The director Kurt Bernhardt (later Curtis) first saw Marlene Dietrich in a play by Bernard Shaw. He was one of the first to recognise her versatility. Bernhardt, who had already made seven films and was considered a promising talent, was given a free hand in casting the female lead, but when he suggested Dietrich, he had to push her through in the face of resistance, as she was virtually unknown at the time. It was a film adaptation of a novel by Max Brod that features Marlene Dietrich in the role of a femme fatale for the first time. Giuseppe Becce composed the original music for this silent film produced by Terra-Film in 1929. It tells the story of industrialist Henri Leblanc (Uno Henning), who marries a rich heiress in order to save the bankrupt family business. On his honeymoon, Henri meets the mysterious Stascha (Dietrich) on the train and falls in love with her. And fate takes its course.
Within Dietrich’s global career, the film has been interpreted as a kind of precursor to Josef von Sternberg’s productions. It already contains many of the ingredients that were to define her Hollywood films. Bernhardt surrounds his leading actress with a secret and Dietrich knows how to exploit this by acting from the shadows, withdrawing her performance and deliberately using delays. The scene of Stascha’s encounter with Henri on the train is legendary. “Variety” wrote on 2 June 1931: “Discovery of a female star is something for a German film to accomplish. Here Marlene Dietrich shows herself as a strong contender of international honors. At the moment she is imitating Greta Garbo’s half-closed eyes and langorous eroticism, but there is enough individuality in her work to show that the girl is there. She has the right face and figure and she can troupe.” And the Deutsche “Lichtbildbühne” wrote: “Who is this woman one longs for? […] A woman from whom an almost enigmatic fluid seems to emanate that breaks down all psychological and ethical inhibitions in the men who come into contact with her.”

Peter Mänz