Blonde Ice (1948) User Reviews

Leslie Brooks is dynamite!

[bensonmum2 · 7/10 · 22 April 2006]

For most if its runtime, Blonde Ice is a very entertaining b-noir. Leslie Brooks is about as evil a woman as you'll see in one of these movies. She's beautiful, ambitious, and completely ruthless - it's a deadly combination. She's perfectly capable of chewing-up and spitting-out anyone who gets in her way. And, she's not above committing a little murder if the need should arise. Brooks gives a dynamite performance as far as I'm concerned. The rest of the cast is adequate, but nothing spectacular. The weakest point in the film, unfortunately, comes in the final scene. It's almost as if the screenwriters had no idea how to end Blond Ice. What they came up with is so ridiculous and out of character that it really hurts the overall film.

A word on the DVD - from what I've read, the VCI disc is the only way to go. The price is not much more than what you would pay for the Alpha DVD and the VCI disc has a much better transfer and a plethora of features.

Obscure "B" Film Noir About Cold-Blooded Femme Fatal

[Cinebug · 7/10 · 31 August 1999]

Coldly beautiful Leslie Brooks is well cast as Claire, who happily goes about marrying rich men so that she can kill them, get their money, and move on to her next victim. It's a bizarre little film noir, which must have seemed even more bizarre in the days when most films wouldn't touch a story about a woman who is so totally ruthless in getting what she wants.

Robert Paige, as the man who really loves her but can't overlook her hobby, was in the latter stages of his career when this poverty row noir was made.

BLONDE ICE was directed by Jack Bernhard and photographed by George Robinson, the unsung master cinematographer who gave such great atmosphere to the Universal "B" horror films of the '30's and 40's.

There are also many fine character actors playing the type of roles they were so well known for------even if their names were not. They showed up so often in the '30's and '40's------always playing the same character-------that we knew when they walked on the screen exactly what their personality was going to be.

Edgar G. Ulmer, the famous cult director of such admired "B" masterpieces as DETOUR, THE BLACK CAT and RUTHLESS claims to have written the story, though his name does not appear in the credits.

This is one of the most difficult "B" films to see, but is well worth watching if you get the opportunity.

Femme Fatale on overdrive

[Prof-Hieronymos-Grost · 6/10 · 9 August 2006]

Society girl Claire Cummings (Leslie Brooks) on her wedding day to multi millionaire Carl Hanneman is caught after the ceremony in the arms of an old flame Les Burns,by her new husband. Hanneman immediately says the marriage is over and leaves Claire to lick her wounds. However she has bigger plans and is not about to let her new wealth walk out the door, so she plans a foolproof plan to murder her husband while retaining her alibi on the other side of the country. All is going according to plan, until Les Burns a man Claire still loves is picked up as murder suspect No1. Claire soon after professing her love to Les, puts another rich man under her spell, a famous lawyer running for congress and when their engagement is announced Les is disgusted at her money grabbing skills and confronts her again, and again she is caught in his arms by her new suitor, this is where Claire loses the plot altogether and her world comes tumbling down along with her aspirations. Blonde Ice despite its C movie status is a good little Noir, Brooks is excellent as the ubiquitous Femme Fatale, the DVD had pretty poor sound though, very wooly which affected my total enjoyment, but still not bad.6/10

Leslie Brooks is Terrific!

[SonOfMoog · 15 December 2003]

.. but this film, perhaps more highly regarded because it was thought to be lost for many years, is pretty ordinary film noir. There are half a dozen or so discernible film noir conventions that define a movie as noir. One is, people are rotten, and women are the rottenest people. Claire Cummings is an archtype for tawdry women: ambitious, completely inner-directed, amoral, oblivious to all except her own desires, conniving, manipulative, a pathological liar .. and gorgeous.

Her looks easily ensnare the men around her, and those same looks blind them to what she's capable of until it's too late. What this movie lacks, however, is this requisite corruption in the rest of Claire's universe. The police are honest, even competent; her lovers are mostly straight arrows; the newspaper where she works is not a scandal sheet dishing dirt on the rich and famous. Claire is thoroughly rotten, and there's a blackmailer, who knows what she did and tries to cut himself in on her inheritance .. but these are the only ones. There is none of the overwhelming sense that the whole world was full of Claires that we see in some film noirs.

