Golden Earrings

Those reviewers who have complained that this movie lacks plausibility or has problems of construction are missing the point. This is a wonderfully camp romance, with plenty of Play, gypsies! Dance, gypsies! music, that both sends up exotic love stories and celebrates them. Buttoned-up Ray Milland makes an amusing foil for a Dietrich with black hair, tattered scarves, and tons of jewelry. The character's eagerness to feed Milland and look after him more closely resembles the good German hausfrau Dietrich was off the set than her mannered vamp roles. Censorship being in force, it's made clear that they share a caravan on platonic terms only, with Milland fighting off Dietrich's advances with a determination remarkable for a heterosexual bachelor who might be killed any day. His only excuse is that she smells, so perhaps a stuffy, fastidious Englishman might indeed be put off.

In the small role of Milland's young companion on his secret mission, Bruce Lester adds a note of camp of a different kind. We are told at the beginning that he hero-worships Milland, and indeed he rather fawns on him. When, after they are separated, he meets Milland, now transformed into a brown-skinned gypsy with a shirt open to the waist, his glowing appreciation of the disguise even further suggests that not only Dietrich is romantically infatuated with Milland.

Despite the wonderfully improbable characters and sequence of events, the growing love of Milland for Dietrich and his acceptance of the non-rational aspects of life is rather touching. And when, on their last night alone before he escapes, he says that each of them now contain half of the other, the two have become one, and then darkness falls, I think we can assume that the censor decided to give them a break! One goof--at the beginning, Milland, who is supposed to be English, refers to a lieutenant, using the American pronunciation. (The English say "leftenant.") Since Milland was British, he must have been saying it that way because the American movie-makers feared that American audiences would be distracted and confused by the British style.

I made my earthly debut on September 26, 1947 and according to my parents when they were alive, as an infant I had a particular liking for the song Golden Earrings that came from this film. It served as my best lullaby in those formative months. I wish it had come from a better film than the one it served as a title tune for.

The film's story is told in flashback by Ray Milland to real life war correspondent Quentin Reynolds on a plane to Paris. Milland's got pierced ears which today would not raise a ripple, but back in 1947 was hardly in vogue, especially for a British brigadier.

Back in 1939 Milland went on a mission to Germany just before war was declared to get a poison gas formula from a German scientist of liberal sympathies. But he and partner Bruce Lester get caught, but manage to escape and split up.

Milland's route takes him to the Black Forest where gypsies are known to hang out and Hitler hasn't started rounding them up yet. They became targets for extermination as surely as Jews were later on. He runs into Marlene Dietrich and she teaches him a few survival tricks and a few tricks of another kind. With that kind of distraction, Milland can barely keep his mind on his mission.

Golden Earrings gets very campy indeed, remarkable since Milland and Dietrich did not get along during the making. On that level it's enjoyable, as serious drama it falls real short as an espionage story.

Murvyn Vye is the head gypsy and if Milland ain't got enough trouble with the Nazis, he's got to fight Vye to get Marlene and the help he needs from the clan. It'a all very silly. Vye was making his film debut and he introduces the song Golden Earrings. Vye had come from the Broadway stage where he played Jigger in the original Broadway production of Carousel.

Paramount got it's number one star and biggest recording star in America at the time, Bing Crosby, to make a record of it. Bing's record sold well, but the big hit came from Peggy Lee. I'm surprised that Marlene didn't sing a full version in the film, it's just her kind of material.

Could have definitely helped the film a lot.

This film is exceptional in that Marlene & Raymond present outstanding performances. The acting in this film is the greatest strength of the production, but the script, direction, and editing deserve applause. There is an extraordinary chemistry that exsists between the two stars. If you like Marlene, and you like Raymond, you'll love this film..... (It's a classic that compares with Casablanca.)

Marlene Dietrich play a Gypsy who helps British spy (Ray Milland) during World War II. They try to stop the Nazis from using poisonous gases for war use. They get romantically involved with each other while there on the mission. A nice entertaining movie to watch.

Marlene Dietrich plays an European Gypsy woman in Pre-World War II Europe. Ray Milland played the British officer Denistoun who is on a mission. Ray Milland and Marlene Dietrich are excellent, entertaining, and enjoyable in the film. The story is fine and could have used more work but the Milland's British gentleman turned Gypsy in order to escape the Nazis does a fantastic job. It's interesting to see a character like Denistoun to transform into a Gypsy. The ending is worth watching the film. The film doesn't address the Nazi war crimes. European Gypsies were also targeted and persecuted by the Nazis during World War II. Still, this film is entertaining to watch and suspenseful. The cast is first rate in the Hollywood studio system factory where films were made faster even with mediocre scripts. Still, this film is one of my favorites with Marlene Dietrich.