GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Konterr Brilliant and touching

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Gizmo Well now this is just very silly. As others have pointed out, Victor McLaglen acts his best but is fatally miscast - too rigid, charmless, snide and creepy in a role that is crying out for a Clark Gable or Cary Grant. On the other hand Dietrich was never more beautiful, and you can feel Sternberg's worshipping of her through the camera lens. The photography is luscious and the BluRay restoration a joy. Warner Oland has a small role as something other than Charlie Chan, which is very odd to see.The story, dialogue and characters are thoroughly unbelievable at every turn, and the whole thing, really, is just a delirious but delightful mess, a stilted, fevered, nonsensical fairytale dream about spies, but no less likeable for all that. Accept it and love it for what it is, because it isn't like anything else.

TheLittleSongbird The partnership of actress Marlene Dietrich and director Josef Von Sternberg was a justifiably famous one, and could even be seen as iconic (personally do consider it so). They did seven films together, starting with 1930's 'The Blue Angel' (perhaps the most historically significant) and ending with 1935's 'The Devil is a Woman', all of which ranging from good to outstanding.'Dishonored', from 1931, is not their best collaboration, personally put 1932's 'Shanghai Express' and 1934's 'The Scarlet Empress' above it. Nor is it their weakest, to me the uneven but still good 'Blonde Venus' from 1932. Of their collaborations, of which this is their third, 'Dishonored' is perhaps their most overlooked, while it does have its drawbacks (well, two big ones) it's still a fine film with a lot to admire.It is let down by two things. 'Dishonored' does contain some of the weakest writing of any of the Dietrich/Sternberg films, there is some witty spark here and there but other parts are distractingly sluggish and melodramatic with a cornball tone that can get annoying and repetitive too.Am also of the opinion that Victor McLaglen is unconvincing, the role calls for a more restrained nature compared to his usual roles but McLaglen's performance is far from that, he's too bland for a love interest while mostly his performance feels very odd tonally, with the idiotic constant grin amongst other things McLaglen was like some over-enthusiastic overgrown child or something.However, cannot fault Dietrich at all here. She is positively luminous in her erotic sensuality, and not only is she fun to watch she also gives a vulnerability that helps the character come over as compellingly real. Nor can one fault the terrific performance of Warner Orland, or Sternberg's as ever accomplished direction that boasts many striking images visually and a way of telling the story that the film remains engaging throughout, script flaws aside.One can always count on a Sternberg film to be visually beautiful, and 'Dishonored' does not disappoint. Not just the striking use of light and shadow lighting and the sumptuous settings and costuming but especially the cinematography, which is often enough to take the breath away. The music score is stirring yet not intrusive.Cannot not mention the climactic execution either. A scene that stays with the viewer forever with its emotional impact and gut wrenching power, openly admit to crying here the most for any film in a while. The story is absorbing and goes at a cracking pace on the most part, with the odd bump when the dialogue gets stuck.In conclusion, a fine overlooked film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

JoeytheBrit Even if you knew nothing about von Stroheim and Dietrich you'd be able to tell just from watching this movie that the man was in love with at least the image of the woman. His camera almost seems to caress her at times and the lighting accentuates those incredible sculpted cheekbones. No other actress that I can think of received the kind of on-screen attention Dietrich received from von Stroheim, and he is probably more responsible for creating the legend than the woman was. Because, let's face it, Dietrich was no actress - her monotone delivery in this film borders on the excruciatingly bad at times… She plays a hooker, former wife of an Army officer, who is recruited into the secret service by its chief no less. The opening scenes are terrific. We first see Dietrich's legs on a rainy street, and hear the rain pounding on a broken drain as she adjusts a stocking. Someone in her block of flats has been murdered, and Dietrich's comment that she isn't afraid of life or death is overheard by the head of the secret service. She invites him up to her room, and while her profession is never expressly referred to, we're left in no doubt as to just how the former officer's life is making ends meet. She prowls around her cramped little flat, radiating sexual allure, and throws herself down in a chair with one leg over the arm in an open invitation.It only becomes apparent that this is a love story between rival spies when we're well into the film. The opposing spy is big bluff Victor McLaglen who really is badly miscast. He grins during their verbal interplay as if an invisible hand has his arm twisted up behind his back while Dietrich rolls her eyes without moving her head, and there is absolutely no chemistry between them. The role called for an element of dashing suaveness on the part of McLaglen that the old boy simply didn't possess. Dietrich uses sex to lure him the same as she does with everyone else (again, in their first meeting, Dietrich offers him a kiss if she fails to predict the next number at roulette – and we're left in no doubt that 'kiss' is a euphemism for something much more earthy).Despite these apparent drawbacks, the film is enjoyable enough. It's only 85 minutes long and moves at a fair old lick, and is filled with such cool devices as secret panels in walls, secret messages rolled up and hidden inside a cigarette, secret messages disguised as musical notes, noble suicides and firing squads. The ending's fairly downbeat for a mainstream 30s Hollywood flick, but it fails to qualify as a tragedy simply because of that lack of chemistry between the stars and the fact that there is no real depth to the characters.

psteier Mainly of interest who want to see more of Josef von Sternberg and the kind of movies he was involved in. Marlene Dietrich has her moments but cannot carry the whole movie. Of course, she is cute and seductive, especially when spying as a maid behind the Russian lines, but the whole movie does seem far from reality.