Blonde Ice

Rating:
Summary: You're not well, Claire
Review: Claire (Leslie Brooks) is blonde, beautiful, and deadly. As is true of most film noir heroines, money and power are more important to her than love, and this society page columnist lets nothing stand in the way of her shady ambitions. Or, as the tagline has it - Ice in her veins, icicles on her heart. Claire marries and murders, is the target of an extortionist and murders, becomes engaged and murders. Off in an innocent corner is sports columnist Les Burns (Robert Paige,) his love blinding him to her homicidal ways.
Brooks and Paige head an unusually strong cast of veteran character actors in the Poverty Row movie BLONDE ICE. In a role that could easily have been taken over the top, Brooks plays the sociopath with passionate restraint. Paige, who appearance here is evidence to the downward track his career was on, plays the poor love-struck sap with a sensitive touch.
True to its Poverty Row heritage corners were cut and money was saved at almost every turn. There aren't a lot of expensive tracking and dolly shots, and you'll notice the same curtains in Les's apartment, in a lawyer's office and hanging off the windows in a room holding an election night party.
The cast is filled with veteran character actors who'd either fallen off the A-movie list or were on it only as bit players. Nobody strays too far out of their comfort zone in this one. For instance, Emory Parnell plays police Capt. Bill Murdock. In the 250 movies he's credited with appearing in, Parnell almost always played the cop, good or bad (in this one he's a grouchy good one.) The only non-veteran in the cast is James Griffith, who plays newspaperman Al Herrick, a friend and co-worker of Claire and Burns who smells a rat a little earlier than anyone else. Although BLONDE ICE is his first movie, Herrick would go on to appear in about 100 more. Here he plays a bit of a weasel, someone who's every look, word and gesture carries an insinuation.
The VCI Entertainment dvd comes with a number of special features that truly make this one a bargain value. The special features include:
- A twenty-two minute, early 1950s television episode of Into the Night, starring Wallace Ford. This one offers another take on the theme of the deadly female. Fans of Ford will get a kick out of this one, although I have to admit that I find him annoying. Non-fans won't miss anything by skipping this it completely.
- Ray Barber does an early (1950?) music video, singing the bluesy "Satan Wears a Satan Gown" while Johnny Stage-struck waits in the alley for his lady love.
- A number of trailers for vintage film noirs.
- An interview with film restorer Jay Fenton.
- A commentary track with Jay Fenton.
- Film bios of the stars.
- And, for hard-core noir geeks, there's "A Fascinating Possibility," which in text discusses the possibility that legendary DETOUR director Edgar Ulmer may have had a hand in writing the script for BLONDE ICE.

The five stars are for fans of the genre. If you count yourself a fan of film noir, you'll love BLONDE ICE.


Rating:
Summary: "You're not a normal woman."
Review: Claire Cummings (Leslie Brooks) juggles three men at her wedding reception--millionaire hubbie Carl Hanneman (John Holland), cast-off beau Les Burns (Robert Paige), and newspaper man, Al Herrick (James Griffith) who flaunts a lighter that was an expensive gift from Claire. Within the first few minutes of the film, Claire is established as a seductive femme fatale, and for a film noir character, she's as wicked as they come. Many film noir femme fatales resort to manipulating their men to murder--not Claire--she murders and doesn't blink an eye. Claire murders men when they cross her or become roadblocks to her ambition, and through the entire film, she manages to blind-side lovesick Les Burns to the obvious facts.

"Blonde Ice" is a B film noir--the cast members are mainly forgotten, but someone had the brains to revive this gem and sell it on DVD. The quality of the film is more than adequate, and the DVD is loaded with extra features:
A television episode of "Into The Night" (this had me in stitches)
Performance of the song "Satan Wears a Satin Dress"
Interview with film restorer Jay Fenton
Commentary by Jay Fenton
Film noir trailers.
Bios of the stars
"Edgar Ulmer-A Fascinating Possibility." (Details the possibility that cult director Ulmer may have written the screenplay)

The main characters deliver good performances. Leslie Brooks as Claire is spectacular--her manner seems sincere but there's also an emotional vacancy there. She's one of the most appallingly evil femme fatales I've seen on film. The plot disintegrates right at the film's conclusion, but for originality and content, it still deserves 5 stars. Film noir fans should make a point of seeking out a copy of this obscure film. Favourite line: "Don't let's quarrel. We can do that after we're married."--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: B Noir Murderess--the first black widow
Review: The forerunner of 1987's Black Widow (Theresa Russell, Debra Winger), Blonde Ice features B actors in a B film noir. Leslie Brooks plays the title character, a newspaper columnist who marries for money and makes sure she gets the dough she's due from her marriages as soon as she can. The whole time she's hooking up with rich guys, she's really in love (or whatever dames like this call love) with a guy she works with on the same paper.

One of the most interesting things about this film is the possibility that noted B director Edgar Ulmer (Detour, Bluebeard, Strange Illusion) may have written the script for the film under its original title, Single Indemnity. The intent, no doubt, was to play off the huge success of the A noir Double Indemnity, released four years earlier. But the releasing studio didn't cotton to this blatant title rip-off and threatened suit. Hence the title change to Blonde Ice.

This is a compact little film, clocking in at around 74 minutes. The DVD comes with some nice extras. Aside from a short description of the Edgar Ulmer connection, there's film restorer Jay Fenton, who's interviewed about film restoration and who supplies both the liner notes and a commentary on the film. There's a bonus very early TV noir episode, "Into the Night"--very creaky. An even wackier extra is some big-voiced crooner singing "Satan in Satin", no doubt inspired by this film. There's bios and filmographies of the cast and crew. And there's even a postcard showing our heroine dolled up in a bathing suit in a cute pose, circa the '40s.

This is not a strong, compelling film noir like Murder, My Sweet or Double Indemnity. But it's worth having as one of the premier B noirs for those, like me, who're noir fanatics.

Rating:
Summary: B Noir Murderess--the first black widow
Review: The forerunner of 1987's Black Widow (Theresa Russell, Debra Winger), Blonde Ice features B actors in a B film noir. Leslie Brooks plays the title character, a newspaper columnist who marries for money and makes sure she gets the dough she's due from her marriages as soon as she can. The whole time she's hooking up with rich guys, she's really in love (or whatever dames like this call love) with a guy she works with on the same paper.

One of the most interesting things about this film is the possibility that noted B director Edgar Ulmer (Detour, Bluebeard, Strange Illusion) may have written the script for the film under its original title, Single Indemnity. The intent, no doubt, was to play off the huge success of the A noir Double Indemnity, released four years earlier. But the releasing studio didn't cotton to this blatant title rip-off and threatened suit. Hence the title change to Blonde Ice.

This is a compact little film, clocking in at around 74 minutes. The DVD comes with some nice extras. Aside from a short description of the Edgar Ulmer connection, there's film restorer Jay Fenton, who's interviewed about film restoration and who supplies both the liner notes and a commentary on the film. There's a bonus very early TV noir episode, "Into the Night"--very creaky. An even wackier extra is some big-voiced crooner singing "Satan in Satin", no doubt inspired by this film. There's bios and filmographies of the cast and crew. And there's even a postcard showing our heroine dolled up in a bathing suit in a cute pose, circa the '40s.

This is not a strong, compelling film noir like Murder, My Sweet or Double Indemnity. But it's worth having as one of the premier B noirs for those, like me, who're noir fanatics.