She has one mostly normal relationship with a reporter she works with. He sees her for what she is, but seems unwilling or unable to walk away from her wiles. So, he's a prime candidate for one of the other conventions of film noir, that men are weak and stupid. Claire wraps him around her finger, and keeps him on a leash pretty much throughout. But, even Les comes to his senses when she frames him for one of her murders. "You're not warm. You're ice .. Blonde Ice!" he says at one point.

Claire kills to get ahead, or stay ahead. She kills her first husband for his money, becomes engaged to a congressman-elect for the position that will give her, and kills the would-be blackmailer to cover her tracks. We get the idea what kind of babe she is at her wedding where she makes excuses to leave the groom and is kissing Les, the man she still has feelings for, on the terrace.

A quick embrace and the thrill of forbidden pleasures is enough to keep the boyfriend interested, and a peck on the cheek with a little smoke and mirrors explanation of how it was just a friendly good-bye kiss is enough to soothe the husband's ruffled feathers. Her charm, her guile and her looks are how she gets through life.

Did I mention she was gorgeous?

But, there's another rule in film noir: evil schemes *never* succeed. There's always a day of reckoning, even if you're drop-dead gorgeous, and that moment comes for Claire. When it arrives it is weak, frankly, and largely unsatisfying. It involves a psychiatrist, and a lot of 40's psychobabble about the nature of crime that clearly removes this little thriller from any serious contention as film noir.

Not bad. I'll watch it again. 6.5 out of 10.

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

[Quinoa1984 · 6/10 · 7 May 2009]

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.

Sultry Leslie Brooks melts the ice!!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 18 June 2009]

Unfortunately for the movie going public "Blonde Ice" was almost Leslie Brooks' last film (she was second female lead to Joan Bennett in "The Scar" (1949)). "Blonde Ice" was one of her leading roles and she was fantastic - a pity she didn't get more of these roles that she could sink her teeth into. Before I saw this film I remembered her most in "Cover Girl" (1945) - She played Rusty's catty rival (the one who gave her tips on how to impress the editors).

Claire Cummings, (Leslie Brooks) a gossip reporter, has just married wealthy businessman Carl Hanneman (John Holland) but that doesn't stop her from pigeon-holing Les (Robert Paige), a former flame, and pledging her undying love for him - he, of course, is flabbergasted!!! Later at the race track Carl is astonished at the amount she is betting ($500) even though she wins!! A letter reveals that she is tired of Carl and her marriage. Carl accidentally sees the letter and announces the marriage is over. She concocts a plot that involves Les, a sports reporter -he is suspicious and wonders why Carl has taken a business trip on their honeymoon. When Claire decides to pop into her apartment to freshen up, they find Carl dead - Les assumes it is suicide and Claire agrees. The police believe it is murder but Claire gets off through lack of evidence. The next day she asks for her old job back - she feels she must carry on!!!

She soon sets her cap at Stanley Mason (Michael Whalen) a high powered attorney, who, she wants to represent her late husband's estate. Like Carl, he is completely under her spell and he is also able to get the police to close her late husband's file. A blackmailer, who has helped give Claire an alibi but now wants payment, is shot in the back - by Claire!! Mason starts to have second thoughts about Claire and after talking to a doctor tries to convince Claire that she needs counseling to help her deal with issues she has about wealth, power and ambition. Unfortunately Claire doesn't like that idea. At the end she has made her own headlines and her true colours shine forth - even to a dope like Les.

The only films I have seen Robert Paige in are "Can't Help Singing" (1944) where he co-starred opposite Deanna Durbin in a Technicolored musical western and "Split Second" (1953) a rather good thriller directed by Dick Powell - he has been in dozens of films but to me he is just not that memorable. Which made him perfect for the role of Les. Michael Whalen, who played Stanley Mason, started out as a leading man in a couple of Shirley Temple movies ("Poor Little Rich Girl" (1936) and "Wee Willie Winkie" (1938)) and later developed into a character actor.

Recommended.

Does It's Job Briskly...

