Blonde Venus (1932)

A cabaret singer takes up with a millionaire to pay for her gravely ill husband's operation.

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writers:

Jules Furthman (by), S.K. Lauren (by)

Stars:

Marlene Dietrich, Cary Grant, Herbert Marshall

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Marlene Dietrich	...	Helen Faraday, aka Helen Jones
Herbert Marshall	...	Edward 'Ned' Faraday
Cary Grant	...	Nick Townsend
Dickie Moore	...	Johnny Faraday
Gene Morgan	...	Ben Smith
Rita La Roy	...	Taxi Belle Hooper
Robert Emmett O'Connor	...	Dan O'Connor
Sidney Toler	...	Detective Wilson
Morgan Wallace	...	Dr. Pierce
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Clarence Muse	...	Charlie, the Bartender (unconfirmed)

Storyline

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. In which life does she truly belong?

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Plot Keywords:

blackface | german woman | gorilla costume | cabaret singer | afro wig | 

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Taglines:

What could she do but flee from love? She loved two men at once!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German French

Release Date:

28 October 1932 (Hungary)

Also Known As:

Deep Night

Filming Locations:

Paramount Ranch - 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 85 min (video: cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cary Grant said that Josef von Sternberg directed him not really much during the filming, but taught him the most important thing. On the first day Grant came on the set, von Sternberg looked at him and said, "Your hair is parted on the wrong side." So Grant parted it on the other side and kept it that way the rest of his career.

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Quotes

Helen Faraday, aka Helen Jones: Snap out of it, kid. Tomorrow's another day.
Down-and-out woman in flophouse: Maybe for you, but not for me.
Helen Faraday, aka Helen Jones: Why? What's the matter with tomorrow?
Down-and-out woman in flophouse: I'm gonna' kill myself tomorrow. *That's* what's the matter with it.
Helen Faraday, aka Helen Jones: Me too. Make a hole in the water.
Down-and-out woman in flophouse: Why are *you* gonna' kick off?
Helen Faraday, aka Helen Jones: Because that's the way I feel. Isn't that reason enough?
Down-and-out woman in flophouse: That's no reason for anything. I've got a GOOD reason: haven't got a dime. Never had any money, and I never WILL have.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits are shown with a background of water reflected at a swimming hole. As the credits end, we see women swimming in the swimming hole.

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Connections

Featured in The Kiss (1988)

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Soundtracks

Sidewalks of New York
(1894)
Written by Charles Lawlor and James W. Blake
Played as background music during the first scenes of New York
And when Faraday returns to New York

User Reviews

Solid Film Deserves Being On DVD

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.