This makes the fifth collaboration of Marlene Dietrich and director Josef von Sternberg that I've seen. Ordinarily, I wouldn't watch it only a month and a half after the previous, but again, I'm prioritizing oldies in anticipation that they'll soon be hard to find.
When chemist Ned (Herbert Marshall) learns that his best hope to survive his radium poisoning is an expensive, multi-month treatment overseas, his wife Helen (Dietrich) resumes her nightclub singing career to help pay for it, with the titular stage name. Then she finds a more profitable method: dating rich patron Nick (Cary Grant), who advises her to quit the stage so she can properly look after her young son, Johnny (Dickie Moore). They plan to discontinue before Ned comes home, but he does so earlier than expected, discover's Helen's infidelity, and kicks her out. Refusing to surrender custody, she goes on the lam with Johnny, until she realizes how bad it is for all involved.
Did I give away too much there? Well, sorry, but I fear there really isn't much of interest before the third act. I wasn't bored; the performances aren't bad (tho Marshall failed at an American accent, and the Black characters are typical of the era). It's just a rather hackneyed plot. I suppose that helps with credibility at least.
Most of the time, I sympathized more with Helen than with Ned. It doesn't help that the intro shows such a rotten way to start their relationship that I initially wondered who Johnny's father was. I'm not sure how badly I'd take the news of how my wife got much-needed money, but I'm sure I wouldn't prefer to have died, nor would I kill my work legacy for the sake of refunding out of pride.
It's not clear how far Helen goes with Nick, because while the film is commonly designated "pre-Code," the makers did have to cut a lot of the script to appease the censors. (The Hays Code had existed since 1930 but had little force until 1934.) This took all the fun out of the project for Dietrich and von Sternberg, which might explain why I detected more negative vibes than usual. At any rate, it is apparent that Helen had already fallen out of love with Ned before meeting Nick. For his part, as homewreckers go, Nick's a gentleman.
I wonder how much the ending changed. Ultimately, it doesn't preach any controversial messages, tho it seemed to come close before. Perhaps the main value of the picture lies in getting us to evaluate our own attitudes on a matter that happens often enough in RL. Even at their worst, nobody here comes across as a vilain.
I can see why BV gets mixed reviews to this day. I'm not sorry I watched, but I don't suggest going out of your way to see it.
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