page_title: Blonde Venus
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Blonde Venus / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus
context_page_description: Blonde Venus is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, and Cary Grant. It was produced and directed by Josef von Sternberg from a screenplay by Jules Furthman, and S. K. Lauren adapted from a story by Furthman and von Sternberg. The original story "Mother Love" was written by Dietrich herself. The musical score was by W. Franke Harling, John Leipold, Paul Marquardt, and Oscar Potoker, with cinematography by Bert Glennon.
  Dietrich performs three musical numbers in the film, including the now-obscure "You Little So-and-So" and "I Couldn't Be Annoyed". The highlight is the infamous "Hot Voodoo", which is nearly 8 minutes in length and mostly instrumental, featuring jazz trumpet and drums. Dietrich sings the lyrics toward the end of the sequence, which takes place in a nightclub.
context_section_description: The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), formed by the film industry in 1922, regulated the content of films by reviewing scripts using the 1930 Motion Picture Production Code MPC) which, while banning forced prostitution (i.e., white slavery), required the subject of a woman engaging in solicitation to be treated carefully. During negotiations between director Sternberg and the MPPDA regarding scenes where Helen is found by Detective Wilson in New Orleans, any direct solicitation was removed from the script such that, in the film, the interaction between Helen and the private detective becomes ambiguous. Other aspects of the plot, such as adultery, remain inconsistent with the MPC, which was not strictly enforced until 1934. This enforcement of the MPC prevented Paramount from reissuing Blonde Venus after 1934.
  To promote the film, the September 1932 film magazine Screenland published the story "The Blonde Venus" by Mortimer Franklin. This was based upon the second version of the script and not the final filmed version, perhaps as this version was more similar to the romances that appealed to the magazine's female readers.
caption: Marlene Dietrich in the film trailer
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