Product: Golden Earrings [VHS] (1947)
Rating: 5.0
Splendid Classic from the Golden Age!
GOLDEN EARRINGS is a superior Dietrich showcase, easily holding its own in the timeless ranks of DESIRE, THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN, and BLONDE VENUS. I agree with an earlier reviewer who asserted that only Dietrich could have successfully carried off the role of a rough-edged Gypsy. In the hands of any lesser actress, Dietrich's vibrant Lydia would have been rendered pure camp. The reported off-screen animosity between Dietrich and Milland lends appreciable spark and heat to their on-screen chemistry, and Lydia's empassioned declaration of love takes its rightful place among the most beautiful and moving romantic moments ever captured on film.GOLDEN EARRINGS also boasts an intriguing gender twist which would never find its way into contemporary macho-laced moviemaking. Dietrich's sexually experienced Lydia relentlessly pursues Milland's chaste and uptight character. She rescues him from peril more than once, and, in the end, when his strongest desire is to make her his life partner, he must leave his own civilized world permanently behind and join her in hers.