any number of critical works about sternberg/dietrich/BLONDE VENUS that i've looked at say--without evidence or attribution--that the "happy" domestic resolution of that film was imposed on sternberg by the studio, and that his own conception of the film both culminates in and ends with the image of helen as the self-directed icon of sexually ambiguous glamour . . . it seems to me that this would make gibberish of much of the other family/domestic stuff in the film, including the opening sequence, the question of ned's "sickness / injury," usw., and i can hardly credit the idea that ALL of that was a studio imposition on a film that sternberg would have had totally otherwise . . . . . . so, does anybody know of any [or, failing that, the likely source of any] authoritative or even relatively reliable evidence as to whether or or not the ending of the film as released represents ONLY a studio decision thanks for any leads mike frank <[log in to unmask]> p.s. BTW, i've often wondered whether the decision [wilder's?] to name the femme fatale in DOUBLE INDEMNITY [herself just maybe a self-directed icon of ambiguous sexuality] phyllis DIEDRICKSON is in some way homage to marlene . . . anybody on the list have any thoughts about this? ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]