Constance Talmadge's "Venus" (1929)

[Harold Aherne]

In September 1928, Constance Talmadge sailed to Europe to make a picture for United Artists. It would turn out to be the only work she did for that company and her last picture entirely, although little is ever said about it today. Venus was filmed in December 1928 and January 1929 at studios in Nice, and was released the following autumn. In May 1929, Dutch married Townsend Netcher and announced her intention to retire from the screen. I tend to doubt that voice was a factor; since about 1925 she had been far less active on screen than from 1918-21, and I've heard various reports about how well her later films did (although she did place as #19 among actress in the 1928 poll conducted by MPW, or whatever they were by then).

The handful of reviews from the time suggested that Venus was enjoyable but inconsequential. It does not appear to remain for us to judge today, but I hope to be proven wrong. The picture seems to have been comic with some dashes of drama, taking place mostly on a yacht.

She divorced Netcher in 1939 and a few months later married Walter Giblin, a New York stockbroker. Ten years later, she would make her last appearance before the public: in the fall of 1949 she was discovered doing volunteer work at a Manhattan hospital and received a brief write-up in Time and several newspapers. On 9 December, she appeared on "Okay Mother", a talk show hosted by Dennis James (of game show and Kellogg's fame, not the composer). The program was still local in New York at that time, so it is frustratingly unlikely that it was kinescoped. Information on her appearance comes from The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television (Billboard, 1997).

Does anyone know more about Venus, or about Dutch's activities in her later years? She certainly had a lot of time on her hands, though it seems she no interest whatever in performing again.

-Harold

[greta de groat]

I don't really know any more than that, but here is one of the clippings about her hospital work
http://www.stanford.edu/~gdegroat/NT/ntscrapbook2.jpg
in the upper right. This scan was given to me by Joop Van Dyke, who also scanned a picture and letter he got from her was well
http://www.stanford.edu/~gdegroat/NT/CTpostcard.jpg
Stuart Oderman talked to her at some point and she also mentioned her hospital work.

Seems to be quite at odds with Anita Loos assertion that she couldn't so much as write a check or hail a cab by herself!

greta

[drednm]

Reviews in the trades advertise the film as a romantic drama with comedy. The several reviews I've found have ranged from OK to bad. It's listed as being synchronized. Other squibs note it's a good choice for movie houses not yet wired for sound, etc. Some mention it as a "foreign film" though I don't know why that would matter.

[vitaphone]

Our Vitaphone Project database shows that all soundtrack disks for VENUS survive.

[drednm]

Our Vitaphone Project database shows that all soundtrack disks for VENUS survive.

Wow that's a surprise.....

[bobfells]

A side note: on the same day that newspapers reported the horrible Kristalnacht in November 1938 - the looting and destruction of Jewish businesses and synagogues throughout Germany - another story that incongruously shared the front page was Constance Talmadge's divorce proceedings. It showed me that the news media's insistence on mixing the trivial with the profound is nothing new.

[drednm]

A side note: on the same day that newspapers reported the horrible Kristalnacht in November 1938 - the looting and destruction of Jewish businesses and synagogues throughout Germany - another story that incongruously shared the front page was Constance Talmadge's divorce proceedings. It showed me that the news media's insistence on mixing the trivial with the profound is nothing new.

Really bizarre. She had been off the screen for nearly a decade and apparently pretty much out of the Hollywood social spotlight. I've found only one tiny blurb in the trade about her retirement from the screen. Even that didn't merit a headline when it was relevant.....

[drednm]

Venus was listed as a foreign film.... I wonder if that means it was shown with French intertitles and English subs?

[silentfilm]

It probably just means that the production company was not American. More than likely, the intertitles were translated to English, like a typical "foreign-language" silent film.

[drednm]

Review by Mordaunt Hall

Another fantastic affair with glum moments and unconscious humor is "Venus," in which Miss Talmadge impersonates Princess Beatrice Doriani, the president of a steamship line, who becomes unduly gay one night when her yacht is off Cyprus. Her momentary abandon results in the romance that is set upon the screen.

It is a long-winded tale of a gallant marine officer's love for the Princess; only he does not know that the girl is the same person who was responsible for his discharge from the Doriani Line. Here it seems but a matter of small importance that a man with an impertinent tongue should have met with death. The tragic occurrence is settled by the Doriani Line officials and it is considered unnecessary that the police be informed.

The Princess decides in the first episode to ride on a surfboard behind a speed boat. The hour, being at night, is not the time for such sport and the Princess is adorned in a shimmering evening gown and strings of pearls around her neck. Her gown becomes an encumbrance and she therefore gets rid of it and shocks some persons with field glasses. Actually how they came to see the affair is of small consequence, but according to the story they do. A sinister fellow, in an offhand way aboard a vessel, gives his opinion of the Princess to Captain Franqueville, who without much ado, strikes this individual and knocks him overboard. The boats are lowered, but the man perishes.

