Marlene Dietrich’s Berlin, and Berlin on film

About Marlene Dietrich’s Berlin, and Berlin on film

By the ULTIMATE Berlin Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Marlene Dietrich was born in Schöneberg in 1901 and became the face of Berlin on screen. Her story leads into the city’s whole film history: the studios at Babelsberg, Weimar expressionism, the New German Cinema and the Berlin School, and the Berlinale every February.

Marlene Dietrich

Dietrich became a star as Lola Lola in The Blue Angel (1930), singing “Falling in Love Again”. In Hollywood she made Morocco (1930), in white tie and tails, which brought her an Oscar nomination, and Shanghai Express (1932). Later came Billy Wilder’s Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). She refused to return to work in Nazi Germany, became an American citizen and entertained Allied troops during the war. Her trousers and suits made her a style icon.

Where to find her in Berlin

Marlene-Dietrich-Platz at Potsdamer Platz is a home of the Berlinale. Her estate is held by the Deutsche Kinemathek, which has moved to Mauerstrasse and currently has no permanent exhibition. She is buried in the Städtischer Friedhof III on Stubenrauchstrasse, in Friedenau, near the photographer Helmut Newton.

Watch The Blue Angel and Wings of Desire before you come.

A century of Berlin film

The Weimar years gave the world The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) with Conrad Veidt, F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), the first film on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register (2001), and M (1931). Emil Jannings won the first Best Actor Oscar, in 1929, for The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. The New German Cinema brought Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) with Hanna Schygulla, and Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987), with its angels above the divided city. Then came Run Lola Run (1998) with Franka Potente, Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) with Daniel Brühl, and Christian Petzold’s Phoenix (2014) with Nina Hoss.

Watching films in Berlin

The Babylon on Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse, a 1920s picture palace, shows silent films with live organ accompaniment, and the Kino International on Karl-Marx-Allee is a landmark of 1960s design. The Berlinale fills the city every February.

Our advice: catch a silent film with the organ at the Babylon.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Marlene Dietrich’s Berlin, and Berlin on film before you go.