Blonde Vénus

Josef von Sternberg would, no doubt, dismiss this film as one of his lesser works. Yet, to me,"Blonde Venus" sort of defines his relationship with Marlene Dietrich. The combined attraction of the harlot-mother gives Marlene's acting both sexual radiance and that intimate, moody quality that is so unique to her.

Just watch her in the scenes with her baby boy. She is lovely, glamorous, yet totally attentive to the child's needs, protective and unselfconscious in a way that only Carole Lombard (see "Made for each other" for evidence) managed back in those days. Her presence is so strong that she makes the male stars seem awkward and rigid. Herbert Marshall looks ill at ease, (probably from lack of directorial attention) while Cary Grant sails through the movie, unblessed by inspiration.

This is Marlene's film, through and through. The plot is silly beyond words (suffering in mink, writ large!) but Marlene makes it memorable. Her close-ups in the scene at the railway-station when she realizes she has lost her family tells it all. A lost soul with nowhere to go but down. Von Sternberg (or some intrusive producer) tacked on a happy ending, but the movie really ended there, on a bench. The rest is just wish-fulfilment.

This was a very interesting story.....one of the best in the early era of sound. The only negative was that even though time passed, nobody - including the 6-year- old boy (Dickie Moore) - aged!

There were a few other things that didn't make sense, either, but the film is so captivating that one can ignore the gaffs and still really enjoy this. Marlene Dietrich, for instance, is mesmerizing at times. She could - except for those stupid 1930s pencil-thin eyebrows - look absolutely stunning. Make no mistake: she's alluring.

All the lead characters in here did their parts well and Moore, who gained fame as one of the "Little Rascals," is particularly endearing.

The adults, however, all have character flaws: a married Dietrich runs off with a wealthy young Cary Grant while her husband (Herbert Marshall) is off in Europe being treated for radium poisoning. Marshall is understandably bitter when he returns to find out what his wife was up to, but is too hard-hearted about letting his wife see the kid. Grant, of course, is an adulterer.

Despite this soap opera premise, the movie almost plays like a film noir, with sharp dialog, great cinematography and tough characters.

This is another great classic film that, for some reason, is still not available on DVD and deserves to be.

This is Marlene Dietrich at her best. From reading the reviews here all I can say is there's a whole lot of people in this world who are way too cynical. Marlene Dietrich and Herbert Marshall loved each other in this film, for crying out loud. There is no other way this movie could have or should have ended, without seeming contrived and false. And maybe Marlene Dietrich couldn't sing. So what ? The only actress in cinema movie history who ever rivaled her in sex appeal was Greta Garbo. This is a great movie.

.. in that typical Von Sternberg way that plays with dark, light, and shadow.

Helen (Dietrich) and her friends, who are headlining a local show, are skinny dipping in a pond in Germany. Ned (Herbert Marshall) and his friends are walking in the woods when they come upon the scene. Helen asks the men to leave, Ned says they will not unless she agrees to see him after the show. Fast forward and it's domestic Helen seen next, bathing her young son (Dickie Moore) in a small cluttered apartment. Ned, now her husband, has radium poisoning from some experiments he has been working on the past year and will die unless he can get to Dresden - they now live in America - and take the experimental cure an expensive doctor has. But it will cost 1500 dollars, and during the Great Depression it might as well be 15 million. Though Ned doesn't like it, Helen decides to go back on the stage for the first time since her marriage.

So along comes a millionaire, Nick Townsend (Cary Grant) who sees her nightclub act and hears her tale of woe., He gives Helen the money she needs to get her husband cured, but the husband thinks it's an advance from the manager of the club where Helen is working. Some reviews say Townsend is trading her sex for his money, but it's not like that, although he is very much attracted to her. And that lack of reciprocal expectations has Helen loving him as a result. And then the husband gets cured early and thus comes home unexpectedly, finding an apartment that hasn't been lived in for months. He also discovers that Helen has not been working since shortly after he sails. Complications ensue.

The script, frankly, seems rather rushed and is the stuff of a hundred melodramas made in the early 30s about misunderstood "fallen" women. Where Von Sternberg excels is with his camera work. The cinematography often speaks for the characters. The situations are not exactly classic Great Depression scenes - that was mainly Warner Brothers' stock and trade - but they aren't inconsistent given the times. The only bad thing I can say about it is that the ending seems tacked on and inconsistent given all that has come before.

Blonde Venus unfortunately turned out to be the one and only collaboration of Marlene Dietrich and Cary Grant. Sad to say though, Grant was not the lead here, just the other man who comes between Marlene and husband Herbert Marshall. There's no real chemistry in this one between any of the principal players and the best scenes are with Marlene and little Dickie Moore playing her son with Marshall.

The best thing about Blonde Venus are Marlene's musical numbers and they're memorable because of the inimitable way she puts over a song. All Dietrich fans should treasure her Hot Voodoo number where Marlene has a gorilla suit on and does a sexy strip out of that costume and gives us a look at voodoo can do to us.

But when its not showing Dietrich's legs off and her husky singing, the film is the story of a woman in love with two men. Husband Herbert Marshall is a research scientist who contracts 'radium poisoning' and needs money to go to Europe for a cure. Dietrich gets the money by doing some entertaining in a seedy dive where she comes to the attention of wealthy playboy Cary Grant. From there the plot progresses to the inevitable Hollywood conclusion with a script that was written by Joseph Von Sternberg who directed the film as well.

Paramount was taking a shot in the dark here with radium poisoning gambit. The plain truth is they didn't know a whole lot about radioactivity then. The discoverer of radium Marie Curie did in fact die of cancer contracted from too much exposure to it. But one didn't just go somewhere for a miracle cure for that sort of thing.

Herbert Marshall was always playing the injured party it seems in a whole lot of his films. He's well remembered for being Bette Davis's husband in The Little Foxes, a much better film than Blonde Venus. I also remember him in When Ladies Meet where he was cheating on Greer Garson with Joan Crawford and he went through the film with an air of innocence that you would think he was the party offended. Marshall had these roles down pat, but he had more to him in his acting repertoire.

Even before The Code was put in place Paramount had a lot of trouble with the Hays Office in getting this one exhibited. Some changes were made that no doubt weakened the plot and the story. Marlene is basically in love with two guys at the same time and that was a no go back in the day.

Blonde Venus didn't do that well at the box office, it was quite a let down from her previous film Shanghai Express. After this one she and Joseph Von Sternberg were separated and she did her next film, Song of Songs with Rouben Mamoulian.

Blonde Venus is great Dietrich who's asked to carry a weak story.