One Touch of Venus (1948)

Fantasy comedy about a young window dresser who kisses a statue of Venus, which then comes to life in the form of Ava Gardner. The problems begin, however, when Venus falls in love with him.

Directors:

William A. Seiter, Gregory La Cava (uncredited)

Writers:

Harry Kurnitz (screenplay), Frank Tashlin (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert Walker, Ava Gardner, Dick Haymes

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Walker	...	Eddie Hatch
Ava Gardner	...	Venus
Dick Haymes	...	Joe Grant
Eve Arden	...	Molly Stewart
Olga San Juan	...	Gloria
Tom Conway	...	Whitfield Savory
James Flavin	...	Kerrigan
Sara Allgood	...	Landlady
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hugh Herbert	...	Mercury (scenes deleted)

Storyline

In the art department of a large department store, the statue of the famed Anatolian Venus comes to life and falls in love with Eddie Hatch, a window trimmer. Just before the unveiling of the prized statue, Eddie takes "Venus" to the model-display house in the store, where the store's boss finds her. He, too, falls in love with her and makes her Glamour Girl Number One. Eddie and Venus dance in Central Park, but Eddie is arrested for stealing the statue. Venus goes back to her pedestal and Eddie is released. While Eddie is sadly preparing for another unveiling, a new employee asks him a question. She tells him her name is Venus Jones.

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Plot Keywords:

statue | department store | window dresser | unveiling | statue of venus | 

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Taglines:

Meet Miss Venus Jones!

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

August 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Venus macht Seitensprünge

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artists Alliance, Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mary Pickford bought the screen rights to the original Broadway musical comedy for $150,000, intending to film it with the original cast, which included Mary Martin. The plan was abandoned when Martin became pregnant.

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Quotes

Molly Grant: [to Savory] I'll catch you a couple of flies, and you can pull their wings off!

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Crazy Credits

Evidently a few characters' names were changed during production, causing serious contradictions in various sources' cast lists. Haymes's character is just plain "Joe" (no surname), but some sources grafted onto him the surname "Grant" from Arden's character! As if that weren't bad enough, poor Arden (addressed by various characters as "Molly Grant" consistently through the film) finds herself wrongly identified in some sources as "Molly Stewart" (which is never the surname she bears in the actual film).

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Connections

Version of One Touch of Venus (1955)

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Soundtracks

That's Him
(uncredited)
Music by Kurt Weill
Lyrics by Ogden Nash
New lyrics by Ann Ronell
Sung by Ava Gardner (dubbed by Eileen Wilson), Olga San Juan and Eve Arden

User Reviews

The young Ava Gardner is gorgeous!

Never mind her vocals may have been dubbed. Its joy enough to watch her light up the screen. Thankfully, the music is kept to a minimum. This is not a full-blown musical on the order of My Fair Lady or The Music Man. Good, light-hearted comedy.