[dmh7-1 · 7/10 · 2 August 2005]

"Blonde Ice" (which I just viewed in a nice DVD version with the restorer's commentary, and some nifty extras) is not a classic, nor even a particularly good movie by most standards: it is strictly poverty row rather than Scarlet Street, BUT... I found it easy to watch, and (at times) quite good. The male lead (although obviously a dashing actor on his way down the ladder) brings off his part with some real style, especially in a scene in which he eschews the usual macho man poise expected and almost breaks down in bewilderment over the Woman's actions and seeming imperturbability. And there are a few satisfying (if never quite resplendent) turns by a handful of character actors well-versed in what is expected of them. Although - as commented upon already - there is not quite enough "shadow and darkness" to make it a solid noir presentation, there are - in fact - some rather well-drawn night scenes, and the requisite "venetian blind shadows aslant" scattered here and there. And there is a (limp) stab at analysis of Claire's "problem" by a weakly-sketched German shrink, who also concocts a rather vapid (and seemingly pointless) plan to upend her schemes. The ending is perhaps a bit perfunctory, although the very last line is snappy.

The main positives however are the terribly efficient story-telling (often a lost art in B-movies: hell, in ALL movies!) and some truly terrific compositions. These two elements make it worth at least a single viewing, especially if you can see it on the DVD with the commentary, which also delves into the important work of the film restorer. Seen in such a fashion, the movie is rewarding enough, considering its brevity and quick pace.

Good but the ending was incredibly weak...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 15 February 2011]

Had this film ended better, I could easily have seen giving it a higher score. But sadly, the movie really caught my attention--only to end in a hasty and unsatisfying scene that should have been so much better. It's a shame, as up until then it was a dandy low-budget film.

Leslie Brooks stars as an incredibly conniving and dangerous woman. You get an idea of how conniving as the film begins. Although she's been in love with a co-worker, she marries a rich guy simply because he's rich. But Leslie has no intention of being faithful to her new hubby--and has every desire to pick up with the old boyfriend! When the husband catches her writing love notes to the guy while they are on their honeymoon, he announces that he's divorcing her. Enraged, she kills him--and then concocts a plan to give herself an alibi. The investigators believe her and soon she begins batting her eyes at the D.A.--and her path to riches and the high life appears to be leading directly to him. In the meantime, she STILL keeps the old boyfriend hanging on in hopes that they'll marry. Eventually all this leads to MORE murders and you realize that she's one of the earliest serial killers shown on film. Of course other films featured female murderers but this one repeats itself several times--and it's pretty shocking even for a noir film.

This film was made with a shoestring budget--using no-name actors, simple sets and a swift pace. Despite that, it was engaging and well-made....that is, until the end where the woman is confronted and she quickly admits to her murders!!! It's like the end of practically every "Perry Mason" show--where the killer inexplicably shouts out that they did it--even though there was no hard evidence to support this!! This rarely happens in real life--at least on this planet! It's a shame as even a halfway decent ending would have made this movie well worth seeing. As is, it's too disappointing to place it among the better examples of film noir.

Serial killing Suzy Knickerbocker.

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 22 July 2014]

Other than Jennifer Jones in Ruby Gentry have I ever seen a film which had more members of the male species in heat than in Blonde Ice where Leslie Brooks has every member of the cast with testosterone panting after her with the possible exception of police captain Emory Parnell. The cops are very interested in Brooks, she's killing men all over the place who threaten her position on the social scale and her efforts to improve same.

There's a body count of three, a rich society guy, a wealthy attorney who gets elected to Congress but doesn't live long enough to even claim victory and a blackmailing pilot played by John Holland, Michael Whalen and Russ Vincent. Brooks started as a Suzy Knickerbocker type society columnist who wants to do more than write about the rich and privileged.

David Leonard a criminal psychologist has her pegged from the beginning and does she hate him. Another reporter James Griffith has the hots for her, but she's rejected him and fashioned on to Robert Paige. He's the one that rings her chimes, but he's not rich and privileged.

Blonde Ice was an interesting film though it got way too melodramatic toward the end. Noir fans should give it a look.

