Blonde Venus

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Blonde Venus
Original French film poster
Directed by	Josef von Sternberg
Produced by	Josef von Sternberg
Written by	Jules Furthman S. K. Lauren
Starring	Marlene Dietrich Herbert Marshall Cary Grant Dickie Moore
Music by	W. Franke Harling John Leipold Paul Marquardt Oscar Potoker
Cinematography	Bert Glennon
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	16 September 1932
Running time	93 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Blonde Venus is a 1932 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 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."

[edit] 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. In which life does she truly belong?

[edit] 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 ... Det. Wilson
Morgan Wallace ... Dr. Pierce