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 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.

This is the 5th of the 7 legendary collaborations between Dietrich and von Sternberg, and the only one set in the U.S. (the other 6 are set in Germany, Morocco, Europe, China, Russia, and Spain). All of the principals, including the director, were born in Europe. For some reason it is my personal favorite, and the only one I enjoy watching repeatedly. Probably this is for the outrageous musical numbers, which display Dietrich's incredibly self-assured command of her environment (what can top "Hot Voodoo", but I really really love the glittering white top-hat and tails number particularly). This would have been the only time during filming that von Sternberg could not totally exercise his robotic direction of her; she gets to be more "herself" as a real performer, and her energy-level comes way up. Also I'd venture that since the story is set in the U.S. it makes it more challenging to present her as "exotic" (as opposed to, say, China). I love how von Sternberg plays her character's flight South, into increasingly lurid, run-down, and crude environments. The technical side of movie-making had made huge strides; film-stock was becoming much more uniform and high-contrast, and sound-recording had improved greatly in just a few years; von Sternberg was able to make full use of this. The film feels snappy and tightly-paced, and has mostly abandoned silent-film mannerisms.

In comparison to their next 2 films, this one feels quite grounded. The subsequent "Scarlett Empress" and "Devil is a Woman" would be increasingly baroque and outrageous excursions into fantastic style, excess, and European decadence, which kind of left their American audiences in the dust - and helped Dietrich land on the infamous "box-office poison" list.

This is a pre-Code film, and it routinely tweaks conventional morals. The nightclub in which Dietrich goes to work is clearly a high-class "speakeasy"; Prohibition was still in effect at the time. Also, its always a bit confusing for modern audiences when dollar-amounts are mentioned in old films. The personal check which Dietrich receives from Cary Grant is for $200 as I recall; in current dollars that would be something more like $2,500 and was an amount which would have set Depression-era audiences reeling with its clear implication of what Grant had received in return!

This is the first chance Cary Grant had to do a major co-starring role, and its the earliest of his films available on video. Another IMDb "comment" mentions Dietrich and Mae West supposedly "falling in love" with him, which is a laugh! Dietrich (in her daughter's bio) referred to him as the "shirt-seller" (Grant was selling men's shirts at the studio, as a sideline to make extra money); West preferred, to put it delicately, men who were a little more red meat (I think that Grant was already living with Randolph Scott at the time of filming; they used to attend Hollywood A-list parties as a couple, which Scott could get away with partially because of his very blue-blood East Coast family connections).

Originally available on LaserDisc (as a 2-disc set with "Shanghai Express").