Customer Reviews

Blonde Venus [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It was very early one morning, the rising September sun just begining to brightly filter through the windows, when I, not ordinarily accustomed to early rising, wrapped myself in a blanket and sat down to watch "Blonde Venus" soon followed by "Suzy" with Jean Harlow - two films as silly as anything to come out of the Hollywood dream factory. But strangely, that sleepy morning was one of the most warm and pleasurable of my life. Don't ask me just why, but then and there all the ingredients for magic simply clicked.
"Blonde Venus," like so many of Sternberg's films, has been frequently called an excercise in style over substance. I would have to disagee, though the style is of course sumptuous, I would say rather it was a triumph in substance over story, if that can be. In spite of an undeniably soap opera style plot, it can also not be denied its empathy and emotion, generated in no small part by Marlene Dietrich. It is impossible to say just how, but Dietrich in this film has done something truly unique. She has managed to be at one time smolderingly sexy, and yet tender and warm, maternally comforting. These traits should be a natural contradiction, but somehow she subtly blends them, making one seem unthinkable without the other.
It is not a great film, yet it is wonderful. Coupled remarkably well with "Suzy," "Blond Venus" gave me a light and wonderful morning of escapist magic. If you give in at the right time, I should certainly think it would do the same for you.

This film really shouldn't work. The story line is too far-feched, the songs too silly, the star too goregeous when supposedly a vagabond. BUT, it Does work, astoundingly, and the reason is that star, Marlene Dietrich. No other could pull this role off. She's both smolderingly sexy and maternal. Vamp, and housewife. Devoted mother, and kept woman. Pleny of contradictions here, and yet she moves through the film as the glue that holds the whole mess together. Of course, the part that this film is famous for is the "Hot Voodoo" number, where Dietrich emerges out a gorilla costume with native girls swaying in time in the background. What nerve! Nobody today would dare anything like that. Herbert Martshall is cast as the husband, and Cary Grant, in am early role, is cast as the swank lover. All it takes is a bit of suspension of disbelief, for some parts, anyway, and this is a movie to enjoy.
Actually, having just watched the film again for the first time in a while, I was struck by Dietrich's presence in the film. I've always considered Dietrich one of the most under-rated actresses of Hollywoods golden era. She seemed very involved and into her role here. Her scenes with little Dicky Moore, her son in the movie, were very touching and sincere. I'm no acting expert by any stretch, but I feel she was wonderful in this role. Perhaps it was the going against type role of mother that turned off many critics of the day. She was, after all, one of the most glamorous and seductive creatures to ever hit Hollywood, so perhaps thinking of her as a loving mother and housewife could perhaps seem to be a stretch. However, Dietrich carried off the role, and carried the movie totally without effort. Watch the film yourself, and see how under-rated this fine actress really was.

Once there was a man walking through a forest (Herbert Marshall) when he came upon a dragon sitting in an automobile. He saw that the dragon was protecting a princess taking a bath (Marlene Dietrich). He was taken by her beauty, but she asked him to go away. He asked for one wish, to see her again. Later he saw her at the theater, and she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. The two went walking that night, had their first kiss, and decided to get married.

Perhaps this isn't the real story of the couple's first meeting, but it makes a sweet bedtime story for their son (Dickie Moore). Unfortunately, the happy family is soon to be broken up. Marshall is sick due to the radiation he works with in his job. To be cured, he needs $1500 and has no way of obtaining it himself. His wife decides to go back into the theater and makes a swell debut as the "Blonde Venus" with her savage "Hot Voodoo" number. She catches the eye of a wealthy playboy (Cary Grant) who funds her husband's expedition, though he does not know this. When he finds out, she and her son go into hiding so that the family will not be separated.

It is strange to see Dietrich in such a role, but highly entertaining. Her acting style is very different than someone like Joan Crawford who would have been very sentimental in the part. Dietrich is, but in her own way with few exaggerated facial expressions. Marshall is great as the husband, a refined man whose anger burns inwardly. Grant is amusing in his early role, very different than in his later screwball comedies. Moore is wonderful. He is peppered throughout the film doing cute things that children do; he really endears himself to the audience well.

The directing is fabulous. Josef von Sternberg was a master at lighting a set, and each one glows.

Well, this is a very strange movie. For one, it looks like as though it was twice as long and had been edited down, because the scenes are just there, I mean, they don't lose time with useless hanging around. Like, 95% of the shots look like postcards, leave it to this divine being to look fabulous even when she's broke, on the flee and basically a vagabond. She is capable of resurrection even when you thing she's gone. She's unbelievably innocent and yet not so. Marlene Dietrich is AB FAB here, beautiful as always in a very entertaining story that is never boring.

So says Marlene in this film, and she is right. Never, after watching this, will you forget Marlene dressed as a gorilla and the striptease that follows. Weird. The plot of the movie is kinda nuts, with Herbert Marshall getting radium poisoning, and Marlene reverting back to her cabaret talents to get enough money to help him. She performs three songs (one features her in a white tuxedo): "Hot Voodoo," "You Little So-and-So," and "I Couldn't Be Annoyed." Or is it "So Annoyed"? I ain't real sure. Anyhoo, Marlene gets dumped by Herbert (what was he thinking?) because she had a little fling with Cary Grant (who wouldn't?). She runs off with their son (played by the absolutely adorable Dickie Moore) to almost every town in the US of A. She becomes poorer and poorer, and finally gives her son up to Herbert. He doesn't want her back. Then, somehow, she becomes the toast of Paris, with men lining up to see her (not as a gorilla, mind you). Surprise! Cary shows up again. He decides that she should see her son, dang drat it. However, she is not supposed to. Naturally, she does. What follows is a bath. Marlene gives Dickie Moore a bath. (I betcha thought it'd be Cary gettin' a bath, didn't ya?) Herbert finds this touching (Marlene does quite well, though you wouldn't know it to hear Maria Riva tell it). The End.