Cold As Ice

[Bucs1960 · 7/10 · 6 September 2008]

This is an obscure noir film which is seldom seen but will show up at film festivals that celebrate the "B" productions of the 1940s and '50s. That's where I got the chance to see Leslie Brooks weave cinema magic as the coldest babe in town. Her performance ranks right up there with the wonderful Ann Savage's Vera in the greatest "B" of all times, "Detour".

Brooks plays a newspaper columnist who goes from one wealthy victim to another, kills, inherits the money and moves on. A blackmailer gets in her way so she dispatches him as well. All the while, her ex-boyfriend, played by Robert Paige, a familiar face to movie buffs,is hanging around on the fringes of her life. He becomes the main suspect in the murders and complications arise.

Brooks should have gone on to bigger and better things but, here again, her career mirrors the aforementioned Ann Savage. The low budget films were not always a stepping stone to stardom.

This is an unusual film with a totally unrepentant and psychologically twisted main character who, in a word, is a bitch. The supporting cast is strong and the cinematography is quite good. Now that I have said that, I must admit that this is definitely a "B" film and can sometimes be rather hard going. But it is Leslie Brooks that makes it worthwhile. The film was made by Film Classics, originally a releasing company, which tried it's hand at it's own productions, with some limited success. The company disappeared early in the 1950s, as did most of the Poverty Row studios, much to the chagrin of all aficionados of the genre. "Blonde Ice" is one of the stars in the crown of low budget film making due to Brooks. Make an effort to find it.

ridiculous!

[marymorrissey · 2/10 · 26 August 2010]

the implausibility of this movie's progress is only eclipsed by the denouement's! this ridiculous woman, pretty and nicely shaped but a total "B" on wheels is obviously a psychopath and really displays no charm whatsoever. OK maybe people are so stupid that they keep throwing themselves after her cause she looks rather like Rose McGowan, I can sort of see that... But why she throws in the towel at the end freely admitting her guilt to 3 murders before accidentally shooting herself simply out of pique at the psychiatrist who, over one dinner's worth of psychoanalysis, appears to have unmasked her as such a disturbed damaged piece of goods is not the least clear. from what we've seen of her she ought rather to have beat the rap, then done away with the shrink as she did with anyone else who annoyed her. idiotic! the acting isn't very good either, from anybody in this movie. what could have been noir lighting was instead actually rather sloppy lighting.

above average 40's b-crime programmer w/ wild femme fetale

[django-1 · 9/10 · 8 September 2004]

Director Jack Bernhard was on a roll when he made this low-budget crime drama for the interesting "Film Classics" company (all of whose releases that I've seen have been fascinating on some level)--he had made VIOLENCE (about a crypto-fascist secret society preying on returning veterans) and DECOY (a noir classic with the ultimate femme fetale, as played by Jean Gillie) at Monogram in 46-47, and after BLONDE ICE he went on to direct two of the three John Calvert "Falcon" films which I found entertaining in a quirky way. BLONDE ICE teams Leslie Brooks (who played a similar "deadlier than the male" female two years earlier in SECRET OF THE WHISTLER), here playing a upwardly-mobile woman who uses marriage and murder as a way of improving her social status, with actor-singer-gameshow host Robert Paige, a reliable performer best known to me for the serial FLYING G-MEN and the horror classic SON OF Dracula. The film will not make anyone forget DETOUR or DECOY because to me it doesn't really aspire to the dark world of noir--it's not a corrupt world here, just an empty one for Claire Cummings. Les, her friend and the man she keeps coming back to whenever she conquers a new financially successful man (played by Robert Paige), is an interesting character because he is a devoted friend who knows that something is wrong but doesn't want to know about it. Claire states many a time that she loves him, but he seems to have gone beyond any romantic feelings for her before the film starts--his feelings for her are more like those of an ex-spouse who has moved on but who still wants to help his former partner who is having a run of bad luck. I disagree with those who don't care for Brooks' performance--she has a number of wonderfully feline poses and it's easy to see how men who ought to know better (such as the congressional candidate) fall for her. I also like the fact that no real explanation is ever provided for her actions other than social climbing, and she always seems unsatisfied with each new level she reaches. The supporting cast does a good job also--my favorite being Russ Vincent as the sleazy flyer/blackmailer, in a performance straight from the Jack LaRue school of acting. I'm glad to see this film available in a crisp-looking DVD. It has the flavor of a paperback-original crime novel with a lurid cover (the film's poster and title card have that flavor too)and it pulled me into its world for 70 minutes.

