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.
Leave to me to sleep in on day when a new page is done. I’ve red these comments with great interest.
Re: Bon Mitchum. I believe he got along with Dick Cavett during Bob been interviewed on his show.
I have not checked my total yet. But I hope Laurent wins.
Let’s see. I have seen 8 of his films. Did I beat Laurent?
The films I have seen: in preference:
Crime and Punishment
Macao
Morocco
The Blue angel
The Last Command
Shangai Express
The Last Waltz
Blue Venus
Bad typing skills! Please edit spelling mistakes Bruce.
I’ve READ the comments with great interest.
and Mitchum’s first name is BOB , Not BON. LOL!
Hey Flora….if I fix your comment…..then the following comments will make no sense….so in this case….not going to use my edit button….hope you understand,
Oh I understand totally. I asked this before you read this. Now I don’t want you to edit it. 🙂
In Belfast in the 50s it was neither Bon nor Bob: it was always Big Bob. “Am going over to the Gaumont tonight to see Big Bob.”
LOL! 🙂
You gave me a big laugh Robert Roy.
If I do too much of that Bruce will think I’m after his Job!
🙂
Hey Robert Roy ….Plenty of work and comments to keep both of us busy…..lol.
Hey Robert Roy….sounds like it was interesting in Belfast in the 1950s.
Hey Flora…..thanks for checking out our latest page.
1. Glad to know that Mitchum got along with someone…lol.
2. Yep…Laurent won.
3. Tally count….Laurent 10….you 8…..Steve 4…and me….in last place with 3.
4. I have seen #3 Morocco and #8 Blue Venus….but none of the others.
As always I appreciate your input and comments.
Thank you very much Bruce. I knew that “Blonde venus” wasn’t a success. But in that time Cary Grant was’nt yet a big star. I think like you, the box office number of “last command” is the worldwide number. The box office of “underworldl” is fantastic for the year 1929, without stars at the time of his release.
You know, in fact Emil Jannings continued to have great success after the talkies. But only in Germany. Because his nazi’s convictions, his films were boycotted in USA and UK. He played in “Ohm Krüger” in 1941. This movie was one of the biggest success of the year in Germany, with a gross of 5 500 000 Reisch Mark. Very big numbers for this country at the time.
Thank you again.
Hey Laurent….I will be reducing the box office on Last Command….on this page…the William Powell page and the Best Actor page. Underworld was his first hit….and then Last Command gave him critical acclaim. I think I must have Emil Jannings mixed up with another silent star. Thanks for the clarification. Congrats on your tally win.
Not that familiar with the movies of Josef von Sternburg, for some reason the name Marlene Dietrich leaps out when I see his name, any connection? Bruce? (stop it Steve!)
I’ve only seen a handful of his films – Morocco, Shanghai Surprise – sorry – Shanghai Express, Jet Pilot and Macao. I have his most famous film Der Blaue Engel in my ever-expanding movie collection but never got round to watching it yet.
Top rated movies I’ve missed include – Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress, The Last Command and The Devil is Definitely a Woman.
Hmm did Robert Mitchum get along with anyone?
A fascinating look at someone I knew little about. Voted Up!
Hey Steve…..wow our combined tally count is 7….with you edging me out 4 to 3. Both of us have seen Jet Pilot. I remember the first time I saw that one….I kept thinking that Janet Leigh looked so young compared to how see looked in Psycho. Then I realized her scenes were filmed almost 11 years before Psycho….and that Howard Hughes kept this movie unwraps for 7 or 8 years.
The Last Command is high on my list of movies to watch….there have been 516 movies that have won the Big 6 Oscars…Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress and Director…so far I have seen 501 of those movies…..and The Last Command is one of the 15 missing movies.
If you read Robert Roy’s comment….sounds like Mitchum was not only a tough guy on screen but also off screen. Thanks for checking out this page….especially since you have not seen many of his movies.
Tally count….Laurent 10…Steve 4….Cogerson 3…..Flora coming to burst the Laurent bubble?….or will we hear “La Marseillaise”?
