Tag: josef von sternberg

Blonde Venus, 1932

Marlene Dietrich. French postcard by EDUG, nÂș 1073. Photo by Paramount. Publicity still for Blonde Venus (Josef von Sternberg, 1932) | src Truus, Bob and Jan

Here, Helen (Marlene Dietrich) as

Blonde Venus

in the truly freaky and berserk “Hot Voodoo” dance. It plays like a pagan, taboo and primitive beauty and the beast-style ritual, with Dietrich as an albino goddess or priestess shedding her gorilla fur disguise.  All these decades later “Hot Voodoo” is still deliriously weird, and perhaps the first incidence of deliberate, knowing camp in popular culture. (It’s easy to imagine von Sternberg and Dietrich looking at each other across the camera and thinking, “Can you believe we’re getting away with this?”), 1932 / src: reflections-on-blonde-venus

more [+] Marlene Dietrich posts / more [+] Blonde Venus posts

The Scarlet Empress (1934)

George Rinhart :: Actress Marlene Dietrich Wearing Fur in The Scarlet Empress. Original Caption: Marlene Dietrich as Catherine II of Russia in The Scarlet Empress, a film by Josef von Sternberg (1934). | src Alice Japan and Getty Images