BLONDE ICE (Jack Bernhard, 1948) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 18 July 2008]

From the director of DECOY (1946) comes another obscure noir revolving around a femme fatale; however, it emerges to be less interesting stylistically and also proves quite predictable as drama! Mind you, one is sufficiently entertained throughout by the unscrupulous machinations of its ambitious but unbalanced heroine/villainess – ensuring ample hard-boiled dialogue and melodramatic situations; still, it all feels rather stilted this time around – perhaps because the casting here doesn’t work nearly as well as in DECOY.

The title aptly describes Leslie Brooks’s conniving protagonist (incidentally, I ended up watching this film on the actress’ birthday by pure coincidence!): still, she commits a surprising amount of gaffes during the course of the picture which is incongruous to her genre prototype – for instance, she plans to have her husband’s murder passed off as a suicide, yet never thinks of getting his fingerprints on the weapon!; to do so she asks a pilot to take her from L.A. to Frisco and back again – but doesn’t figure on his wanting to cash in on the fortune she’d inherit once the husband’s death becomes public!; to say nothing of the number of times she’s caught in the company of, or writing to, her true love (sports columnist Robert Paige – best-known for playing the hero in the Universal minor horror classic SON OF Dracula [1943], with which this film shares also cinematographer George Robinson) soon after having committed herself to someone else i.e. a wealthy big shot of some kind!; but my favorite is the climax – finally exposed for what she truly is by an elderly psychiatrist, Brooks impulsively still attempts to violently shut him up despite the fact that there are at least three other people in the room!

Incidentally, the latter constitute some of the most important men in Brooks’ life; apart from Paige (justly bewildered at the sight of his loved one blowing her cool), they are James Griffith (making a good impression as a smarmy colleague of Paige’s and who also carries a torch for Brooks – by the way, the latter had her own spot on the paper…which is then amusingly but cruelly put down by none other than Paige himself in the film’s closing line!) and Walter Sande (as their long-suffering editor, who’s often reduced to acting as referee between Paige and Griffith over their common affection for Brooks!). Also making a significant contribution is Michael Whalen as an ageing politician – having already married into money, Brooks had next intended to acquire standing in the U.S. capital!

Quality-wise, the VCI “Special Edition” DVD leaves a lot to be desired – but, I guess, it was to be expected from a film which had long been considered lost! There’s a surprising amount of bonus features to be found here – I by-passed Jay Fenton’s Audio Commentary but did get to watch his fairly interesting interview which, rather than focus specifically on BLONDE ICE, drew also on other subjects (particularly on Film Restoration techniques and closer to home, being itself a VCI release, his own involvement in the ‘rediscovery’ of Mario Bava’s THE WHIP AND THE BODY [1963]). Two more supplements in the form of a musical short subject and an episode from a virtually unheard of made-for-TV detective series are treated on their own elsewhere.

RAY BARBER SINGS "SATAN WEARS A SATIN GOWN" (N/A, 19??; **): Included as a supplement on VCI’s BLONDE ICE (1948), this was the kind of short made specifically to showcase a new song: in this case, it’s a number advising men to be wary of femme fatales – which is how it ties up with that noir picture. It’s nothing special as both record and film but, I guess, it served its purpose at the time (incidentally, I couldn’t determine when the short came out or who directed it).

