Blonde Venus
Encyclopedia
Blonde Venus is a 1932 is a Pre-Code
drama film
starring Marlene Dietrich
and Cary Grant
. The movie was produced and directed for Paramount Pictures
by Josef von Sternberg
with a screenplay
by Jules Furthman
and S. K. Lauren adapted from a story by Furthman and von Sternberg. The music score was by W. Franke Harling, John Leipold, Paul Marquardt and Oscar Potoker, and the cinematography by Bert Glennon.
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, although Mae West
claimed to have discovered Cary Grant for that film, elaborating that up until then Grant had only made "some tests with starlets", an assertion rejected by some other actresses, including Sylvia Sidney
.
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.
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
and Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
. The movie was produced and directed for Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
by Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg — born Jonas Sternberg — was an Austrian-American film director. He is particularly noted for his distinctive mise en scène, use of lighting and soft lens, and seven-film collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich.-Youth:Von Sternberg was born Jonas Sternberg to a Jewish...
with a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Jules Furthman
Jules Furthman
Jules Furthman was a magazine and newspaper writer before working as a screenwriter.Born in Chicago, Illinois, during World War I he wrote under the name "Stephen Fox." Furthman wrote screenplays for a number of important or popular films, including: The Docks of New York , Thunderbolt , Merely...
and S. K. Lauren adapted from a story by Furthman and von Sternberg. The music score was by W. Franke Harling, John Leipold, Paul Marquardt and Oscar Potoker, and the cinematography by Bert Glennon.
Dietrich performs three musical numbers in this film, including the now-obscure "You Little So-and-So" (music and lyrics by Sam Coslow
Sam Coslow
Sam Coslow was an American songwriter, singer, film producer, publisher, and market analyst. Coslow was born in New York City. He began writing songs as a teenager...
and Leo Robin
Leo Robin
Leo Robin was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938.-Biography:Robin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and...
) and "I Couldn't Be Annoyed" (music and lyrics by Leo Robin and Richard A. Whiting
Richard A. Whiting
Richard Armstrong Whiting was a composer of popular songs including the standards, "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?" & "On the Good Ship Lollipop"....
). The highlight is perhaps "Hot Voodoo" (music by Ralph Rainger
Ralph Rainger
Ralph Rainger was an American composer of popular music principally for films.-Biography:Born Ralph Reichenthal in New York City, Rainger embarked on a legal career before escaping to Broadway where he became Clifton Webb's accompanist...
, 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
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
.
This movie predates She Done Him Wrong
She Done Him Wrong
She Done Him Wrong is a Pre-Code 1933 Paramount Pictures comedy romance film starring Mae West and Cary Grant. Others in the cast include Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery, Sr., Louise Beavers and Rochelle Hudson....
by a year, although Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
claimed to have discovered Cary Grant for that film, elaborating that up until then Grant had only made "some tests with starlets", an assertion rejected by some other actresses, including Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early life:...
.
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.
Cast
- Marlene DietrichMarlene DietrichMarlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
as Helen Faraday/Helen Jones - Herbert MarshallHerbert MarshallHerbert Marshall , born Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall, was an English actor.His parents were Percy F. Marshall and Ethel May Turner. He graduated from St. Mary's College in Old Harlow, Essex and worked for a time as an accounting clerk...
as Edward 'Ned' Faraday - Cary GrantCary GrantArchibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
as Nick Townsend - Dickie Moore as Johnny Faraday
- Gene MorganGene MorganGene Morgan , was an American actor. He appeared in 111 films between 1926 and 1941.He was born in Racine, Wisconsin, USA and died in Santa Monica, California.-External links:...
as Ben Smith - Rita La Roy as Taxi Belle Hooper
- Robert Emmett O'Connor as Dan O'Connor
- Sidney TolerSidney TolerSidney Hooper Toler was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. Of primarily Scottish ancestry, he was the second non-Asian actor to play the role of Charlie Chan.-Early life and career:...
as Detective Wilson - Morgan WallaceMorgan WallaceMorgan Wallace , was an American actor. He appeared in 28 films between 1914 and 1946, including It's a Gift and My Little Chickadee starring W.C. Fields and Mae West....
as Dr Pierce - Clarence MuseClarence MuseClarence Muse was an actor, screenwriter, director, composer, and lawyer. He was inducted in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973. Muse was the first African American to "star" in a film. He acted for more than sixty years, and appeared in more than 150 movies.-Life and career:Born in...
as Charlie, the Bartender (unconfirmed) - Andrea PalmaAndrea Palma (Actress)Andrea Palma was a Mexican film actress. She was considered The First Diva of Mexican and Latin American Cinema after her role in the Mexican film La Mujer del Puerto.-Early life:...
