned her back on Hollywood and made it to Berlin with the US troops at great, sometimes risky personal cost as a troop support officer for the United Service Organizations.
Her Own Song is based on extensive research in US, French and German archives and, of course, in her private estate, which is held in the Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin of the Deutsche Kinemathek. Previously unpublished documentary material allows for a high density of facts and authenticity. In addition, eyewitnesses, friends and relatives have their say, including Burt Bacharach, Rosemary Clooney, Buck Dawson, Col. Barney Oldfield, Guy Stern, Beate Klarsfeld and Hildegard Knef, as well as Dietrich’s daughter Maria Riva and nephew Hans-Georg Will. The interviews with contemporary witnesses such as Elizabeth McIntosh (one of the first women in the Office of Strategic Service/ later CIA) and Markus Wolf (head of the HV Aufklärung of the GDR State Security) on this topic are also unique.
Dietrich’s voice from off-screen is spoken by Jamie Lee Curtis in the US version. The film had its world premiere at the Berlinale 2002. The same year US broadcast on Turner Classic Movies was one of the most successful TCM documentary premieres, with the broadcaster receiving more than 1,000 letters and faxes from viewers.

Silke Ronneburg