THREE LOVES (DIE FRAU NACH DER MAN SICH SEHNT) Made in Germany

In this melodrama, Marlene Dietrich plays her first full-blown femme fatale-a sinister seductress who sets the wheels of her own demise in motion when she claims her next victim aboard a speeding passenger train. THREE LOVES, shot in Berlin, is Curtis Bernhardt’s last silent movie and the first leading role for Dietrich. “Marlene Dietrich was an exceptionally beautiful and ravishing woman. She was surrounded by an erotic atmosphere that I was never able to sense with any other actress,” said Bernhardt.

Henri (Uno Henning) is supposed to save his nearly bankrupt factory through a wealthy marriage. During the honeymoon, however, he falls in love with the beautiful and mysterious Stascha (Dietrich), who is on the run with her lover Dr. Karoff (Fritz Kortner). Henri leaves his bride in order to be with Stascha, who is then shot by Dr. Karoff. Resigned to his fate, Henri returns to his family.

THREE LOVES is a melodrama that takes place during the Depression, in which the birth of Dietrich’s image as “Amy Jolly” and “Shanghai Lily” can be found. It is without doubt the best movie of Dietrich’s German silent film career.

The film is screening at AFI FEST with the generous support of the Friedrich Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, in cooperation with Goethe lnstitute InterNationes.