I like to watch the early motion pictures of the 20th century. It's a new discovery for me. Actresses like Dietrich are talented in every respect of the word. The movie was very interesting with a moving plot. I liked the way the sequences of the movie unravelled, and most of all that very sweet and charming ending. Just the way, movies in those days probably ended. I'll write more about this movie from my journal later.

plot... Blonde Venus is a story with a typical love triangle: a beautiful wife, who gave up her career for marriage, a decent but not very fascinating husband, and Cary Grant as a lover [you get the picture here]. But this film is not all clear-cut, e.g. husband is not completely dull, lover is not completely ruthless, and the wife....well, the wife is Marlene Dietrich, which in itself is not typical. It is surreal, to see her as a devoted mother and a wife. Dietrich performs some great stage numbers, but still manages to look "motherly" in couple of shots.

Blonde Venus is definitely a Marlene Dietrich vehicle, with occasional long shots of young Cary Grant [simply standing there and being absolutely gorgeous]. Dialogue is very good, even touching at times. Oh, yes, you really get to see Dietrich in gorilla costume.

All in all, this film is not overly cheesy, despite its trivial melodramatic plot.

BLONDE VENUS is a melodrama that really shouldn't work as well as it does. The recipe for it's success lies solely with Marlene Dietrich. Teamed with her greatest director, Josef von Sternberg, BLONDE VENUS comes alive with lots of pathos and drama chiefly because of Dietrich and her dedicated performance.

When her husband (Herbert Marshall) is struck down with a potentially-fatal illness, housewife and mother Helen Faraday (Dietrich) reluctantly returns to the music-hall stage in order to fund his medical journey to Europe. Separated from her husband, Helen finds comfort in the arms of a kind millionaire (Cary Grant).

Although we never quite buy the extremely tawdry nature of Dietrich's character, in BLONDE VENUS she got to play a devoted mother--her scenes with child star Dickie Moore are a joy--and we can recognise the immense humanity and charm which she exuded naturally in real life. BLONDE VENUS displays Dietrich as the glamorous sex goddess (she sings the classic "Hot Voodoo" while dressed in a gorilla costume), but she also manages to connect on a motherly, maternal level with her character, who is very much a woman trapped between two worlds, never really sure of how to connect them in order to reconcile her past with her present.

If you enjoy Marlene Dietrich (plus the early roles of Cary Grant), BLONDE VENUS is for you! This MOD release is virtually the same print quality as the one featured in the earlier Marlene Dietrich - The Glamour Collection (Morocco/ Blonde Venus/ The Devil Is a Woman/ Flame of New Orleans/ Golden Earrings).

November 6th, 2010

I deleted this item from my wish list because I found that I already had the item in my film library.

I am a big fan of Dietrich's for various reasons: I like her looks and her personal character. I like the fact that she left Nazi Germany, where she was born, and didn't go back until after The War (WW2); and because she was so soundly patriotic and gave sso much of her time to entertaining G.I.s during the war.

I've not seen a Dietrich film which I did not enjoy watching. She's always alluring and entertaining.

Director Josef von Sternberg collaborated with Marlene Dietrich to make highly successful movies at the height of depression era when silent movie transitioned to sound movies. The list includes; Blonde Venus, Morocco, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, The Scarlet Empress, and The Devil is a Woman. Marlene Dietrich is not only beautiful but also an excellent actress. She offers brilliant performance as Helen Faraday who runs around the country to avoid authorities taking her only son, Johnny (Dickie Moore) from her, and give it the custody of her husband Edward Faraday (Herbert Marshall). One would like to remember another great classic, Madame X, starring Lana Turner and John Forsythe where a mother is separated from her son and she longs to get back to her son. The difference being the latter is highly dramatized which makes a grown-man cry. Director Sternberg has brilliantly handled this movie into a different direction which spares the viewers from agony. Yet the legendary lady of Hollywood fascinates viewers as a tender mother strongly protecting her child, who spends her evenings singing at the local night club, and be at home to offer her deep maternal love. She does her best to be very alluring. It touches us deeply when she tries to teach her son from a book like a school teacher or lullaby at his bedside.

The story has a twist in that Helen's unselfish nature to help her husband get treatment in Germany for radiation poisoning. She finds a willing millionaire Nick Townsend (Cary Grant), who helps her with cash needed. She lies to Edward that the money is advance on her salary from her boss Dan O'Connor (Robert O'Conner). After his treatment in Germany Edward finds out about Helen's infidelity, and demands the custody of Johnny. Helen and Nick meet again in Paris and agree to get married but at the end Edward and Helen unite to stay together.

The movie has interesting features; while Marlene Dietrich's singing is s a little rustic, but the film featuring live chickens in her French Quarter apartment in New Orleans is a nice touch. Hattie McDaniel as Helen's New Orleans maid Cora offers her best performance as a protective friend of Helen. This is a very touching story and I recommend it highly.

1. Marlene Dietrich - The Glamour Collection (Morocco/ Blonde Venus/ The Devil Is a Woman/ Flame of New Orleans/ Golden Earrings)
2. The Blue Angel
3. The Scarlet Empress - Criterion Collection
4. Marlene (1984)
5. Shanghai Express mit Marlene Dietrich
6. The Blue Angel (Enhanced) 1930
7. Portrait In Black / Madame X (Double Feature)