Art Directors Guild Film Society to Screen 1934 Classic ''The Scarlet Empress,'' Starring Marlene Dietrich, July 28 at DGA.

Entertainment Editors

The Art Directors Guild (ADG) Film Society will screen the 1934 Josef Von Sternberg classic, "The Scarlet Empress," starring Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dresser and C. Aubrey Smith, while honoring the legendary career of the film's Art Director Hans Dreier (1885-1966) on Sunday, July 28, at the Directors Guild Theatre, 7920 Sunset Blvd.

Dreier was the stand alone designer on scores of films and from his position as Supervising Art Director of Paramount Studios from 1932 to 1950 he also shared production design credits on hundreds of other films. A symposium panel of three equally celebrated Production Designers, Robert Boyle, Henry Bumstead and Albert Nozaki, all of whom worked for Dreier earlier in their careers, sharing credits with him on various films, will discuss the unique art direction of "The Scarlet Empress" as well as Dreier's prolific career and work in the early Paramount Studios art department system. Moderator will be Film Historian Beverly Heisner. The Symposium will take place at 2:00 PM, followed by a reception at 3:30 PM and the screening at 4:00 PM. The event, hosted by Film Society Chairman Tom Walsh and member Linda Berger, is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required by calling the ADG at 818/762-9995.

Production Designer Dreier was associated with famed directors Ernst Lubitsch and Von Sternberg on 10 and 12 of their films, respectively. For Lubitsch, Dreier designed witty, sophisticated, mostly modernist sets for such comedies as "Trouble in Paradise" (1932) and "Design for Living" (1933). For Von Sternberg he designed grimy city streets and waterfronts for such crime dramas as "Underworld" (1927) and "The Docks of New York" (1928). Dreier also designed cabarets and exotic locations for Von Sternberg's favorite star, Marlene Dietrich. Dreier shared Academy Awards with Art Director Walter Tyler for "Samson and Delilah" (1949) and with John Meehan for "Sunset Boulevard" (1950). His last screen credit, shared with Tyler, was "A Place in the Sun" (1951). Dreier was born in Germany and worked as an architect in West Africa before arriving in California in the 1920s to start his career as a Hollywood Art Director.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Electronic photos of Hans Dreier and of Marlene Dietrich from "The Scarlet Princess" are available by contacting Annie Keropian at [e-mail].