Morocco (1930)

In the end, between the conveniences of civic life and the call of the wilderness, she decides to join the rear guard: she ties her scarf, kicks off her high heels, and welcomes the soft touch of sand under her feet.

The confidence Amy Jolly (Marlene Dietrich) exhibits in the cabaret's scene of the movie, wearing male attire with a top hat and tails while kissing a woman on the lips (an implication of her brazen personality rather than her sexual orientation), would become an integral part of the persona Dietrich became known for.  A vagabond woman with ambiguous moral values but disarming candor immediately attracts the audience’s sympathy.

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The social origins of her character stem from the prevalent cynicism, particularly among intellectuals, that emerged in Europe after World War I and persisted until the late thirties. One can recognize that Dietrich played an essential role in shaping such a persona; however, when examining Sternberg’s silent film era, particularly The Docks of New York (1928), we can see the director was preoccupied with this type of character long before he encountered Dietrich in Germany.

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To develop his characters, Sternberg subverts typical Hollywood conventions. The film begins with Amy Jolly wearing a male outfit for a performance; the air of masculinity enhances her feminine appeal. Sternberg transitions from a long shot of her on the stage to a close-up of Tom Brown (Gary Cooper), who is enamored with her. The director's gender role reversal continues as Amy takes on the role of the male aggressor by giving Tom her room key. Sternberg also adds a touch of femininity to Tom by placing the flower she tossed for him behind his ear.

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In the last scene, we see Amy is undecided about whether to follow Tom with a group of women, which La Bessière (Adolph Menjou) aptly calls “rear guards.” She realized that both of them were wanderers, searching for a place to establish themselves. Poised at the threshold of the town, she decides to join him for their common quest.

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She ultimately opts for a nomadic lifestyle, echoing the captain’s words:

“We call them suicide passengers. One-way tickets. They never return.”

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She returns to say goodbye to La Bessière. She embraces him and, as a final gesture of gratitude, kisses his hand, once again reversing traditional gender roles. Her love has transformed her cynicism, which initially seemed inevitable for one-way passengers. It is as if she wants to apologize for her earlier transgression on the boat, when she confidently said, “I don’t need any help.” As she crosses the threshold into the wilderness, she ties her scarf around her neck and takes off her high heels. From this point on, she will not have any occasion to wear them.

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Years later, Otto Preminger, another Austrian, borrowed the idea of women’s shoes from Sternberg for two of his movies. As in Morocco, the theme is portrayed in the final scenes of both films.

• The first occurs in River of No Return (1954), when Marilyn Monroe throws out her glamorous shoes, her last possession from her life in show business, before going “home.”

• Then, in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Jimmy Stewart finds Lee Remick’s shoe hanging on the trash can, bitterly reminding him of the woman he defended.