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Blonde Venus

Play trailer Poster for Blonde Venus 1932 1h 34m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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73% Tomatometer 60 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
A nightclub singer (Marlene Dietrich) becomes a playboy's (Cary Grant) mistress to support her son and ailing husband (Herbert Marshall).

Critics Reviews

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George Campbell Dixon Daily Telegraph (UK) 10h
Miss Dietrich, despite the hackneyed and unsuitable settings and songs provided for her in the music-hall scenes, contrives at least to look beautiful, and Herbert Marshall gives a fine performance as the husband. Go to Full Review
George C. Warren San Francisco Chronicle 11h
For the first time in pictures [Marlene Dietrich] is seen as a mother, a fact allowing the softer emotions to show themselves. Go to Full Review
Irene Thirer New York Daily News 14h
2/4
In endeavoring to turn out another "Madame X" with added theatre atmosphere, [Josef von Sternberg] paid too much attention to his star's spotlight, and too little to continuity. Go to Full Review
Ada Hanifin San Francisco Examiner 10h
"Blonde Venus" reveals [Marlene Dietrich] as the capable and versatile actress she really is. She was never more interesting, arresting, never more human. Go to Full Review
SLTrib Staff Salt Lake Tribune 11h
Josef Von Sternberg again displays genius in his direction, making every object in a scene contribute to its dramatic effect. Go to Full Review
Jimmy Starr Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 12h
The basic plot will certainly not stand analysis. There are too many loopholes. However, excellent portrayals sometimes make up for other discrepancies. In this case, Miss Dietrich, naturally, is superb... Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Alec B @Alec97 01/10/2024 Iconic musical numbers aside this is a lesser Dietrich/Sternberg collaboration. Censorship of the time appears to have muddled the screenplay's themes. See more steve d 01/09/2023 One of Grant's worst. See more georgan g 11/29/2021 Maybe it's the difference in era, but I don't like films where the woman is always in the wrong. It's the double standard. Neither man is good for her but Dietrich is the "perfect" mother and does what's best -supposedly- for the child. See more 02/15/2021 Iconic musical numbers aside this is a lesser Dietrich/Sternberg collaboration. Censorship of the time appears to have muddled the screenplay's themes. See more 02/12/2021 It's all rather trashy, with Dietrich's Helen riding a see-saw of being rich and being poor and being rich and being poor, all the while looking great, carrying on torrid affairs, and detaching from everything but her boy. Only Dietrich could manage to make such a willfully self-destructive character as sympathetic a figure as she is. Although in many ways she's arrived at this point through her own series of bad choices, by the time her husband demands their son back, it's he who strikes the viewer as the problem. This in itself is a pretty remarkable feat for both the filmmaker and particularly the actress. All the while, von Sternberg continues to craft a bigger and more expansive sensory world for her to have her way with. And, though some of the sharp edges of their past films have been filed down this time, Dietrich does indeed have her way with it. See more david f @dfulmer 12/15/2020 A couple of excellent Marlene Dietrich music numbers enliven this racy soap opera fairy tale. See more Read all reviews
Blonde Venus

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis A nightclub singer (Marlene Dietrich) becomes a playboy's (Cary Grant) mistress to support her son and ailing husband (Herbert Marshall).
Director
Josef von Sternberg
Producer
Josef von Sternberg
Screenwriter
S.K. Lauren, Jules Furthma, Josef von Sternberg
Distributor
Paramount Pictures, MCA/Universal Pictures [us]
Production Co
Paramount Pictures, Paramount Publix Corporation
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 16, 1932, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 8, 2020
Runtime
1h 34m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.37:1)