Blonde Venus
1932 · Movie · 93 min · ★ 6.8 · 66% critics
A former entertainer returns to the cabaret to pay for her husband’s costly medical treatment, quickly becoming a sensation. When a wealthy admirer offers help, her choices pull her between family duty, fame, and survival, setting off a tense struggle to protect what matters most.
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Details
- Years
- 1932
- Release date
- 1932-09-23
- Language
- English
- Runtime
- 93 min
- Critic score
- 66/100
- TMDB rating
- 6.8/10 (147 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a pre-Code, star-driven melodrama with big emotions, glamorous nightclub scenes, and moral gray areas, in the vein of Morocco or Shanghai Express; Not for you if dated racial imagery or soapy plotting will ruin it.
Pros: magnetic lead performance; memorable cabaret numbers; strong melodrama tension | Cons: overwrought middle stretch; uneven story logic; dated, racist “Hot Voodoo”
Themes
- prostitute
- love triangle
- germany
- nightclub
- deceived husband
- radium
- romance
- chemist
- pre-code
- nightclub singer
- motherhood
- nightclub entertainer
- +7 more
Cast & crew
Marlene Dietrich
as Helen Faraday, aka Helen Jones
Herbert Marshall
as Edward 'Ned' Faraday
Cary Grant
as Nick Townsend
Dickie Moore
as Johnny Faraday
Gene Morgan
as Ben Smith
Rita La Roy
as 'Taxi Belle' Hooper
Robert Emmett O'Connor
as Dan O'Connor
Sidney Toler
as Detective Wilson
Morgan Wallace
as Dr. Pierce
Al Bridge
as Bouncer (uncredited)
Directed by Josef von Sternberg