Engel (1937)

Engel: Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. With Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Melvyn Douglas, Edward Everett Horton. A woman and her husband take separate vacations, and she falls in love with another man.

“This is one of Ernst Lubitschu0026#39;s less conspicuous films, while the performance of Marlene Dietrich in it is the more outstanding. Herbert Marshall is all right, he played against her before in u0026quot;Blonde Venusu0026quot; four years earlier, he was a jealous husband even there, but that was Josef con Sternberg, while Ernst Lubitsch is a completely different thing, although both are Viennese, and Marlene Dietrich is German. Melvyn Douglas is the tricky thing here. He makes a perfectly abominable offensive character insisting on constantly importuning on her, and you canu0026#39;t understand how she can tolerate it, but Marlene is Marlene, always superior to any critical situation, and also here she finally provides a solution, but not without the clever psychological empathy with her on the part of Herbert Marshall. Both Melvyn and Herbert appear, however, as perfect dummies at her side, while she makes the entire film worth while and watching. Itu0026#39;s very European, while poor Melvyn keeps blundering on without noticing anything of the subtleties going on. She enters as a mystery of an intrigue, but when she has solved the knot she is already gone.”