Want to know the best Josef von Sternberg movies? How about the worst Josef von Sternberg movies? Curious about Josef von Sternberg’s box office grosses or which Josef von Sternberg movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Josef von Sternberg movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Josef von Sternberg (1894-1969) was a two-time Oscar® nominated Austrian-American film director. He successfully moved from directing silent movies in the 1920s to “talkies” in the 1930s. His IMDb page shows 35 directing credits from 1925 to 1957. This page will only be taking a look at 21 of his movies. Movies will be ranked from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. His short films and documentaries were not included in the rankings. A few of his silent films also did not make the page due to lack of critic and audience reviews….not too mention limited box office information.
Drivel part of the page: This comes from a request from Laurent. Laurent is a serious film buff from France. Sadly many of Sternberg’s movies were made at Paramount. Paramount is horrible when it comes to finding out box office grosses from the golden era of movies. So we had to rely on some sources that we do not normally use. Sources that we do not feel are as reliable as our main sources. That being said….we feel were able to put this puzzle together with using lots of biographical books, wikipedia, Reel Facts and the Harrison Reports.
Josef von Sternberg Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Josef von Sternberg movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Josef von Sternberg movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Josef von Sternberg movies by yearly box office rank
- Sort Josef von Sternberg movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Josef von Sternberg movie received.
- Sort Josef von Sternberg movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Josef von Sternberg Table
- Nine Josef von Sternberg movie crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 42.85% of his movies listed. Shanghai Express (1932) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average Josef von Sternberg movie grosses $93.10 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 17 of Josef von Sternberg’s movies are rated as good movies…or 80.95% of his movies. The Last Command (1928) was his highest rated movie while I Take This Woman (1940) was his lowest rated movie.
- Seven Josef von Sternberg movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 33.33% of his movies.
- Four Josef von Sternberg movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 19.04% of his movies.
- An good Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00. 15 Josef von Sternberg movie scored higher that average….or 71.14% of his movies. The Last Command (1928) got the the highest UMR Score while I Take This Woman (1940) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Josef von Sternberg
1.Jonas Sternberg was born in 1894 in Vienna. He and his family moved to America when he was 14 years old.
2. Josef von Sternberg was hired by Charlie Chaplin to direct Sternberg’s 2nd ever movie. Chaplin was very impressed with Sternberg’s first movie The Salvation Hunters (1925).
3. Josef von Sternberg directed Germany’s first “all talkie”….1930’s The Blue Angel. One of the stars of The Blue Angel was Marlene Dietrich.
4. Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich would make 7 movies together. 4 of their movies would be in von Sternberg’s Top 5 Box Office Hits.
5. Josef von Sternberg was nominated for two Best Director Oscars®: 1930’s Morocco and 1932’s Shanghai Express
6. Josef von Sternberg was voted the 37th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
7. Josef von Sternberg taught a course on film aesthetics at the University of California at Los Angeles. One of students was The Door’s Jim Morrison.
8. Josef von Sternberg was married three times. He had one child.
9. Josef von Sternberg and Robert Mitchum did not get along while filming 1952’s Macao. At one point Mitchum threatened to throw him off a pier when they were shooting.
10. Check out Josef von Sternberg‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
hello Bruce , Hello Lupino,
i like to read all the old comments again, because it is simply a moment in the time and we have a conversation about movies stars and BO. It is simply fun!
german version of the Blue Angel is unique because Dietrich is really on the dark side and cruel like Chris said.
i saw it again few weeks ago and i have to say that i never see the english version because i love the german version,
PS Dietrich when she spoke French in interview or in Martin Roumagnac iN 1945
it is really charming with her accent.
bye
pierre
bonsoir Lupino,
i agree with you and i appreciate all your comments.
I think Marlene Dietrich is a screen personnality unique and she is not replaced to day (maybe Angelina Joly)
they worked together with JVS to find the visual perfection and you can see it on the screen in pictures like Shangai express and especially in scarlett Empress.
But i regreet that she did not make more comedy after Desire except Seven Sinners
and the Flame of Orleans , i did not see The Lady is Willing so i can t speak on it.
i read that she was labelled with some others stars BOX OFFICE POISON.
but in fact her box office is good for a lot of films that s why i am waiting for her BO worldwide ( thank you Bruce, if it is possible )
Dietrich was and is always famous all over the world especially in France where Everybody call her Marlene.
Hello again Pierre,
Thanks for answering! If you have a look at the US grosses of Dietrichs movies after Dishonored, you can clearly see that the paying public slowly but gradually lost interest at least in her collaboration with JVS. Even worse, the critics who once adored Star and Director started to get bored, too. The infamous box office poison list was published by american cinema owners, so an international tally, however high it might be, would still not change the fact that Dietrichs movies just didn’t make a lot of money for them. When it comes to worlwide gross, keep in mind that due to the restrictions put on foreign movies by the Nazis a large part of the worldwide market was simply not available any more for american movies. This made it hard for many stars who were not that popular in America anymore but still had a decent fanbase in Europe (like Garbo, for example).
About The Lady is willing: I did enjoy it, but it doesn’t come anywhere close to the brilliance of Desire.
Nice talking to you again 🙂
Sorry I wanted to say: If you have a look at the US grosses of Dietrichs movies after SHANGHAI EXPRESS, not Dishonored…
A very interesting conversation between two knowledgeable movie buffs. Good stuff for sure!
