Blonde Venus

This film has some wonderful moments, particularly the nightclub scenes where Dietrich "stripteases" out of a gorilla suit, and the pastoral opening sequence where the two lovers meet. The latter is handled in a very early 20s European style reminiscent of the heady days of Maurice Tourneur. The modern "American" sequences are too static, though, and the story is just a superficial melodrama that doesn't involve me too much. Cary Grant plays his early character type from the Mae West films with far less interesting results. One thing that is cool is that the club sequences give one an idea of what Dietrich's famous cabaret style might have been like.

"Blonde Venus" is a drama based on the original story "Mother Love", written by Marlene Dietrich.

The plot follows a married couple, Ned and Helen, as they put their son Johnny to bed, telling him the story of how they met. Ned, a chemist, has been accidentally poisoned by radium and is given only a year to live. However, a renowned doctor has developed a treatment that may help him. To finance her husband's journey and medical care, Helen takes a job as a cabaret performer at a local nightclub. Her popularity rises quickly, catching the attention of Nick-a young and wealthy politician.

Director Josef von Sternberg brings a strong sense of stylization to the film, using light and shadow to create a mysterious, captivating atmosphere. The camera often centers on the protagonist, but the compositions remain inventive and visually rich. The plot is layered-at times slightly convoluted-but thematically cohesive, portraying the struggle of a woman whose journey holds a clear feminist resonance. The film wisely avoids devolving into farce, even as the narrative edges toward melodrama. The extravagant costuming highlights the contrast between the glamour of the cabaret world and the poverty of a woman fighting to keep her child.

As a Pre-Code Hollywood film, "Blonde Venus" benefits from a greater freedom in exploring themes such as female independence, sexual agency, infidelity as a complex moral choice, motherhood as sacrifice, and the tensions within marriage and family. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, von Sternberg subtly draws lines between luxury and destitution.

Marlene Dietrich delivers a graceful and compelling performance as Helen Faraday, also known as Blonde Venus. She is a mother, a wife, a lover-the very soul of the story. Her character endures immense hardship, driven by her decision to take control of her destiny and that of her child. The emotionally charged final scene, which reunites the family, doesn't feel like a conventional punishment for a female character of the era, but rather another act of choice. Herbert Marshall plays Edward 'Ned' Faraday, the heartbroken husband and devoted father. It's a thankless role, with limited development allowed by the direction, reducing him to a symbol of domestic dignity. Cary Grant, as the wealthy Nick Townsend, is suave, stylish, and arrogantly charming. His involvement in resolving the story's conflict brings a touch of soap-opera sentimentality.

This is a cult classic, especially memorable for its opening sequence and cabaret sequence where Helen performs "Hot Voodoo" in a striking costume. While it may not be the pinnacle of von Sternberg and Dietrich's collaboration, it remains a vital and compelling part of their shared cinematic legacy.

This is one of the greatest films that show off life in the great depression. BLONDE VENUS concerns Helen (Marlene Dietrich) a young loving mother and wife. In order to help makes ends meet, she takes a job as a showgirl. She becomes more distant from her unhappy husband (Herbert Marshall), while taking up with a young playboy (Cary Grant) The film has a wwonderful dreamlike quality thanks to it's talented, visually oriegntated director- Josef von Sternberg. Our first visions of Dietrich, is of her swimming nude in a sunlit pond. The images are almost bleached out. When she takes the showgirl job, the sets are cluttered with plants, dresses and ladies underwear on hangers, junk. It's a basic exotic/erotic jungle. Everything ahs this unbeatable dreamlike look to it. This look is a visual metaphor for the entire film, which visually captures Helen's downward spiral, and rebirth.

Billed as The BLONDE VENUS, a sultry German cabaret singer will do anything to save her sick husband and care for their child.

Acting under the flamboyant direction of her mentor, Josef von Sternberg, legendary Marlene Dietrich fascinates as a tender mother fiercely protecting her small child, who spends her evenings as a seductive stage siren, captivating audiences in America & France. She is equally good in both postures, her perfect face registering deep maternal love and sphinx-like allure. Dietrich is incredibly gentle crooning an old German lullaby at her son's bedside, while the contrasting image of her emerging from an ape suit to sing 'Hot Voodoo' in a nightclub is one of the Pre-Code Era's most bizarre images.

Two British actors compete for Marlene's attention. Distinguished Herbert Marshall, with a voice like liquid honey, is ideally cast as Dietrich's conflicted husband. Playing a chemist poisoned by radium, his face reveals his humiliation at having to be supported by his wife; later, he manifests pent-up rage when he discovers her 'betrayal.' Cary Grant, just on the cusp of becoming a major film star, plays a powerful political boss whose arrogance mellows as he pursues Dietrich's affections.

Little Dickie Moore, one of the OUR GANG members, is terrific as the infant son who is the bridge between Dietrich & Marshall. Here was a kid who could really act and tug at the viewer's heartstrings. Sidney Toler is amusing as a low-key detective. Gene Morgan, as a talent agent, and Robert Emmett O'Connor, as a theater owner, very realistically portray denizens from the sleazy underbelly of the entertainment world.

Movie mavens will spot some fine performers in unbilled cameos: silly Sterling Holloway as one of the student hikers in the first sequence who discovers Marlene skinny-dipping in the forest; Clarence Muse as a stuttering bartender; dear Mary Gordon as Marshall's informative landlady; big Dewey Robinson as a gruff greasy spoon owner; wonderful Hattie McDaniel as Dietrich's New Orleans maid; and prim Marcelle Corday as Marlene's maid in Paris.

Paramount gave the film lavish, and slightly decadent, production values. The live chickens flapping about in Dietrich's apartment during the French Quarter sequence are a nice touch.

.. 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.