MovieChat Forums > Blonde Venus (1932) Discussion > Blonde Venus - What a ridiculous movie!!...

Blonde Venus - What a ridiculous movie!!!

posted 16 years ago by suckerdwsp316
9 replies | jump to latest

This movie was so frustrating, my God! I mean what possessed a character like Dietrich's who was nice, kind, good, motherly, loving, to just run off like that?? cheat on her husband! kidnap her son! out of nowhere, just decided to screw her husband whom she loved dearly, and for what? why? it doesn't make any damn sense!

then she swears off living any civilized kind of life, rejects cary grant at the end, and then the scene following it shows her being engaged to him. then, after saying numerous times how she never wants to see her son again, comes back and has cary grant do all the talking for her. then her husband just lets both of them waltz in and lets her see johnny. it just doesnt make any God damn sense, these characters are so f ucking annoying. they say one thing, very passionately, and then in the next scene, do the EXACT opposite.

this could of have been such a brilliant film, so emotionally involving, and poignant. but the way the writers and director took this film, and transformed the characters to wooden people doing inconceivable things was just baffling to me.

[–] HarlowMGM 15 years ago

I agree with you it was truly absurd but I don't think there was any potential for a brillant film here - it was a merely an ultra glamorous potboiler.

[–] perfectpawn 14 years ago

Welcome to the world of 1930s melodrama.

All of them covered surreal lengths. Blonde Venus is a pinnacle, but for similar Bizzaro-World melodramas, check out:

Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise (Greta Garbo, 1931)
Call Her Savage (Clara Bow, 1932)
Torch Singer (Claudette Colbert, 1933)

There are many, many more. Even though they were mostly a '30s phenom, these kinds of "from-A-to-Z" melodramas were done well into the '40s -- check out Bette Davis's "Now, Voyager" from 1942.

I, for one, love them. A stirling endorsement for the genre, coming as it is from a straight guy in his mid-thirties!

[–] Jace007 13 years ago

Well I understand your frustation over the screenplay ...
but in reality, that does happen in life.
Believe you, me ... this is not uncommon ... even today.
Everybody, no matter if you have good characteristics or not, has an
even darker/selfish side.

[–] goavs 13 years ago

PCA (Production Code Administration)

This film probably would have make sense, if it weren't for PCA. Back then you could not have sex or adultry. So obviously they had scenes to fill in the gaps, but they had to cut them.

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[–] JonasEB 13 years ago

It's perfectly fine as it is.

And this was made (1932) before the code was enforced (1934) - there was a lot of adultery, sex, and even some nudity in the pre-code and silent era, Blonde Venus just isn't as ludicrously stupid about it as some of the films of the period were (Night Nurse.)

[–] marbleann 10 years ago

These have to be pre code movies. OH BTW I loved Call Her Savage.
I think she did this because her husband got very ill and needed the money. He might have died. This was during the depression I am not sure what I would of done if it was my husband that I loved so much.

When he comes back early and finds her not there and when she returns he was very harsh. Yes I would of been really mad. But she was not going to leave him she was using grant for his money. She saved his life. I think even in the end he knew he was pig headed. He should of known that there was noway she was going to get money like that in advance.
BTW I rather see her do what she did in this movie then what probably would of been done in a code movie. Not only that she had a happy ending which she deserved. She would not have had that if it was code.

[–] Felonious-Punk 12 years ago

In the last act, Helen is forced to make a decision about whether to commit suicide or to give another try as a singer. The next scene shows her as a comeback success, bigger even than before. But then she has to make another decision: will she go with Cary Grant to see her son in New York or will she stay in Paris as a singer? We see no decision, but the next scene shows that the two are engaged and in NY. This pattern serves as a sort of balance to the beginning scenes where Dietrich is swimming in the lake and turns down Herbert Marshall's offer for dinner, and then ends up married to him with a kid. She tells her boss she has no man, but she does. She says she'll stay on for a while, but she quits after the first night. She tells her husband she got an advance, but she actually got the money from Cary.
On and on, she does the unpredictable, often the opposite of what she says. This is less a flaw in the movie than a personality-trait of the title-character. I think it's handled brilliantly because it gets across the trait very vividly. Also, it gives the movie unexpected twists and turns that keep us always a bit in the dark, and thus enhancing the thrill-factor.

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[–] PoppyTransfusion 8 years ago

Stupid story poorly told.

I'm scared of the middle place between light and nowhere

[–] GrowingFamily (271) 6 years ago

This movie is crazy. The plot is completely absurd. This woman achieves success after success at record speed. Still.... I like it. Marlene Dietrich was breathtakingly beautiful, even with those insane eyebrows. Cary Grant wears A LOT of makeup. Herbert Marshall is young and looks like one of the Skarsguard brothers. I liked Dickie Moore in this, he's the cutest little boy. Somehow, it's a good movie even though it lacks any sense.