Josef von Sternberg and Macao

[mwalls]

I am working my way through Josef von Sternberg movies. Underworld (which got me started), The Last Command, The Docks of New York, The Blue Angel, and last night Macao. I understand he was difficult to work with and in later movies was pushed aside during shooting. In the interview with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell, it was stated that Robert Mitchum wrote several scenes to be inserted for the movie to make more sense. Does anyone by chance know which scenes in the movie were inserted scenes written by Robert Mitchum (or by one of the directors called in to substitute)?

Thanks,
Matt

[Hal Erickson]

It's possible, but actors have a habit of claiming to have written scenes in their movies to "improve" them. Only recently the daughter of Dalton Trumbo took Kirk Douglas to task for claiming that it was HIS idea to include the "I am Spartacus" scene in SPARTACUS. That's not to say that Mitchum and Russell weren't telling the truth, merely to point out that actors sometimes have an exalted opinion of their contributions to their movies.