Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Blonde Venus Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 13, 2018

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

The fifth collaboration between Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg, Blonde Venus, is perhaps their most polarizing one. It is either cautiously praised for its courage to expose ugly social realities or flat-out dismissed as a mish-mashed melodrama.

In the short prologue, the beautiful German cabaret singer Helen meets the handsome American Ned Faraday (Herbert Marshall) and they fall madly in love. The action then moves to New York City where Helen and Ned have started a family and are raising their five-year-old son Johnny (Dickie Moore). Everything seems perfect, but it isn’t because Ned is seriously ill and unless he undergoes a very expensive treatment in Europe it is virtually guaranteed that Helen will become a widow. To get the money that they need, Helen auditions for a shady night club owner (Robert Emmett O'Connor) and after she wows his clientele he gives the star alias Blonde Venus.

At the club, Helen also meets the wealthy playboy Nick Townsend (Cary Grant), who immediately realizes that she is a diamond in the rough who deserves better. He loans her the money that Ned needs to begin his treatment and after he leaves even offers her to move to a vacant, much larger and cozier apartment than the one in which she resides. Then they become romantically involved and for a short period of time Helen even allows herself to dream of a better life. The dream ends when Ned abruptly returns from Europe and discovers that Helen has been living in a different place. When he confronts her and demands that she surrenders Johnny to him, Helen realizes that no matter what she does next the rest of her life will be a painful nightmare.

When Blonde Venus was released the critics were correct to point out that S.K. Lauren and Jules Furthman’s script was far from impressive -- this is basically where the film’s main weakness is, as it rushes the evolution of the key relationships and then delivers a ‘proper’ resolution that seems at odds with the rest of the material -- but in the large scheme of things the structure of the narrative is practically irrelevant. Why? Because the focus of attention is actually on the specific social dilemmas that are highlighted throughout the film. For example, Dietrich’s singer makes a number of poor decisions before and after her husband leaves but only because it is the only way in which the system would give her a chance to preserve her family. Also, when she becomes a fugitive the system automatically makes her a dangerous target and yet the real troublemakers and shady players turn out to be the very people that are supposedly protecting society from baddies like her. So these are some pretty striking revelations to openly promote in a supposedly casual Hollywood melodrama from the 1930s whose main protagonist was a glamorous European actress.

The original script for the film was apparently written by Dietrich, though von Sternberg’s name was attached to it. It is too bad that it was cut to pieces and suffered numerous edits because it probably would have produced a genuine masterpiece.

*This home video release of Blonde Venus is sourced from a brand new 4K master that was struck from 35mm nitrate prints held by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Blonde Venus Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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).

Blonde Venus Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Blonde Venus Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Marlene Dietrich Collection - in this new program, curator Silke Ronnenburg discusses Marlene Dietrich's large collection of costumes, film art, and documents that is currently kept at Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin. The program was produced exclusively for Criterion in 2018. In German, with optional English subtitles. (15 min, 1080p).

• Deborah Nadoolman Landis - in this new video interview, Deborah Nadoolman Landis, director of the David C. Copley Center for the Study of Costume Deisgn at UCLA, discusses the legacy of costume designer Travis Burton, who worked very closely with Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2018. In English, not subtitled. (15 min, 1080p).

• The Fashion Side of Hollywood (1935) - this short film by the Paramount publicity department features the head of costumes at the studio at the time, Travis Banton, and a silent Marlene Dietrich modeling the clothes he designed for her. In English, not subtitled. (11 min, 1080p).

• Book - 80-page illustrated book featuring essays by critics Imogen Sara Smith, Gary Giddins, and Farran Smith Nehme, as well as detailed technical credits for each film in the box set.

Blonde Venus Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.