I'm "Falling in Love Again" with Marlene Dietrich, focusing on her three films with "the duke", John Wayne. They were made during his rise to box office success after "Stagecoach" and her attempt to get over the stigma of being named box office poison the year before after ending her long association with Joseph Von Sternberg. She scored a huge hit with "Destry Rides Again" as the glamorous Frenchie, and now she's gone from the wild west to the south seas as the glamorously dressed Bijou, a notorious character kicked off island after island, and protected by a group of devoted groupies, among them Broderick Crawford and Mischa Auer. Settling back on an island with a new governor, she is reunited with old boss Billy Gilbert and sets her romantic sights on naval officer John Wayne who's already escorting around the governor's daughter, Anna Lee.Exotic sets, a few songs, amusing dialog and a camp story makes this fun viewing for the fans of Dietrich and the Duke. Ms. Lee, of "General Hospital" fame, offers a unique contrary persona to Dietrich's. Marlene gets to sing the standard, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" as well as a catchy naval song. She's dressed to the nines, full of mischief and pretty much the reason for tuning in, although with that supporting cast, there's amusement every step of the ride. Wayne basically phones in his performance, with nothing much to do but provide romantic support to the dynamic leading lady until confronting the villain (Oscar Homolka) at the end in a fight sequence that would be repeated in his next two outings with Dietrich as well, "The Spoilers" and "Pittsburgh".There's a pre-story where she charges her way through into the office of a delusioned ship's doctor (Albert Dekker) who falls for her instantly but must go on to his next destination, leaving Dietrich free to roam around her old stomping grounds until she gets into more trouble. The fight at the end is gloriously filmed with the camera often sped up, some humor thrown in and a shocking bit of violence that was never resolved. However, Dietrich seems to be having the best time in making this, and a few subtle references indicate that the story was influenced by some of her earlier works. Vince Barnett is very funny as a bartender who keeps changing his coat in order to avoid being hit when the final fight breaks out.

"Seven Sinners" was the first of three films starring Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne. This one is all Dietrich and a must for all of her fans.Dietrich plays Bijou Blanche a "saloon singer" who has been deported from several Indonesian Islands as an undesirable. She is followed around by her "friends", the buffoonish Little Ned Finnigan (Broderick Crawford) and pick pocket Sasha (Mischa Auer). Bijou learns that a new Governor has been installed on the island of Sumatra (I think) and sets sail for there. On board the ship she is befriended by a down and out doctor named Dr. Martin (Albert Dekker).Anyway, Bijou and friends land and head for the Seven Sinners cafe run by Tony (Billy Gilbert) to seek work. The Seven Sinners is frequented by several US naval officers, one of whom is the dashing Lt; Dan Brent (Wayne). However, Dorothy Henderson (Anna Lee), the daughter of the governor (Samuel S. Hinds) also has designs on him.An apparent Nazi spy, Antro (Oskar Homolka) has had a past with Bijou. She falls for Brent and hears from his men that he will ask her to marry him. The Governor steps in and asks Brent's ship's Captain Church (Reginald Denny) to appeal to his sense of duty. We all know that the saloon girl with the heart of gold has little chance of landing the clean cut hero but................................The legendary Dietrich sings several forgettable songs in her inimitable style, which for many is the highlight of the film. For me it was the knock down drag out saloon brawl which was excellently staged.As I have said before, this film is all Dietrich. Once again playing the femme fatale she is as glamorous as ever. Wayne, just emerging as a major star plays second fiddle to La Dietrich in this one. Broderick Crawford spends most of the picture running around yelling "gangway, gangway". There is far too much comic relief as well. We have Crawford, Auer, Gilbert and Vince Barnett as the bartender. Its also hard to take seriously the "all in white" bad guys led by Homolka, who participate in the the aforementioned brawl."B" picture plot and characters with an "A" list (for the most part) cast. "The Spoilers" and "Pittsburgh" were much better Dietrich/Wayne vehicles.