It is for this that Captain Franqueville has to bear for months a sour existence. A ray of cheer comes into his life when he encounters a charming fair-haired creature, who unknown to him, is the Princess, the woman he had championed, but whose name he hates at this time because he was forced out of the steamship service.

The director staves off the end of this yarn so long as it is possible. He is successful in keeping it going for longer than one wishes, but the picture has the saving grace of being good-natured. If the Princess is about to tell Captain Franqueville her real name, then the director decides that Captain Franqueville will postpone hearing about it until another chapter or two or even three.

This delay gives the director, Louis Mercanton, an opportunity to show the Princess in the arms of an effete Marquis during a fishing fiesta and also to turn his attention to hostile natives near Oran, Algeria.

Throughout this film there are convenient coincidences and more than one person is gifted with remarkable eyesight. Miss Talmadge, however, is attractive and fetchingly gowned. The scenes aboard the yacht are not without interest, but the whole is quite unimportant.

[Jim Roots]

The Princess decides in the first episode to ride on a surfboard behind a speed boat. The hour, being at night, is not the time for such sport and the Princess is adorned in a shimmering evening gown and strings of pearls around her neck. Her gown becomes an encumbrance and she therefore gets rid of it and shocks some persons with field glasses.

Heck, when I was a teenager, I rode a ski-board (no need for surfboards on Lake Simcoe, trust me) behind a speedboat at night with my friends. I wasn't wearing a shimmering evening gown and strings of pearls at the time, nor did I doff my bathing-suit in mid-skiing, but then it wasn't encumbering me much.

Jim

[drednm]

The Princess decides in the first episode to ride on a surfboard behind a speed boat. The hour, being at night, is not the time for such sport and the Princess is adorned in a shimmering evening gown and strings of pearls around her neck. Her gown becomes an encumbrance and she therefore gets rid of it and shocks some persons with field glasses.

Heck, when I was a teenager, I rode a ski-board (no need for surfboards on Lake Simcoe, trust me) behind a speedboat at night with my friends. I wasn't wearing a shimmering evening gown and strings of pearls at the time, nor did I doff my bathing-suit in mid-skiing, but then it wasn't encumbering me much.

Jim

That's the part of this film I'd most like to see..... It sounds fabulous! I never water skiied at night in any type of attire or lack thereof.

[FrankFay]

Review by Mordaunt Hall

Another fantastic affair with glum moments and unconscious humor is "Venus," in which Miss Talmadge impersonates Princess Beatrice Doriani, the president of a steamship line, who becomes unduly gay one night when her yacht is off Cyprus. Her momentary abandon results in the romance that is set upon the screen.

It is a long-winded tale of a gallant marine officer's love for the Princess; only he does not know that the girl is the same person who was responsible for his discharge from the Doriani Line. Here it seems but a matter of small importance that a man with an impertinent tongue should have met with death. The tragic occurrence is settled by the Doriani Line officials and it is considered unnecessary that the police be informed.
]

CUT CUT



Sounds very typical. Cinstance Talmadge had a pleasing screen personality, and I like her, but none of her films I've seen (admittedly just a handful) has been anything more than a lightweight programmer.

[drednm]

Review by Mordaunt Hall

Another fantastic affair with glum moments and unconscious humor is "Venus," in which Miss Talmadge impersonates Princess Beatrice Doriani, the president of a steamship line, who becomes unduly gay one night when her yacht is off Cyprus. Her momentary abandon results in the romance that is set upon the screen.

It is a long-winded tale of a gallant marine officer's love for the Princess; only he does not know that the girl is the same person who was responsible for his discharge from the Doriani Line. Here it seems but a matter of small importance that a man with an impertinent tongue should have met with death. The tragic occurrence is settled by the Doriani Line officials and it is considered unnecessary that the police be informed.
]

CUT CUT



Sounds very typical. Cinstance Talmadge had a pleasing screen personality, and I like her, but none of her films I've seen (admittedly just a handful) has been anything more than a lightweight programmer.

I agree .... but sometimes that's all a film needs to be. Looking over her filmography, my guess is that she was much more versatile than she's been given credit for. No big surprise there.

[silentfilm]

Connie's A Pair of Silk Stockings (1918) is a very funny film.

[boblipton]

Connie's A Pair of Silk Stockings (1918) is a very funny film.

I always wanted to see that with A Pair of Tights on the program.

Bob

[Jim Roots]

Connie's A Pair of Silk Stockings (1918) is a very funny film.

I always wanted to see that with A Pair of Tights on the program.

Bob

Unfortunately A Pair of Tights is not about hosiery.

Jim