Blonde Venus

Rating:
Summary: "My conscience wants to take a vacation."
Review: "Blonde Venus"--a Josef von Sternberg film stars the incredible Marlene Dietrich. When the film begins, it's Germany in the late 20s. American tourist and chemist Ned Faraday meets and woos German maiden Helen. After a brief courtship, they marry, settle in America and have a child. Years later, Faraday becomes ill and needs expensive medical treatment, but the Faradays are poor. Helen throws aside her apron and springs to action--seeking employment in a nightclub. Of course, she's an immediate sensation and catches the eye of wealthy playboy Nick Townsend (Cary Grant). Nick gladly coughs up the money to send Helen's hubbie off for the cure, and as soon as Ned takes a ship for Europe, Helen and her little boy move into Nick's swanky mansion...

This film is a must for Dietrich fans. Dietrich performs an incredible number "Hot Voodoo" and transforms from a gorilla costume to her slinky, naughty self. Dietrich seems to play those roles in which she creates her own moral code--always contrary to the moral code of those around her, and in "Blonde Venus" she certainly does what she considers the right thing. As Helen, she has three loves in her life--her husband (and he's a bit of a bore), dashing lover Nick (and he's got the money), but her true devotion is to her little boy. The ending is extremely corny, but after all, the film was made in the 1930s, so what can you expect? Josef von Sternberg made several films starring Dietrich, and fans of either the director or the star should seek out a copy of "Blonde Venus." It's well worth watching--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: A Sumptuous and Charming Recipe for Magic!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: diva of the early films
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Warm? It's hot.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Hot Voodoo!
Review: 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.