BERLIN, Germany -- Marlene Dietrich was born almost century ago -- on Dec.27, 1901 -- but the powerful, mysteriously androgynous allure of the woman who could look as sexy in a tuxedo as a strapless gown is ageless. So, it's really not surprising that nine years after she died the greatest international star to come out of German films is drawing crowds to a superb new film museum in her native city.

Located in Potsdamer Platz -- the glittering new shopping, dining and entertainment complex in the city center -- the FilmMuseum (sic) Berlin tells the fascinating story of the German film industry from its beginnings in the 1890s to the present . Once the largest in Europe and Hollywood 's chief rival for world audiences in silent movie days, the industry has had a renaissance in recent years producing internationally popular films such as "Run Lola, Run."

A cinematic smorgasbord for film buffs, the museum offers among other things clips from silent masterpieces such as as "Metropolis," "Nosferatu" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"; displays of props, set models and artifacts from these and other classic films; and, exhibits devoted to Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, Emil Jannings, Peter Lorre and other great directors and actors who had successful careers in America as well as Germany. But, as she usually did, Marlene steals the show.

After her death in 1992 in Paris, the city of Berlin paid more than $5 million to acquire Dietrich's personal estate, now in the custody of the museum. And, what an estate! "She was an archivist's dream, she never threw anything out,'' says Gero (sic) Gandert (sic), a film historian and one of the founders of the museum.

The estate included more than 350,000 individual pieces of paper (letters, postcards, film scripts and posters,) some 5000 photographs (ranging from family snapshots to portraits and studies by leading fashion photographers) and more than 3000 items of clothing , among them: 400 hats, 150 pairs of gloves , 50 handbags, 440 pairs of shoes and 120 film and show costumes along with scores of other gowns and dresses.

Her exhibit, largely culled from the estate, fills three rooms and is the biggest of the museum's theme areas. "Marlene is the key figure in German film history and it's right that she has the most space,'' says Gandert.

The film museum occupies three floors of a building in the architecturally dramatic Sony Center, built around a central courtyard roofed with what looks like a giant circus tent. You enter the museum as if going to a movie theater, coming out of daylight into a dimly lit interior filled with constantly shifting images: a kaleidiscope of great moments from German films. Among them, a clip of Dietrich sultrily singing "From head to foot, I'm made for love ...can't help it!" in a memorable scene from "The Blue Angel," the 1930 film that transformed her from bit player to star and got her to Hollywood.

Among the film history artifacts the museum preserves is Dietrich's screen test for "The Blue Angel," the first major talking film made in Germany. She is visibly nervous and a bit awkward but the cameraman carefully focused on the soon to be world famous legs and an impressed director Josef(sic) Von Sternberg gave her the part. He also became one of the most devoted of her legion of lovers and is considered the man behind the Marlene legend, the Svengali or Henry Higgins who polished her acting skills and created the enigmatic screen persona that intrigued generations of moviegoers.

Born Jonas Sternberg (the aristocratic prefix "Von" was self bestowed) in Vienna, Von Sternberg spent his childhood shuttling back and forth between Europe and America but got into the movie business in Brooklyn, N.Y. "The Blue Angel," the only film he ever made in Germany, was supposed to be a starring vehicle for Emil Jannings(sic,) a silent film mega star on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1929 Jannings, who had been lured from Berlin to Hollywood by a fabulous salary offer, was presented with the first Oscar for best actor by the newly founded Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The original statuette is displayed in the museum.

The virtually unknown Dietrich walked off with the film, however, upstaging Jannings' hammy portrayal of a pompous middle aged professor with her leggy depiction of Lola Lola(sic.) the seductive young cabaret singer who bewitches him.

She and Von Sternberg made six more films together before parting company personally and professionally. It was an intense relationship on and off the movie set. "He was my master, my trainer, he had me on a leash,'' is how she later described it.

Among the memorabilia on display in the museum is a photo of herself Dietrich gave Von Sternberg in 1931 with the dedication: "To my creator from his creation." He presented her with one of him, also displayed, with a dedication reading: "What am I, really, without you?'' Long after their affair ended, she continued to use the elaborate leather-covered vanity case -- an extraordinary luxury item for its day -- that Von Sternberg gave her when she left for Hollywood. And, for the rest of her life, wherever she went she carried a black doll that was one of her props in "The Blue Angel " as a good luck charm. Both the case and the doll are in the museum.

Dietrich, who never divorced the husband she married in Berlin in 1922, had many other admirers and lovers (both male and female) who also showered her with gifts and tokens of affection. They included John Wayne , Jimmy Stewart, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Erich(sic) Maria Remarque (author of "All Quiet on the Western Front,'') Ernest Hemingway and French actor Jean Gabin." It was Gabin who was really the love of her life," says Gandert. Hemingway, whose relationship with Dietrich was apparently platonic, is represented by a photograph of himself inscribed to: "My Dearest Kraut;'' Gabin by a greeting card addressed, in French, to "My Angel."

Although she left Germany before Hitler came to power, Dietrich was passionately anti-Nazi and very active in the German emigre community in Hollywood, most of whose members , many of them Jewish , had fled Nazi persecution. The FilmMuseum Berlin has the largest collection of material documenting the life of these frequently distinguished exiles, including photos and home movies showing them relaxing at the beach or around a swimming pool like ordinary Californians.

During World War II Dietrich toured the United States raising money for War Bond campaigns and also went overseas to entertain American soldiers in North Africa and Europe. She wowed the G.I.s by playing the singing saw, which was held between the famous legs and became her wartime trademark.

She returned to Berlin in 1945, for the first time since she left for Hollywood, to perform for the U.S. occupation forces. For that tour she wore a high-necked ,tight-fitting gown that emphasized her figure and was covered with hundreds of sequins that sparkled brilliantly when stage lights hit them. Audiences went wild.

The saw and the sequin covered gown are both prominently displayed in the museum, potent symbols of the Marlene mystique.

Although some Germans were hostile to Dietrich after the war, most Berliners are proud of her and say many of her character traits , such as a strong sense of duty coupled with a willingness to defy convention , are typical of old time residents of the city. She is buried in Berlin and made her own feelings about her birthplace clear in the title of her autobiography : "I Am, Thank God, a Berliner.''