{{quote box quote|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|alignfontsize=right100%|salign=center|quote=''“Josef von Sternberg has suffered perhaps more than any other director from the vagaries of film criticism; on the one hand he has been seen as a mannered, self-indulgent stylist with a trivial and dehumanized vision of the world, and on the other as a cult figure largely associated with the mystique of [[Marlene Dietrich]], with whom he made seven films, beginning in [[The Blue Angel]] in 1930 and ending with [[The Devil Is a Woman (1935 film)|The Devil is a Woman]] in 1935''. <br><br> — Film historian [[Claire Johnston]] - "Sternberg’s '''Thunderbolt'''" - in Focus on Film, 1970 <ref>Williams, 2009</ref>}}
''Thunderbolt'' was Sternberg’s first film using synchronized sound technology. Two versions of the film were produced, including a silent version for theatres that had yet to be adapted to sound.<ref>Williams, 2009</ref><ref>Axmaker, 2005.<br>Baxter, 1971. p. 61</ref>