We hear La Marsaeille! 🙂
Congrats! I take silver with 8 movies.
Allons enfants de la patriiiieee… 🙂
I just love that scene in Casablanca where Henreid instructs the band to play the French National Anthem over top of the Germans and they are drowned out. The actress who is scene crying while singing recently died. She was the last surviving cast member.
Congrats Laurent…glad to hear a new national anthem in these tally counts.
My Top 5 The Blue Angel , Shanghai Express , The Docks of New York , Crime and Punishment and Blonde Venus. The man was a ground breaking director. I took a class on his movies in college and we watched many of his movies. Made me a fan for life. Sadly he does not get the attention he deserves.
Hey Dabney….thanks for sharing your Top 5. Sounds like you had a great college class….I imagine that was a fun and educational class to take….when I went to college film was not offered at all. Years later my son went to the same college and took a few film classes. Very emphasis of you. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Hello Bruce,
Big thanks to you. I’ve seen 10 of this movies. 6 with Marlene Dietrich. Sternberg was adirector with a very high sense of aesthetics. The photo and the framing of his films are always remarkable. Sometimes his sense of aesthetics took precedence over all the rest of the film, even at the expense of history, as on “Macao” or “Shanghai gesture”. I have also not liked it, despite the presence of Gene Tierney, one of the most beautiful actress (and woman) of the world.
In “last command” and “blue angel” Sternberg Sternberg knew perfectly exploited the immense talent of Emil Jannings. One of the greatest German actors in history. It was also popular in America before “last command”, having his first success in the mid 20’s. Too bad he was a Nazi sympathizer …
You know, Bruce, I’ve looked for the box office numbers of “Last Command”, “underworld”, “blue angel”, “Docks of new-York” and “Blonde venus” for many years. I’m really impressed that you found them. Can you tell me where you found them and do you agree to tell me the actual rentals of these films?
BRUCE
1 Great reminder of Josef V.
2 I am not surprised that he didn’t get on with Mitchum. Big Bob was a wonderful professional who was at first under-rated: “Robert Mitchum kind of crept up on us.” – Katie Hepburn. However by all accounts he was a bully, a show-off and a vulgarian.
3 Flora and I have already described his discourteous treatment of Greg Peck. When I was growing up in Belfast in the late 50s/early 60’s there was a report in the Belfast Telegraph of Mitchum’s antics in a bar in Dublin, Southern Ireland. Apparently he was sitting in the pub with his friend and co-star Richard Harris when a young woman came in with her boyfriend and spotting Mitchum asked for his autograph. Mitch took the pad, scribbled something on it and handed it back.
4 The girl read what he had written and became very upset. Her boyfriend then expressed his contempt for Mitchum, who reportedly stood up and made a move towards the boy. Whereupon other male customers surrounded the table and told Bob that if he touched the boy Harris and he would require an ambulance. Wisely according to the article the pair quickly got off side. I later learned that he had made a suggestive remark on the pad and signed it ‘Kirk Douglas’
5 It seemed he was ALWAYS getting into fights and insulting people. Deborah Kerr said in a interview that I saw on TV recently that when they were making Heaven Knows Mr Allison together Mitch beat up a guy in a bar on the set. Deb did add that the person was making a nuisance of himself; but I’m sure that someone who was more civilised and less of a show-off would have found a different way to handle the matter. Mitchum publicly described Alan Ladd as a “skinny little runt.”
6. I feel that today only you, Bruce, have the capacity to produce with such astonishing consistency the array of stats and the other information about historical figures such as Josef that add to our knowledge, keep us amused, and compel us to pour out the kind of nostalgic memories that I have articulated above.
7 Therefore although you are obviously someone of good integrity you nevertheless remind me of the classic novel The Card (turned into a movie starring I think Sir Alec Guinness). Near the end of the book one character says to another about The Card something like “I wonder why he was here. I mean what was his purpose in life?” To which the reply was “That’s simple: he was put here to give us all a grand time.”
