Blonde Venus
Josef von Sternberg returned Marlene Dietrich to the stage in Blonde Venus, both a glittering spectacle and a sweeping melodrama about motherly devotion. Unfolding episodically, the film tells the story of Helen (Dietrich), once a German chanteuse, now an American housewife, who resurrects her stage career after her husband (Herbert Marshall) falls ill; she then becomes the mistress of a millionaire (Cary Grant), in a slide from loving martyr to dishonored woman. Despite production difficulties courtesy of the Hays Office, the director’s baroque visual style shines, as do one of the most memorable musical numbers in all of cinema and a parade of visionary costumes by von Sternberg and Dietrich’s longtime collaborator Travis Banton.
Available In
Collector's Set
Collector's Set
Cast
- Marlene Dietrich
- Helen Faraday, a.k.a. Helen Jones
- Herbert Marshall
- Edward Faraday
- Cary Grant
- Nick Townsend
- Dickie Moore
- Johnny Faraday
- Gene Morgan
- Ben Smith
- Rita La Roy
- “Taxi” Belle Hooper
- Robert Emmett O’Connor
- O’Connor
- Sidney Toler
- Detective Wilson
- Morgan Wallace
- Dr. Pierce
Credits
- Director
- Josef von Sternberg
- Written by
- Jules Furthman
- Written by
- S. K. Lauren
- Music by
- W. Franke Harling
- Music by
- John Leipold
- Music by
- Paul Marquardt
- Music by
- Oscar Potoker
- Photographed by
- Bert Glennon
- Edited by
- Josef von Sternberg
- Art direction by
- Wiard Ihnen
- Costume design by
- Travis Banton