Declared "box office poison" in the middle 1930s with such inept film figures as Katherine Hepburn and Fred Astaire (one would like to know what happened to the idiot that wrote the advertisement about "box office poison" in later years - did he find nobody listened to his opinions anymore?), Marlene Dietrich made a comeback in the late 1930s with DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, cementing it with SEVEN SINNERS and FLAME OF NEW ORLEANS. She proved quite adept at performing without her old "Svengali" director Joe Von Sternberg pulling the strings. Her stardom would survive intact until her retirement in the 1960s. Box office poison indeed!Had Von Sternberg directed instead of Tay Garnett SEVEN SINNERS would have been somewhat like THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN. Concha, the heroine in THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN goes from man to man for her own benefit, not caring for any evil results that befall these men (in fact, she only seems to change at the end when she senses that she has lost Lionel Atwill's affections for good - it is a new experience and she is not crazy about it). Bijou is willing to use her sexual allure too, but unlike Concha she is not in control of the situation constantly. Concha rules the roost of the provincial town society she resides in (witness how she basically controls the Mayor of the town (Edward Everett Horton) about the matter of the duel between Atwill and Cesar Romero). Bijou finds she is not in control of the officials of the south sea islands she is living in. She is a notorious character, and can be thrown off islands at will.Yet she does fascinate or control a good number of men - most notably John Wayne, a U.S. Navy officer who risks his career and future social marriage to Ann Lee for her. There are also Broderick Crawford and Mischa Auer, her two raffish protectors (Crawford a naval deserter and Auer a swindler and magician). There is her former employer Billy Gilbert, who rehires her despite misgivings (more about that later), and - most sinisterly, Oscar Homolka - a knife wielding criminal mob boss. Homolka is ultimately quite a dangerous and bad guy, but he does have one running joke with Vince Barnett, the bartender at Gilbert's cafe. Barnett is a quiet, timid character of few words, but he does appreciate a joke. Every now and then Homolka makes some really nasty joke about what he'd do to Wayne or anyone else standing between him and Dietrich. Barnett starts laughing along with Homolka at the jokes, and at first Homolka is appreciating his own sense of humor to notice - then he does notice, and it makes him less happy. He's not there to entertain this idiot bartender. So each time he ends Barnett's laughing by throwing a stiletto next to his head. And Barnett does shut up...until the next time.There is also one other - an exception to the rule of the manipulatable men in her life: Albert Dekker. Dekker was starting his interesting film career at this time. He had first gained notoriety playing Baron Geiger in the original stage version of Vicki Baum's GRAND HOTEL. Dekker was "Albert Van Dekker" when he essayed the role (opposite Sig Ruman as Preysling). Both were noted as first rate performers in the drama, but neither was brought to Hollywood for the film (John Barrymore and Wallace Beery playing the two roles in the movie). Ruman got the Hollywood nod first, but by 1939 Dekker was in Hollywood too. He soon was given some interesting parts - the twin brothers in AMONG THE LIVING and the evil scientist in DR. CYCLOPS being the best known. His performance as the ship doctor in SEVEN SINNERS is interesting. He and Bijou hit it off, but he is not ready for commitment when the ship docks, but they part amicably. As a result, when the film ends and Bijou again is on board the ship, Dekker is available to replace Wayne as her permanent lover. It's a situation (by the way) that never reappears in any other Dietrich film: she usually ends with the hero, or ends alone.The other men are besotted regarding Bijou, and it eventually leads to the final battle (nearly to the death) between Wayne and Homolka. But the most interesting (to me) is Gilbert. A hard working, and flustered, businessman - his role seems typical for Gilbert. He is forced to do things he knows are illegal or dangerous for Bijou because he does like her. But in the end, surprisingly, she shows she really cares for him too. Gilbert rarely had a dramatic moment in his films (he was such a good comic actor, nobody thought of him in dramatic parts). Here he is accidentally stabbed when the homicidal Homolka was aiming at Wayne in the final fight. Critically stabbed in his back, Gilbert is under a table when Dietrich comes over to him, and starts taking care of him and comforting him until the doctors can come. It too is a rather unusual moment for Dietrich, and one is glad that it was brought out in this fine movie.

Both Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne are at their physical peak in 'Seven Sinners', a South Seas island romp that concludes with one of the most colorful barroom brawls in movie history. Dietrich is a Sadie Thompson kind of character, island hopping as she is deported from one tropical island to another--always attracting a bunch of attentive admirers with a knack for inciting riots. It's a film that's briskly entertaining from start to finish.Dietrich has never been more appealing, gorgeously gowned and photographed to advantage whether appearing in skin-tight glittering gowns or sporting lacey parasols or wearing a sailor's uniform. She projects the same sort of character she played in 'Destry Rides Again'. John Wayne is young, handsome and earnest in one of his earlier roles. James Craig can be spotted briefly as an admiring ensign. Mischa Auer and Oscar Homolka have some colorful supporting roles, but the most enjoyable member of the cast is Billy Gilbert as the night club owner who sees trouble brewing the minute Dietrich shows up at his tavern.Breezy entertainment with a couple of good songs done in the stylish Dietrich manner.