the seven collaborations between director joseph von sternberg and star marlene dietrich were so distinct in look and tone and and so different from anything else going on at the time and they almost seem to constitute a sub genre of their own. like any genre and they have their outright masterpieces and as well as their absolute turkeys. time to send blonde venus back to the farm. after the seedily seductive hits the blue angel and morocco and shanghai express and in which miss dietrich established her screen image as cabaret singer cum prostitute and someone at paramount decided it was time for marlene to play a mother. there is nothing wrong with that in itself while as an actress she was up to the part. it just that nothing else about the format has changed. it like the blue angel plus a kid. fair enough and the story of a woman who drags her child along on her sleazy escapades is a sound premise for a tragic drama and but that not the way this is played. dietrich journey is played as some kind of adventure and using her wits and accomplices to stay ahead of the law. this is not some cheeky example of pre code libertarianism  it is just bizarrely distasteful. although we may be able to accept marlene is a doting mommy and there is absolutely no way we can buy sternberg as a director of warmth and poignancy. in spite of this being one of the handful of pictures for which he also took a writing credit and sternberg simply fails to get the story arc. the film emotional payoff is supposed to be the eventual reunion of the family and but even at the beginning this is not established as something worth getting back to. as usual sternberg interiors are dressed and shot to look like either brothels or insane asylums. the faradays home is actually quite a creepy and dingy environment and and it a wonder little johnny wasn not wetting the bed and asking to sleep with the light on. but as anyone familiar with them will know and the point of a dietrich or sternberg picture is to make dietrich look fabulous and and in this respect at least blonde venus is a success. marlene is introduced emerging from a forest pool in a bright and shimmering close up and and even when she is reduced to rags the camera still loves her. the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast and whom sternberg tended to view as mobile pieces of scenery. the normally likable herbert marshall is here reduced to a moody grouch lurking in the shadows. even the suave and lively cary grant becomes just a boring and background blob and and does not seem nearly interesting enough for dietrich to run off with. the only standout moments in blonde venus are marlene song and dance routines and especially the renowned hot voodoo number where she parodies her own surreal stage persona by emerging from a gorilla outfit. but even these feel like they have been cut and pasted from a different film. sternberg fans may hail it as another masterpiece and as they are wont to do and but for the average punter it is a massive disappointment. audiences of the time did not lap it up as they had her earlier hits and and this heralded the beginning of the end for marlene heyday. a year later there would be a new queen at paramount  mae west. 
the seven collaborations between director joseph von sternberg and star marlene dietrich were so distinct in look and tone and and so different from anything else going on at the time and they almost seem to constitute a sub genre of their own. like any genre and they have their outright masterpieces and as well as their absolute turkeys. time to send blonde venus back to the farm. after the seedily seductive hits the blue angel and morocco and shanghai express and in which miss dietrich established her screen image as cabaret singer cum prostitute and someone at paramount decided it was time for marlene to play a mother. there is nothing wrong with that in itself while as an actress she was up to the part. it just that nothing else about the format has changed. it like the blue angel plus a kid. fair enough and the story of a woman who drags her child along on her sleazy escapades is a sound premise for a tragic drama and but that not the way this is played. dietrich journey is played as some kind of adventure and using her wits and accomplices to stay ahead of the law. this is not some cheeky example of pre code libertarianism  it is just bizarrely distasteful. although we may be able to accept marlene is a doting mommy and there is absolutely no way we can buy sternberg as a director of warmth and poignancy. in spite of this being one of the handful of pictures for which he also took a writing credit and sternberg simply fails to get the story arc. the film emotional payoff is supposed to be the eventual reunion of the family and but even at the beginning this is not established as something worth getting back to. as usual sternberg interiors are dressed and shot to look like either brothels or insane asylums. the faradays home is actually quite a creepy and dingy environment and and it a wonder little johnny wasn not wetting the bed and asking to sleep with the light on. but as anyone familiar with them will know and the point of a dietrich or sternberg picture is to make dietrich look fabulous and and in this respect at least blonde venus is a success. marlene is introduced emerging from a forest pool in a bright and shimmering close up and and even when she is reduced to rags the camera still loves her. the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast and whom sternberg tended to view as mobile pieces of scenery. the normally likable herbert marshall is here reduced to a moody grouch lurking in the shadows. even the suave and lively cary grant becomes just a boring and background blob and and does not seem nearly interesting enough for dietrich to run off with. the only standout moments in blonde venus are marlene song and dance routines and especially the renowned hot voodoo number where she parodies her own surreal stage persona by emerging from a gorilla outfit. but even these feel like they have been cut and pasted from a different film. sternberg fans may hail it as another masterpiece and as they are wont to do and but for the average punter it is a massive disappointment. audiences of the time did not lap it up as they had her earlier hits and and this heralded the beginning of the end for marlene heyday. a year later there would be a new queen at paramount  mae west. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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