🙂
🙂
Hey Bruce
In Shanghaï gesture with Gêne Tierney you can see Dietrich in all the film.
Scarlet empres stay a great visual création.
Dishonored was simple great and the hot Woodo Number in blonde venus was for that day something crazy.
Von Sternberg and Dietrich was a very great team.
Thanks for this page
Pierre
Hey Pierre…thanks for the visit and comment on JSV. Thanks for the mini reviews of those movies. Sadly I have not seen anymore of his movies since writing this page months ago.
I have seen the dance scene in Blonde Venus…..I need to see the other ones for sure…..especially since you are so impressed with Dishonored. 🙂
Bon soir Pierre,
seems I found another Dietrich Fan here. You are right about Marlenes visibility all over Shanghai Gesture. Unfortunately, like Scarlett Empress, I think this movie is a case of “acquired Taste” filmmaking. Visually beautiful, it is so overblown in certain respects- Ona Munson as Madame Gin Sling borders on the rediculous in her heavy chinese make up, yet lit with care like Dietrich always was in Sternbergs films. I agree with your judgement on the Hot Vodoo scene…Dietrich coming out of a gorilla suit was something not seen before- yet it was her first von Sternberg film that didn’t do as well at the boxoffice as its predecessors. And, as you mentioned elsewhere- DESIRE is a wonderful comedy, with Dietrich and Cooper in their physical prime- and showing real talent for comedy.
🙂
Interesting page on Mr.von Sternberg. As stated correctly, Dietrich wouldn’t have occured on the international scene…or so it seems, without him. On the other hand, would von Sternberg be remembered as the influential director he is considered nowadays without her? My guess would be no, but then you never know. Of the above listed films, I have seen his 7 (or 8, counting DER BLAUE ENGEL as 2 movies) with Dietrich plus 5 others. Of these others, my favs are American Tragedy and Crime and Punishment. My fav Dietrich colaborations would be Der Blaue Engel, Shanghai Express, Dishonored and, for it’s stunning visual beauty, The Scarlett Empress. The film I would like to see the most is The Great Waltz, starring another wonderful german born actress, two time Oscar Winner Luise Rainer.
Hey Lupino…I bow to your knowledge on JVS. Interesting question about him and Dietrich. Not sure what the answer is…but together they made movie history.
There is a scene in the Michael Caine movie Youth…. in which Jane Fonda plays an aging star to Harvey Keitel’s aging director are talking/fighting. I could easily see Dietrich and JVS having a similar conversation in real life.
I will have to check the JVS movies you talked about. Thanks for the visit and the comment.
Unfortunatly I’ve never seen the film Youth ;(
The relationship between Dietrich and JVS certainly was one for the books, with her Trilby to his Svengali- but a Trilby who very much had a mind of her own. They also were entangled romantically, which didn’t seemed to have things make easier. After Paramount decided to put Dietrich into Song of Songs, under the direction of Rouben Mamoulian, she reportedly was heard whispering on the set “Joe, where are you now that I need you”. Anyway, she survived and went on starring in films for decades to come, while he had to fight to be assigned to films for the remainder of his career.
Hey Lupino…..Dietrich fared much better after JVS than JVS did after Dietrich. Good behind the scenes story about Song of Songs. As for Youth….I know I am biased because of Michael Caine….but it is an interesting little movie…with fine performances throughout the movie. Thanks for the re-visit.
Hi
Josef von Sternberg, the very name sound like a director. To be honest any movies I’ve seen of his, have always involved Dietrich. Without Sternberg there wouldn’t have been Dietrich. Not the international one anyway. I’ve seen both versions of The Blue Angel, both German and English. And I have to say The German has the edge. It’s a real dark storyline, Dietrich is quite cruel and the old professor is really a fool. It’s definitely worth seeking out.
I think his films with Dietrich, visually speaking, are fantastic. In Shanghai Express, there’s a scene where’s she’s standing smoking a cigarette and looking into a skylight on the train. The scene looks incredible with the light and shadow. There’s no doubt Dietrich was very beautiful. My favourite would be The Scarlet Empress. I don’t know how historically accurate it is but he made it with so much flair. After the Dietrich period I think he lost his way. In 1936, he was making a film in England named I, Claudius with Charles Laughton. Everything that could have went wrong, went wrong and the film was cancelled. The BBC had made a doucmentary called The Epic that Never Was. You can get it on youtube. What scenes they did film looked fantastic, so it’s a pity the whole thing was shelved.
While he was a great director, I think he is an acquired taste. All that light and shadow isn’t for everybody. Thanks for the page.
Hey Chris.
1. Thanks for the input into Mr. Sternberg.
2. That is interesting about the differences in The Blue Angel. I think I have seen parts of the English version….but none of the German version.
3. My tally of 3 JVS movies is embarrassing….especially since normally I know exactly which scenes or images you reference in your comment….this time…it is going right over my head….I need to track down Shanghai Express and The Scarlett Empress.
4. I recently saw Youth with Michael Caine and Jane Fonda. There is a scene where Fonda (playing an aging actress) is talking with an aging director (Harvey Keitel) about even though they made great movies together in the past…that she would not be able to work with him again….I could easily picture Dietrich and JVS having the same conversation.
5. I had heard about I, Claudius….but have not seen any of the filmed scenes from that one….The Epic That Never Was sounds very interesting.
6. I agree an acquired taste for sure….thanks for such a in depth comment.
I will put Youth on my to-see list.