Blonde Ice (1948)

A society reporter keeps herself in the headlines by marrying a series of wealthy men, all of whom die under mysterious circumstances.

Director:

Jack Bernhard

Writers:

Kenneth Gamet (screenplay), Whitman Chambers (novel),

Stars:

Robert Paige, Leslie Brooks, Russ Vincent

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Paige	...	Les Burns
Leslie Brooks	...	Claire Cummings Hanneman
Russ Vincent	...	Blackie Talon, the Pilot
Michael Whalen	...	Stanley Mason, Attorney
James Griffith	...	Al Herrick
Emory Parnell	...	Police Capt. Bill Murdock
Walter Sande	...	Hack Doyle
John Holland	...	Carl Hanneman
Mildred Coles	...	June Taylor
Selmer Jackson	...	District Attorney Ed Chalmers
David Leonard	...	Dr. Geoffrey Kippinger
Jack Del Rio	...	Roberts, the Butler

Storyline

A society reporter keeps herself in the headlines by marrying a series of wealthy men, all of whom die under mysterious circumstances.

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Plot Keywords:

reporter | low budget film | airplane | district attorney | wedding | 

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Taglines:

Blonde Criminal. Ice in her veins. Icicles in her heart.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 July 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Loira Tenebrosa

Filming Locations:

Chaplin Studios - 1416 N. La Brea Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Martin Mooney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Les Burns: What day is it?
June Taylor: Tuesday.
Les Burns: What happened to Sunday and Monday?
June Taylor: I took care of them for you.

User Reviews

by-the-numbers noir with a couple of decent performances

Blonde Ice has a DVD that is almost too good for its own movie - the menu has a special ice-crackling design with dialog from the movie placed over and some of that chilling noir-ish music we all know and admire from the period. The DVD menu hints at it being a smashingly good B-movie, but as it turns out the film itself is just OK. Blonde Ice, one of those stories with the conniving and murderous sexy femme fatale who gets whoever she wants and in this case rich men who get suckered into her grasp, is a picture made for cheap, of course, but also with a cheap script: not much imagination goes into the dialog or the construction of the plot. Even the one possibly fascinating character, the one man, Les Burns (Paige) who has held a torch without shame for Claire (Leslie Brooks) for years and stands by and defends her against murder claims even if he suspects deep down she might have done it, is brushed aside into the conventional column.

Brooks is a honey, that much has to be given to her, and she can act in some scenes- in others she just goes through the motions like the rest of the capable cast of character players (most of whom you wont know unless you are some kind of film-noir scholar like Alain Silver or other)- and she does give a decent anchor for some of the emotional scenes, such as at the end when she gives a confession that is as icey as everything else she does in the movie. The direction and writing are on par with her: not spectacular, not ever really a downer. Blonde Ice probably has an amazing poster, one of those you might see in an art-museum installation celebrating pulp fiction advertising. The content itself is just there to pay a couple of small bills and fill some seats for a double feature. It's recommended only to those who sniff out whatever 40s noir might have promise. Like me.