INTO THE NIGHT (TV) (N/A, 19??; **1/2): As with the short about the “Satan Wears A Satin Gown” number (see above), this also accompanied the main feature on the VCI DVD of BLONDE ICE (1948), an above-average film noir; likewise, too, I found little to no information on the INTO THE NIGHT TV series on the Internet – not even the title of this this particular episode! Thanks to the DVD medium, I’ve watched a handful of 1950s TV programs; all of them were fairly crude technically but also reasonably entertaining in themselves. This one, then, was no exception – being a mildly engaging detective story featuring veteran Hollywood character actor Wallace Ford: the plot, again, revolves around a femme fatale as she schemes to come out on top at all costs. She’s involved in a diamond robbery, contrives to kill her two partners, and even tries to make a dupe out of Ford – but he’s too experienced to fall for her type! While the proceedings are entirely predictable, what makes the show palatable is its constant flurry of hard-boiled dialogue; though this was an intrinsic element of the genre, the overall easy-going approach here results in an agreeable mix of thrills and chuckles throughout.

Intimations of Psychopathy.

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 21 November 2012]

The psychopath is Leslie Brooks. She's young and has the pleasant, even features of a Hollywood actress. She has had several men on the hook in San Francisco but finally marries the richest of them all and then murders him, leaving a staged suicide scene. She's used her former lover, the immortal Robert Paige, as part of her alibi, although he's unwitting and believes her to be innocent of anything beyond a hasty marriage.

Brooks takes up with the devoted but slightly dumb Paige again but quickly discovers the possibility of another conquest -- Michael Whalen as a newly elected Congressman, soon to depart the city for Washington. Whalen is even dumber than Paige. He falls for her in a jiffy and announces their marriage. But when Whalen finds out what she's really like, thanks to a presumably perceptive shrink in an underwritten part, he tries to back out of the nuptials. She kills him and frames Paige.

So far -- well, if not "so good", at least "so adequate for the purposes". But the movie implodes at the end. Brooks is in her newspaper office, typing one of her last society columns. She has a Niagara of money coming her way once her first husband's estate is out of probate, or whatever it's called. Paige has been successfully framed for Whalen's murder. She has nothing to fear and has shown no sign of guilt or remorse.

Yet, it's at this point that the police and the shrink enter her office, she stands up with a big smile, and spills all the beans, including her murder of a third man whose unimportance to the plot justifies his not having been mentioned until now. Hearing her confession, Paige slumps a little and makes a disillusioned remark. "I'll KILL you!", shouts Brooks for no particular reason, grabs a pistol, and is wrestled to the floor as the gun goes off and she's accidentally killed. The scene is just as bad as it sounds here.

Brooks is pretty enough but her acting is obvious. Paige isn't called on to do very much except be friendly, trusting, understanding, and a little dense. Walter Sande is a mutual friend and employer of both at the newspaper and he's sympathetic. Most interesting character award goes to James Griffith as a fellow reporter and one of Brook's discarded boy friends. You'll know him when you see him. He's tall, narrow-shouldered, and has the longest neck of anyone in the movie. It has a sizable laryngeal prominence that can actually be seen bobbing up and down when he speaks. He has the best lines too. They're not worth quoting here, nor are any of the other lines, because the screenplay is functional but no more than that. The direction by Jack Bernhard has one or two imaginative moments.

The problem is that B features like this were ground out by the hundreds during the 30s and 40s, doomed to second billing, and the budgets were very low. You don't get the production values that might rescue the film. Every scene here seems to be indoors because shooting on a set is cheap and fast. And you don't get the talent. Leslie Brooks is okay, but if you want to see a woman who exploits men the way Brooks does, and who gives a fine performance to boot, watch Barbara Stanwyck in "Double Indemnity."

This is Not an Ice Skating Movie

[wrbtu · 26 April 2003]

When I tell my friends the title of this movie, most of them say "Oh,

is that with Sonia What's-Her-Name?" No, it's not an ice skating

movie. The blonde in the title is one of the most chilling Femme

Fatales you'll ever see on screen. Leslie Brooks is excellent as a

woman with a strong hatred of men, based on her fatherÕs

desertion, which made her mother a Òhard workingÓ lady. There

are times in the film when I wanted to feel sorry for her, but that

emotion quickly turned to fear & dislike. Good all-around

performances from a group of familiar faces whose names are

just on the other side of familiar. Russ Vincent could be mistaken

for Lash LaRue, & in a moment of darkness might have been

Bogie himself. Fast paced, interesting, & plenty of ice make this a

winning suspense film. I believe Blonde Ice has some elements

of Film Noir, but not enough emphasis on darkness & shadows &

a lack of snappy dialog (except for about three spots where it gets

pretty vicious) make it more of a suspense melodrama than a true

Film Noir. DoesnÕt matter though, try to find it. I rate it 8/10.

