Born in Vienna in 1894 and died in 1969, Josef von Sternberg grew up partly in the United States and became one of Hollywood's great stylists of light and shadow. He made the gangster film Underworld (1927), and then, in Germany, The Blue Angel (1930) with Marlene Dietrich, whom he brought to Hollywood. Together they made six more films, including Morocco, Shanghai Express and The Scarlet Empress, rich in lace, smoke and shadow. His relationship with the studios was often difficult.
Filmography
- Underworld (1927)
- The Docks of New York (1928)
- The Blue Angel (1930)
- Morocco (1930)
- Dishonored (1931)
- An American Tragedy (1931)
- Shanghai Express (1932)
- Blonde Venus (1932)
- The Scarlet Empress (1934)
- The Devil Is a Woman (1935)
- The Shanghai Gesture (1941)
- Anatahan (1953)