Dishonored

In Vienna during the First World War, a widow is working the street. The head of Austrian intelligence notices her and recruits her as a spy; she is given a number rather than a name. Among her assignments is watching a Russian officer. Then she falls in love with him. The subject is not espionage but the fact that she never apologises. When caught she offers no defence, asks for no pardon and makes no case for herself. Her last gesture before the firing squad is not a surrender either. The form is Sternberg's familiar image: gauze, smoke, shadow and a frame constantly divided. Marlene Dietrich's face is lit as a separate piece of work and the film makes no secret of it. The production is one of the seven films she and Sternberg made together in America. The character draws heavily on the Mata Hari legend, though the film is not about a real person. The piano functions both as a means of communication and as the only private space she has. Victor McLaglen plays the Russian officer and Gustav von Seyffertitz the intelligence chief. Who it is for: viewers who like the early sound period and the Dietrich and Sternberg partnership. Who it is not for: anyone wanting realism; the narrative runs entirely on style and logic comes second.