Regards BOB
Hey Bob.
1. Thanks….I actually updated the Dietrich page too….so another screen legend updated with the new stats…..slowly getting them all done.
2. Interesting about Mitchum…..Mitch was good around kids though….he pretty much directed the kids in Night of the Hunter….because Laughton wanted nothing to do with them.
3. Mitchum and Harris drinking in a bar together….I can only imagine the stories that were too risque to tell back then….today it would be all over TMZ.
4. Crazy story….as if Kirk Douglas would need another story going around him….if you have heard the Natalie Wood/Douglas rumors.
5. I have read that Kerr and Mitchum became lifelong friends after appearing in 3 or 4 movies in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Sound people get mean and nasty when they drink….sounds like Mitchum was one of those people.
6. Thanks for the nice comments….I actually enjoy doing pages like this….as my knowledge of JvS was very limited….I noticed he had a lot in common with Howard Hawks…..lots of his IMDb credits were uncredited because he either got fired or suspended from the movie. Seems he had a hard time getting along with the studios…thus his movie career fizzled out pretty quickly….by the mid 1930s…..he was considered toast…..even though he still had some box office success…..the genius tag had worn off….the M. Night Shylaman of the the 1930s?
7. Very cool…I really like that quote from The Card. Just shared that one with my wife. Stuff like that keeps me motivated to keep on doing these pages.
Actually Bruce because of Laurent’s obviously great surprise that you were able to get definitive stats on Josef von I was torn between the quote from The Card and a verse from Oliver Goldsmith’s The Village Schoolmaster:
And still we gaz’d
And still the wonder grew
That one small head
Could Carry all he knew.
Thanks Robert Roy….another great compliment from you…though I have to admit I am not aware of Oliver Goldsmith’s The Village Schoolmaster
Hey Laurent….sorry it took so long to get your requested page done. I am thinking your 10 might win our tally count…so will “La Marseillaise” be the song sung at the medal ceremony? My tally count is 3….Steve’s is 4….so unless Flora from Canada tops your total… you will be the winner.
I gathered from the research I did on this that his method of film making influenced many of the all-time greats….through the way he framed the movie as well as the aesthetics of his movies. It is a shame that Emil Jannings did not work more after the “talkies” arrived.
As for the box office numbers….I have to admit I feel I am standing on thin ice. The Dietrich numbers (33% of the movies) came from the many books I read when doing her page a couple of years ago. I sadly did not source those books….but there are tons of Dietrich books out there. I found the box office for Last Command when I was doing my Best Actor Page about 4 years ago. I found the Blonde Venus information in a Cary Grant book back in 2011. Once again I do not have the sources anymore. My wife has set up a source section in our database…but I have to admit due to laziness I have not used that section as much as I should. The problem with getting box office information from books is you can never tell if they mean (1) box office gross (2) box office rentals (3) North America only or (4) Worldwide totals…..it leaves a lot of times to guess work…..give me the ledgers of Warner Brothers, MGM, RKO and 20th Century any day.
So with that warning…..he is the box office rentals for the movies you asked about.
1. Underworld….was a surprise hit….$925,000 in rentals….or $3.21 million in gross
2. Last Command…..$1,845,621 in rentals or $6.15 million in gross. The more I think about it….I wondered if that is the Worldwide Total….I gave it credit as the domestic total.
3. Docks of New York…considered by many as his masterpiece….but after the success of Underworld and Last Command in flopped in 1928…..$325,121 in rentals and $1.08 million in gross
4. The Blue Angel…..$977,562 in rentals (includes some re-issue numbers) for a $3.00 million gross.
5. Blonde Venus….$475,000 in rentals for $1.35 million in gross. Hard to believe a Cary Grant and Marlene Dietrich movie did so little.
I was trying to remember if you or Steve got third place. I will have to go back on FB and see what I said. I could not remember.
So England did get Bronze.
Steve got third place…I got left off the medal podium….lol.