One Touch of Venus [DVD] [1948] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

I agree to some extent with the earlier reviews but the film is a good example of the studio cutting the print prior to release. What we have are good actors and singers particularly Dick Haymes not shown in the best light as a result of the cutting process. However I still think the banter between Tom Conway and Eve Arden deserves 4 stars. Interestingly, a colourised version exists and this does bring a touch of glamour to the proceedings. I do also think that "Speak Low" comes across well even when you know that Ava isn't performing. Give the film a viewing but remember there could have been so much more to it...

It is over 30 years ago that I first saw this movie.
Now, on seeing it again, I realize how clever films were made in "Old Good Hollywood"
Also is Ava Gardner a clever actress, no fuss, no acting system , but all out of intuition and own emotion.
Lovely to look at!

When naïve young Eddie Hatch, a window dresser at Savory's Department Store, falls for a statue of Venus and gives her a chaste kiss, Venus steps off her pedestal and gives Eddie more than he bargained for. This creaking example of what Hollywood can do to a Broadway musical manages to emphasize the inane story and eliminate most of the first-rate songs. The purpose was to make a safe, popular movie without too much investment while capitalizing on Ava Gardner's upward mobility to super stardom. Robert Walker as Eddie gets lost in a thankless role. Eddie's not just naive, but dithering and hapless. Gardner is gorgeous, but the only things that give the movie any life are Olga San Juan as Eddie's loving but jealous girl friend, Tom Conway as the suave owner of Savory's and Eve Arden as Savory's long time, wise cracking secretary. It's a role Arden could play in her sleep, and she's good at it.

The musical opened on Broadway in 1943 and made Mary Martin a big-time star. The only point of a musical, however, is to have music. Since One Touch of Venus was intended to be a social satire of sorts, Kurt Weill, composing, and Ogden Nash writing the lyrics, came up with a series of stylish, witty songs and one masterpiece. Without the satire, or the clever songs or Martin (or an equivalent showstopper), the movie becomes just a weak comedy fantasy where much of the comedy is predictable and the fantasy is worked to death.

Not only did the producers of the movie toss out almost all the Weill/Nash songs, they brought in the movie's music director, Ann Ronell, to write new lyrics for one of the songs that survived, turning sharp observation into lovey-dovey romance. Ronell was no hack; she wrote Willow Weep for Me. Wonder what she thought about while she replaced or tweaked Ogden Nash's clever work.

The one bright spot in the movie is that Weill/Nash masterpiece. "Speak Low" is as great a love song as anyone ever wrote. It's given one of those ultra-professional and lifeless treatments by Eileen Wilson dubbing Gardner. Dick Haymes contributes a chorus. Here's the song...

Speak low when you speak love.
Our summer day
withers away
too soon, too soon.

Speak low when you speak love.
Our moment is swift
like ships adrift,
we're swept apart, too soon.

Speak low, darling, speak low.
Love is a spark, lost in the dark
too soon, too soon.
I feel wherever I go
that tomorrow is near,
tomorrow is here and always too soon.

Time is so old and love so brief.
Love is pure gold and time a thief.

We're late, darling, we're late.
The curtain descends
ev'rything ends
too soon, too soon.
I wait, darling, I wait.
Will you speak low to me,
speak love to me and soon.

As for Ann Ronell, she was one of the few women in Hollywood to become a major music director, as well as composer and lyric writer. Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley is a fascinating documentary of some of the women who made it in the business, including Ronell, Kay Swift, Dorothy Fields and Dana Suess. And for those who would like to hear what little of the Weill/Nash score was recorded by the original Broadway cast, you might be able to track down the CD, One Touch Of Venus (1943 Original Cast) / Lute Song (1946 Original Cast) [2 on 1]. The music is paired with Lute Song, another Broadway show that starred Martin.

The black and white transfer looks just fine. There are no significant extras. You probably should rent this before deciding to buy.