7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A nightclub singer becomes a playboy's mistress to support her son and ailing husband.
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall (I), Cary Grant, Dickie Moore, Robert Emmett O'ConnorDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: LPCM Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Josef von Sternberg's "Blonde Venus" (1932) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include new interviews with curator Silke Ronnenburg and Deborah Nadoolman Landis and the David C. Copley Center for the Study of Costume Deisgn at UCLA, as well as the short film "The Fashion Side of Hollywood". The release also arrives with a 80-page illustrated book featuring essays by critics Imogen Sara Smith, Gary Giddins, and Farran Smith Nehme. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The dancer
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Josef von Sternberg's Blonde Venus arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the book provided with this Blu-ray release:
"New digital transfer for Blonde Venus was created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner at Roundabout Entertainment from 35mm prints held by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Transfer supervisor: Lee Kline/Criterion Post, New York.
Colorist: Lee Kline."
There is one very short segment where density levels fluctuate and the image becomes flatter, but this is very clearly a source limitation (see an example in screencapture #16). The rest of the film looks quite magnificent. Delineation is fantastic and clarity really good. The color grading is also very convincing. The blacks are solid but never crushed, while the ranges of healthy grays and whites vastly superior in comparison to the ones that are present on the old DVD release of the film (see screencapture #3 and 13). There are no traces of problematic digital tinkering, and in fact this restoration has some of the best grain retention on display from the six films in the Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood box set. Image stability is very good. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The quality of the audio is as good as one can expect it to be for a film from the 1930s. Obviously, work has been done to stabilize it as best as possible, improve balance, and remove all conventional age-related imperfections. Frankly, if there ever were any distortions in the upper register where older films typically suffer, and almost certainly there were, now it is impossible to tell. Well done.
You can place me in that small group of people that thoroughly enjoy Blonde Venus, despite the fact that it has plenty of obvious flaws. I think that Marlene Dietrich, who apparently wrote the original script for it, and Josef von Sternberg had the right idea for and were ready to deliver an unusually bold Hollywood melodrama, and it is truly a shame that it suffered numerous edits because it definitely could have turned out to be something very special. Dietrich basically plays three different characters, all strong women willing to risk a lot, and in the process puts the spotlight on some of the ugly social realities that usually separate the victims from the winners. Again, the film could have been a lot better, but even in its current form it is rather impressive. Criterion's release is sourced from a lovely new 4K restoration, and is included in the Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood six-disc Blu-ray box set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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