---
name: "Josef von Sternberg"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/josef-von-sternberg"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "29 May 1894"
died: "22 November 1969"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-19T22:05:10.481632+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Josef von Sternberg

Director. Born 29 May 1894 in Vienna, Austria. Died 22 November 1969.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 29 May 1894, Vienna, Austria
- **Died:** 22 November 1969
- **Also known as:** Джозеф фон Штернберг, 조셉 폰 스턴버그, 조셉 본 스턴버그, Jonas Sternberg
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscar nominations
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_von_Sternberg, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q78719, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0903049/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2891

## Fi1m on Josef von Sternberg

> Josef von Sternberg lit Marlene Dietrich like a cathedral and treated the story as a nuisance. When the plot kept pace with the pictures, as in *Shanghai Express*, the pair made something handsome and fast; when it did not, the frame filled up and the film stalled.

A woman stands still in a crowded frame and lets the light find her. Around her there is smoke, a veil, too much furniture, other people half in shadow. Nobody moves for a moment and nothing needs to, because the picture is the event. That is a Josef von Sternberg shot, and he made hundreds of them. He said as much himself: "I care nothing about the story, only how it is photographed and presented." Most directors who talk like that are bluffing. He meant it.

He came up through the cutting room, patching and editing film from 1911, and it shows: he thought in shots before he thought in scenes. The silent *Underworld* (1927) helped set the shape of the gangster film. Then *The Blue Angel* (1930), made in Germany, gave him Marlene Dietrich, and they spent the next five years at Paramount on a cycle of pictures: *Morocco* (1930), *Dishonored*, *Shanghai Express* (1932), *The Scarlet Empress* (1934) and *The Devil Is a Woman* (1935). Hans Dreier built the rooms, Travis Banton dressed her, Lee Garmes shot three of his films, and Jules Furthman wrote stories that von Sternberg then photographed around.

The films live or die by whether the story can keep up. *Morocco* has the look and none of the pace. *The Scarlet Empress* has so much look that the story cannot breathe under it. *Shanghai Express* is the one where the train has to arrive, and the timetable disciplines him; it is the best-looking of the Dietrich films and the most fun. It is also the clearest case of what his method costs and what it buys. Clive Brook stands in it, stiff and clipped, saying his lines about honour, and we did not believe his love story for a minute; and we did not mind, because von Sternberg keeps the camera on Dietrich while Brook talks, and what she does while listening is the scene. That is the trick, and it is also the limit. When there is nobody like her in the frame to listen, the décor is only décor.

After Paramount dismissed him the work thinned out. He co-directed *Duel in the Sun* (1946) and finished with *The Saga of Anatahan* (1953), shot in Japan with a Japanese cast, which he wrote, produced, photographed and narrated himself. By then critics had decided the mannerisms were the whole man: feathers and fog with nothing under them. That is unfair to the good films and fair to some of the others. Start with *Shanghai Express*, at home with the lights off. If you want more, *The Blue Angel* is where the partnership began, and *The Scarlet Empress* is where it went to die of its own beauty.

## Biography

Josef von Sternberg was an Austrian-born film director. Born Jonas Sternberg on 29 May 1894 in Vienna, he emigrated to the United States as a child and began working in the film industry in New York around 1911, initially in editing and titling before moving into direction.

He is best known for his seven films with Marlene Dietrich, including *The Blue Angel* (1930), *Morocco* (1930), *Shanghai Express* (1932), *Blonde Venus* (1932) and *The Scarlet Empress* (1934). Other notable works include *Underworld* (1927), *The Docks of New York* (1928) and *The Last Command* (1928). He was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director.

Sternberg also worked as a writer, cinematographer and editor on many of his films. He died on 22 December 1969 in Hollywood, California.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Shanghai Express* (1932), Fi1m 80, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/shanghai-express.md)

