Blonde Venus (1932)

Later in life Dietrich dismissed her early Hollywood movies as "kitsch" and apparently she was thinking about this one.

The main problem with "Blonde Venus" is that it goes on forever and ever,when I start checking my watch it's not a good sign. I won't even mention words like "unconvincing" or "unreal" because apparently that was not Josef von Sternberg's idea of the movie in the first place.

Interestingly,the very first thing we see on the screen is a naked front body of a girl swimming nude in a lake,I wonder am I the only one who noticed this,it is done very tastefully and goes in a flash,I bet cinema goers at the time were surprised.

Script is rambling - the idea was to show off Dietrich as good german housewife who loves her husband and sings lullabies to her son,than out of necessity she return to her theatre roots and becomes a vamp who prostitutes herself to save sick husband. Any similarities with real people or situations are accidental,I suppose. What a coincidence,in reality Dietrich really was a german housewife who cooked sausages for husband and made career of playing vamps on the screen. Alas,she is totally fake as screen housewife and suddenly comes to life as a vamp - she might act caring mother who baths her child but it's not real,when she appears as glitzy saloon singer and puts hands on her hips,suddenly Dietrich comes to life. Because she is so totally in command of her vamp persona,it makes even less sense to make Dietrich character meekly return to her husband and family life,practically begging him to take her back - from the moment she start "making money" to her subsequent international success as femme fatale,she is absolutely her own woman and no one can tame her. But the script and production code of the time insisted she has to return to kitchen (because woman is only happy when sewing her husband's socks?) so to our embarrassment Blonde Venus capitulates,leaves her stage costumes & freedom and goes back to a idiotic husband who don't deserve her in the first place. It's almost painful to watch the end where beautiful Dietrich is lobotomized into return to the kitchen.

Herbert Marshall plays sick husband who takes money wife gives him without much asking but later changes his mind and becomes very jealous & self-righteous when it suits him,just to show who is real master of the house and to put suddenly confident Dietrich in her place.

Carry Grant is completely wasted here as a rich customer who falls in love with Dietrich and showers her with money - his role is bland and acting not better,to be honest,but somehow you forget him the moment he leaves the screen (in fact,even when he is on). He is simply not important here at all.

Unexpected threat is the sudden appearance of Hattie Mc Daniel who plays (what else) a maid who helps Dietrich to hide from policemen.In just few years Mc Daniel will be the first afro-american actress to win Academy Award for her role in "Gone with the Wind" so it's a joy to see her here.