Dishonored (1931)
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Dishonored Movie Review
Dishonored is a 1931 Pre-Code romantic spy movie directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Marlene Dietrich and Victor McLaglen. It’s a very weak movie despite its interesting premise.
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“I think I’m falling madly in love with you.
The more you cheat and the more you lie,
the more exciting you become, X-27“
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During World War I, the Austrian Secret Service sends a streetwalker to spy on the Russians. Her assignment is to expose two suspected infiltrators by flirting with them. Both men become infatuated with her. This is one of the many Dietrich-Sternberg collaborations that Hollywood churned out in the early thirties, but it’s far from their best works unfortunately.
Sternberg’s portrayal of arrogant men who engage in war and politics for various horrendous reasons is excellent, but contrasting it with the role of a genuinely worried and empathetic woman made for a strong juxtaposition. However, the movie never really went anywhere apart from that interesting commentary on the differences between sexes, and even that difference nowadays is non-existent unfortunately.
As for the overall plot, I personally did not find it to be all that good. It had a lot of potential for a truly fantastic spy feature, but the thrilling elements were lacking, the movie needed more suspense in it, plus the choice to include so many plot points in such a short runtime really hurt the picture.
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Yes, the movie just jumps from one development to the next with no proper emotional drive or characterization or thematic resonance or even meaning in the process. The editing and pacing certainly needed more work as the movie felt very abrupt in every single corner. All of the plot points about codes, getting information and dangerous conversations and encounters felt too piled up on top of one another without proper context for the audiences to get involved in or care about in the process. I never cared all that much, which is always a problem for any movie.
Let’s talk about the performers. This is, as stated above, another Sternberg picture where he employed his frequent collaborator Marlene Dietrich, and although this is not one of the best roles for this actress, not even close, she is still quite good and certainly memorable in a very proactive, admirable role for the early thirties. This was a great female role that in a movie that would pass the test as feminist maybe even today, which is a terrific testament on the advanced sensibilities of this director.
Dietrich shines through with her charisma, memorable looks and terrific acting, but others unfortunately fared much worse. Much has been said about Victor McLaglen here and he certainly was miscast to the point that all of his scenes felt very mediocre. He was a great actor, but in this movie he just did not seem believable nor did he manage to elevate his role at all.
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The others in Dishonored are even less memorable and I wish that the movie did more to explore the World War I time period, the war itself and Austria as a country. I loved that it was set there, but they did not utilize the country all that much unfortunately. The directing by Sternberg is fine, but the runtime is overly short, the cinematography is just okay for the director and the lack of stronger technical aspects overall made the movie rather forgettable and uninspired.
