This title presents Von Sternberg as a real individual, in a real setting. The author not only presents the facts, but embellishes Von Sternberg's life with his own interpretations.

In his 1929 Hollywood production The Case of Lena Smith, director Josef von Sternberg vividly brought to life his youthful memories of the turn of the 20th century through the story a young woman fighting the oppressive class system of Imperial Vienna. Critic Dwight Macdonald called it "the most completely satisfying American film I have seen." And yet, only a short fragment survives. Assembling 150 original stills and set designs, numerous script and production documents and essays by eminent film historians, the book reconstructs one of the legendary lost masterpieces of the American cinema. It also includes essays by Janet Bergstrom, Gero Gandert, Franz Grafl, Alexander Horwath, Hiroshi Komatsu and Michael Omasta, a preface by Meri von Sternberg, as well as contemporary reviews and excerpts from Viennese literature of the era.

Josef von Sternberg was born in Vienna in 1894, went to America as a penniless immigrant, and directed his first motion picture in 1924. It was hailed as a work of genius, and he followed it with some of the most striking films of the end of the silent era. With the "talkies" began his long association with Marlene Dietrich. He was the terror of the Hollywood stage, driving his team to a frenzy in his demands for perfection. He also shaped the new medium in several decisive ways. In this book he is not merely reminiscing; in a series of key chapters he sets out his views on the nature of the cinema and of direction.

Belligerent and evasive, Josef von Sternberg chose to ignore his illegitimate birth in Austria, deprived New York childhood, abusive father, and lack of education. The director who strutted onto the set in a turban, riding breeches, or a silk robe embraced his new persona as a world traveller, collected modern art, drove a Rolls Royce, and earned three times as much as the president. Von Sternberg traces the choices that carried the unique director from poverty in Vienna to power in Hollywood, including his eventual ostracism in Japan. Historian John Baxter reveals an artist few people knew: the aesthete who transformed Marlene Dietrich into an international star whose ambivalent sexuality and contradictory allure on-screen reflected an off-screen romance with the director. In his classic films The Blue Angel (1930), Morocco (1930), and Blonde Venus (1932), von Sternberg showcased his trademark visual style and revolutionary representations of sexuality. Drawing on firsthand conversations with von Sternberg and his son, Von Sternberg breaks past the classic Hollywood caricature to demystify and humanize this legendary director.