Themes: Infidelity, Down on Their Luck, Crumbling Marriages
Main Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant, Dickie Moore, Gene Morgan, Francis Sayles
Release Year: 1932
Country: US
Run Time: 92 minutes
Plot
Marlene Dietrich stars as Helen Faraday, a German cabaret singer in the States whose husband, Ned, falls ill and his only hope is to receive expensive medical treatment at a clinic in Europe. Struggling to afford his care and to support their son Johnny, she works at a nightclub and succumbs to the advances of wealthy playboy Nick, whose gifts assist in her husband's recovery. Soon Ned recovers and returns, but when he discovers that Helen has been unfaithful, he divorces her, threatening to take their son. After running with little Johnny, she ends up a prostitute in New Orleans, where she is found by the detective hired by Ned. The boy is taken from her and Helen flees to Paris where she becomes a cabaret sensation. Upon witnessing a performance, Nick begins seeing her again and when the show moves to NYC, he secures a meeting between her and her ex -- who is finally made aware of the motivation behind her affair years before. This is the feature containing the well-known scenes where Dietrich performs stage numbers in an ape-suit and a white tuxedo (complete with top hat). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
Review
One of the many collaborative efforts between director Josef von Sternberg and star Marlene Dietrich, Blonde Venus is a standard melodrama that exemplifies the portrayal of the "fallen woman" who must suffer for her indignity. The usually dashing Cary Grant co-stars as tycoon Nick Townsend, however his performance is subdued by the well-lit Dietrich's stunning star presence as Helen Faraday. Though the trappings of the genre require wifely duties and motherhood to supersede other talents, Dietrich infuses power into her role. Memorable musical numbers include a ridiculous minstrel-style performance of "Hot Voodoo," where Dietrich is dressed in an ape suit, as well as a number in a Paris nightclub, where she dons her sexually ambiguous tuxedo, an outfit which she also wore in the famous kissing scene in Morocco (1930). While the story line of Helen's recurring financial trouble seems straight out of Depression-era concerns, her nightclub success story mirrors the career of Josephine Baker, frequently billed as "the Black Venus," who was a star in Paris and a symbol of sexual freedom at the time. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Dietrich performs three musical numbers in this film, including the now-obscure "You Little So-and-So" (music and lyrics by Sam Coslow and Leo Robin) and "I Couldn't Be Annoyed" (music and lyrics by Leo Robin and Richard A. Whiting). The highlight is perhaps "Hot Voodoo" (music by Ralph Rainger, lyrics by Sam Coslow), which is nearly 8 minutes long and mostly instrumental, featuring jazz trumpet and drums. Dietrich sings the lyrics toward the end of this sequence, which takes place in a nightclub.
This movie predates She Done Him Wrong by a year even though Mae West always claimed to have discovered Cary Grant for that film, elaborating that up until then Grant had only made "some tests with starlets."
Plot
American chemist Ned Faraday marries a German entertainer and starts a family. However, he becomes poisoned with Radium and needs an expensive treatment in Germany to have any chance at being cured. Wife Helen returns to night club work to attempt to raise the money and becomes popular as the Blonde Venus. In an effort to get enough money sooner, she prostitutes herself to millionaire Nick Townsend. While Ned is away in Europe, she continues with Nick but when Ned returns cured, he discovers her infidelity. Now Ned despises Helen but she grabs son Johnny and lives on the run, just one step ahead of the Missing Persons Bureau. When they do finally catch her, she loses her son to Ned. Once again she returns to entertaining, this time in Paris, and her fame once again brings her and Townsend together. Helen and Nick return to America engaged, but she is irresistibly drawn back to her son and Ned, and must decide which life she truly belongs in.