(Dietrich stunt double, uncredited) - Eric Alden as Guard (uncredited)
- Harold Berquist as Big Fellow (uncredited)
- Al BridgeAl BridgeAl Bridge was an American character actor who played mostly small roles in over 270 films between 1931 and 1954...
as Bouncer (uncredited) - Glen CavenderGlen CavenderGlen Cavender was an American film actor. He appeared in 259 films between 1914 and 1949.He was born in Tucson, Arizona, and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:* Cruel, Cruel Love...
as Ship's Officer (uncredited) - Emile ChautardEmile ChautardEmile Chautard was a French film director, actor and screenwriter of the silent era. He directed 107 films between 1910 and 1924...
as Chautard, French Nightclub Manager (uncredited) - Davison Clark as Bartender Bringing Two Beers (uncredited)
- Marcelle CordayMarcelle CordayMarcelle Corday was a Belgian American film actress. She mostly played character parts in silent and sound films...
as Helen's Maid in France (uncredited) - Cecil CunninghamCecil CunninghamCecil Cunningham was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in more than 80 movies between 1929 and 1946...
as Norfolk Woman Manager (uncredited) - Clifford Dempsey as Judge in Paris Nightclub Talking to Nick (uncredited)
- Bess FlowersBess FlowersBess Flowers was an American actress. By some counts considered the most prolific actress in the history of Hollywood, she was known as "The Queen of the Hollywood Extras," appearing in over 700 movies in her 41 year career....
as Minor Role (uncredited) - Mary GordonMary GordonMary Catherine Gordon is an American writer and is the McIntosh Professor of English at Barnard College. She is best known for her novels, memoirs and literary criticism...
as Landlady (uncredited) - Robert Graves as La Farge (uncredited)
- Sterling HollowaySterling HollowaySterling Price Holloway, Jr. was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company...
as Joe, Hiker (uncredited) - Elsa Janssen as Gossip (uncredited)
- James Kilgannon as Janitor (uncredited)
- Brady Kline as New Orleans Policeman (uncredited)
- Bessie Lyle as Grace (uncredited)
- Hattie McDanielHattie McDanielHattie McDaniel was the first African-American actress to win an Academy Award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind ....
as Cora, Helen's Maid in New Orleans (uncredited) - Charles MortonCharles MortonCharles Morton , was an American actor.-Career:Born in Illinois, Charles Morton spent his adolescence in Madison, Wisconsin; receiving his education at Madison High School and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.He made his first stage appearance at the age of seven and later appeared in vaudeville,...
as Bob (uncredited) - Dennis O'KeefeDennis O'KeefeDennis O'Keefe was an American actor. Born as Edward Vance Flanagan he was the son of Irish vaudevillians working in the United States...
as Minor Role (uncredited) - Evelyn PreerEvelyn PreerEvelyn Preer, born Evelyn Jarvis , was a pioneering African-American stage and screen actress and blues singer of the 1910s through the early 1930s. Evelyn was known within the black community as "The First Lady of the Screen."She was the first black actress to earn celebrity and popularity...
as Viola (uncredited) - Dewey Robinson as Greek Restaurant Owner (uncredited)
- Francis Sayles as Charlie Blaine (uncredited)
- Ferdinand Schumann-HeinkFerdinand Schumann-HeinkFerdinand Schumann-Heink was a prolific character actor with over 65 films to his credit. He was the son of opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink....
as Henry (uncredited) - Gertrude ShortGertrude ShortGertrude Short was an American film actress of the silent and early sound era. She appeared in 132 films between 1912 and 1945.She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and died in Hollywood, California, aged 66....
as Receptionist (uncredited) - Pat Somerset as Companion (uncredited)
- Larry SteersLarry SteersLarry Steers was an American film actor. He appeared in 426 films between 1917 and 1951.He was born in Indiana, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.-Selected filmography:* Old Wives for New...
as Hotel Manager in Baltimore (uncredited) - Kent TaylorKent TaylorKent Taylor was an American actor.Born Louis William Weiss in Nashua, Iowa, Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them B-movies in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more prestigious studio releases, including I'm No Angel , Death Takes a Holiday , Payment on Demand ,...
as Minor Role (uncredited) - Jerry TuckerJerry TuckerJerry Tucker is a former American child actor, most notable for appearing as the "rich kid" in the Our Gang short subjects series semi-regularly from 1931 to 1938....
as Otto (uncredited) - Mildred Washington as Viola, the Maid (uncredited)
- Lloyd WhitlockLloyd WhitlockLloyd Whitlock was an American actor. He appeared in 199 films between 1916 and 1949.-Selected filmography:* The Thrill Chaser * The Woman of Bronze...
as Baltimore Manager (uncredited)