## Complete filmography (41)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *No Angel: A Life of Marlene Dietrich* (1996), Actor
- *Josef von Sternberg, A Retrospective* (1969), as Interviewee
- *Jet Pilot* (1957), Director
- *Anatahan* (1953), as Narrator (voice) (uncredited) · Director, Director of Photography, Screenplay, Executive Producer
- *Macao* (1952), Director
- *Duel in the Sun* (1946), Co-Director
- *The Town* (1944), Director
- *The Shanghai Gesture* (1941), Adaptation, Director, Writer
- *I Take This Woman* (1940), Co-Director
- *Sergeant Madden* (1939), Director
- *The Great Waltz* (1938), Co-Director
- *I, Claudius* (1937), Director
- *The King Steps Out* (1936), Director
- *Crime and Punishment* (1935), Director
- *The Fashion Side of Hollywood* (1935), Director
- *The Devil Is a Woman* (1935), Director, Director of Photography, Art Direction, Producer
- *The Scarlet Empress* (1934), Director, Art Direction, Producer, Editor, Lighting Technician
- *Blonde Venus* (1932), Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
- *Shanghai Express* (1932), Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/shanghai-express.md)
- *An American Tragedy* (1931), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Dishonored* (1931), Music, Director, Writer, Additional Music, Editor
- *Marlene Dietrich, “The Blue Angel” Screen Test* (1930), Director
- *Morocco* (1930), Director
- *The Blue Angel* (1930), Director, Writer
- *Thunderbolt* (1929), Director
- *The Case of Lena Smith* (1929), Director
- *The Docks of New York* (1928), Producer, Director
- *The Street of Sin* (1928), Story
- *The Drag Net* (1928), Director
- *The Last Command* (1928), Story, Director
- *Underworld* (1927), Director
- *Children of Divorce* (1927), Co-Director
- *The Exquisite Sinner* (1926), Director, Writer
- *A Woman of the Sea* (1926), Director, Writer
- *The Masked Bride* (1925), Director
- *The Salvation Hunters* (1925), Director, Editor, Producer, Screenplay
- *By Divine Right* (1924), Scenario Writer, Assistant Director
- *The Bohemian Girl* (1922), Assistant Director
- *The Highest Bidder* (1921), Assistant Director
- *The Mystery of the Yellow Room* (1919), Assistant Director
- *A Girl's Folly* (1917), as Cameraman (uncredited)

## Gallery

- ![Original portrait photograph of Josef von Sternberg, 1934.](https://film.one/media/person/1225781/gallery-37327afb2688.jpg) Original portrait photograph of Josef von Sternberg, 1934. — Paramount Pictures (Q159846), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Josef_von_Sternberg.jpg/1280px-Josef_von_Sternberg.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Josef von Sternberg](https://film.one/media/person/1225781/gallery-1712157a8719.jpg) Josef von Sternberg — Paramount Pictures, Josef von Sternberg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Dishonored_%28film%29_1931_On_set%2C_BW_photo%2C_L_to_R_Josef_von_Sternberg%2C_Marlene_Dietrich_%28cropped-1%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Photo of Josef von Sternberg from a United Artists advertisement (1924)](https://film.one/media/person/1225781/gallery-4a9b8d303ecb.jpg) Photo of Josef von Sternberg from a United Artists advertisement (1924) — AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Josef_von_Sternberg%2C_Film_Daily_Year_Book_1925.jpg/1280px-Josef_von_Sternberg%2C_Film_Daily_Year_Book_1925.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![The Scarlet Empress (film 1934). Josef von Sternberg, director. On set with Marlene Dietrich as Princess Sophie. Paramount Pictures](https://film.one/media/person/1225781/gallery-4e17f84e37b3.jpg) The Scarlet Empress (film 1934). Josef von Sternberg, director. On set with Marlene Dietrich as Princess Sophie. Paramount Pictures — Paramount Pictures, Josef von Sternberg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/The_Scarlet_Empress_%28film%29_1934_Josef_von_Sternberg%2C_director._On_set_with_Marlene_Dietrich_as_Sophia.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Josef von Sternberg](https://film.one/media/person/1225781/gallery-7b3c74f0be6c.jpg) Josef von Sternberg — Image via TMDB
- ![Jet Pilot (1957). Josef von Sternberg, director. On set publicity photo, Janet Leigh, Sternberg. RKO Pictures.](https://film.one/media/person/1225781/gallery-a79e44cf5bdb.jpg) Jet Pilot (1957). Josef von Sternberg, director. On set publicity photo, Janet Leigh, Sternberg. RKO Pictures. — RKO Pictures, Josef von Sternberg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Jet_Pilot_%28film%29_1951._Josef_von_Sternberg%2C_director._On_set_publicity_photo%2C_Janet_Leigh%2C_Sternberg.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![The Blue Angel (film) 1930 BW photo on set, Josef von Sternberg (director), Emil Jannings. Paramount Pictures](https://film.one/media/person/1225781/gallery-8047630a9495.jpg) The Blue Angel (film) 1930 BW photo on set, Josef von Sternberg (director), Emil Jannings. Paramount Pictures — Paramount Pictures, Josef von Sternberg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/The_Blue_Angel_%28film%29_1930_BW_photo_on_set%2C_Josef_von_Sternberg_%28director%29%2C_Emil_Jannings.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1932: Best Director (nominated), for *Shanghai Express*
- 1931: Best Director (nominated), for *Morocco*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/josef-von-sternberg