Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Syl Marlene Dietrich was one of the original film sirens and brilliant actresses in film history. In this film, she plays a singer from Paris in Morocco where she falls in love with two men. The film was directed by Josef Von Sternberg, one of her favorites. The film was filmed in 1930 in the early years of the talking film industry. This film also displayed a rare kiss between Dietrich in a man's outfit kissing a woman in the audience early in the film. It's rare in 1930 but the kiss was shocking then. It's done well without overdoing it. Dietrich's performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and it was well-earned. Gary Cooper played Tom Brown, a member of the Foreign Legion. She falls in love with him although the film's script could have been stronger. Regardless, just watching Marlene Dietrich is a joy in any film. She brings so much to the screen in her facial expressions more than words could ever say.

Neil Doyle MOROCCO is exactly the sort of film you'd expect to find MARLENE DIETRICH in at this early point in her career as the seductress working as a cabaret singer where she attracts the attention of a young legionnaire GARY COOPER and a wealthy older man, ADOLPHE MENJOU. There's never any doubt that the screen chemistry between Dietrich and Cooper in the first cabaret scene will lead to their ultimate romantic attachment, but some viewers will be surprised at the film's memorable ending.It's easy to see that sound was new when this was made. Some of the dialog sounds stilted and words are spoken more slowly than necessary even by pros like Menjou to make sure the microphone catches every syllable. But the story moves at a nice pace, the exotic settings are photographed in subtle shadings of B&W, and Dietrich gets to warble a few songs in that inimitable style, although her voice sounded much better later on in her career when technical improvements in sound helped improve the quality of her husky vocalizing.It's a pleasure to see the young GARY COOPER in an early understated performance opposite the sizzling MARLENE DIETRICH--both contribute to the eye candy appeal of a rather sultry epic from Von Sternberg.

terryhill-1 It's interesting to read other reviews of Morocco. Some people just don't seem to have a clue, and it would be fascinating to learn what they think of as a good film from this era. Nevertheless, I was surprised to see that only one reviewer mentioned the sound, and that was to criticize it. Sternberg's use of sound as a tool jumped right out at me. There are numerous scenes in this film which have the possibility of being overly tedious and run the risk of being boring. Much is made of Sternberg's visual prowess and the rich texture displayed here, but I'm surprised that everyone seems to be missing the effect of the sound. Throughout the film, in scenes which need to build tension yet are visually somewhat tiresome (Legionaires marching in the street for example) Sternberg uses various sound devices artfully. We hear the monotonous drumbeat as the men march. The longer this goes on, the more irritating it becomes and as a result, puts the audience on edge. This adds to the tension of the scene immensely. The same thing happens in other parts of the film when we hear a short nearly monotone musical phrase repeated over and over ad nauseum, or when the sound of the wind blowing through the trees also becomes irritating. Each time, the scene is intended to build tension and each time, Sternberg's use of sound perfectly complements the visual to achieve the desired effect. This movie is on my "you gotta see this one" list.

JoeytheBrit I suppose people's opinion of this movie is coloured by aspects other than the plot because it is strictly formulaic - and extremely dull. It must be the glamour of the stars - Cooper and Dietrich in their perfect prime - that has earned it a relatively high rating on this site. That and Lee Garme's superb cinematography. Oh yeah, and the set design which really has you believing the cast are sweating beneath a Moroccan sun instead of a bank of klieg lights on a Paramount sound stage.The story was old back in the 30s, and this could easily have been a silent movie. The story is told largely through its imagery of sex and money and death, and the plot is relegated to a minor framework onto which von Sternberg can project his imagery. As usual, his cinematic eye dwells lovingly on Dietrich's flawless face. She and Cooper make a good looking couple, even though they rarely create sparks in their scenes together.Cooper is a cavalier legionnaire with an eye for the ladies, Dietrich a 'suicide passenger,' weary of men but instantly attracted to Cooper - which, given his character, probably explains why she is so weary of men. They both know the other isn't good for them, but their heads are over-ruled by their hearts. That ending might put off some modern-day viewers: a barefoot Dietrich, rejecting kindly millionaire Adolph Menjou's wealth to follow Cooper's platoon into the Sahara, subjugating her own life to his. It's a crude form of symbolism that would be considered risible today but, because of the film's age, it has acquired the spurious status of a classic.