Quite possibly my ideal movie. Mysterious characters with murky pasts, a hazy yet specific sense of place, a true star who owns every second she is on screen (Marlene Dietrich), a combination of melodrama and sexuality, a plot that exists but no one really cares about it, events that just kind of flow along in a dreamlike way, it's great. Von Sternberg's camerawork contains passage of true cinematic poetry, and his lighting is beautiful. I have my issues with the ending, but von Sternberg's pure expression of style erases all doubt in the moment. Cooper leaves a little to be desired. He appears too secure, too solid, to be a drifting man in the French Foreign Legion with no life. Dietrich blows him off the screen in every moment, where really they should be equals. Still, great film.