fantastic ice cool blonde central performance

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 2 December 2013]

Much as I love the film noir genre, a lot of so called noir do turn out to be little more than 'B' movie filler. Every now and again though one turns up to surprise you. This is nothing incredible but is very watchable indeed with a fantastic ice cool blonde central performance from Leslie Brooks. She seems to have had a decent career but I don't recall her taking the lead in anything else I've seen - gangster's moll more like. Based on the book by Whitman Chambers ('Once Too Often', although interestingly, 'Manhandled' on my own copy, which is a bit misleading because this lady doesn't get manhandled by anyone). The film lacks those deep dark shadows and night time location shooting, it even lacks any real baddies, unless you count the aspiring politician, but it does have a femme fatale. And what a performance Leslie Brooks gives as the most convincing ruthless ice maiden who does all the killing herself. Bit slow to start and seems to be slipping into screwball territory at one point but once on track this smokes.

Better Than I Thought

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 30 January 2008]

While the story here is a bit inane, it's not a bad movie. The female lead is good and the acting is pretty good as well. The plot concerns a cold blooded female who uses men to get to the top. Unfortunately, she is gun happy and doesn't leave them many options. She kills her wealthy husband and then moves on to the next guy, who is a pretty nice guy. He has suspicions from the start, but his affection for her gets in the way and he becomes too forgiving. When she finally hooks up with a senatorial candidate, things get really dicey and she reveals herself to the one friend she has. She plies her tricks a little too long. There are enough unanswered questions to keep one's interest. Watching her evolve is also interesting. She becomes so brazen and careless, yet she keeps landing on her feet. See it. It's not bad.

Postwar curio about serial-killing femme fatale

[bmacv · 6/10 · 19 November 2001]

A cheesy programmer with a cast of nobodies and has-beens, sporting production values suited to Charlie Chan, Blonde Ice remains curiously compelling. Most of its interest flows from the lead performance of Leslie Brooks as Claire, a newspaper gossip/society columnist who marries first a millionaire then an aspiring congressman only to dispatch them abruptly; all the while she keeps stringing along a paycheck-to-paycheck reporter whom she uses as a backup/patsy. Brooks performance is modelled, distantly, on Bette Davis (though the vertiginous arches of her eyebrows are a preview of Divine's). One apparent deficiency in the script -- and there are plenty -- may prove a blessing in disguise: no attempt is made to "analyze" Claire's motives, or pathology. What we see is what we get. The version I saw was shorn of 10 to 15 minutes of the reported running time; it's hard to say whether the condensed version detracts from or actually improves the original release. Though nobody should set out on a desperate quest to acquire a copy, Blonde Ice is somehow better than it has any right to be.

A B-level programmer, but it sets a brisk, murderous pace

[Terrell-4 · 6/10 · 1 March 2008]

Claire Cummings, San Francisco society reporter, blonde and gorgeous, is a woman to die for. If you make the mistake of marrying her, you probably will.

Claire (Leslie Brooks) goes through men who want to marry her like a sharp knife through your side. She keeps news columnist Les Burns (Robert Paige) handy even when she marries a very wealthy San Francisco businessman. She makes the mistake of letting a letter to Les fall into her husband's hands on their honeymoon. "My darling Les," she writes, "three more weeks until I can see you again, dearest. Poor stupid Carl tries so hard to be a good husband, but he can't get used to an expensive wife." Carl says it will be a divorce. Twenty-four hours later, Carl isn't going to say anything ever again.

Blonde Ice lets us tag along as Claire not only goes through her new husband, but through a blackmailer and a new, high social fiancée. She manipulates Les, who loves her, until even he has her number. "I once said I couldn't figure you out," he tells her. "I can now. You're not a normal woman. You're not warm. You're cold...like ice. Yeah, like ice...blonde ice." It might not have been wise to be so frank with Claire because now she plans for him to take the fall for one of her murders. Justice finally comes to Claire, as it must to all bad people in Hollywood movies of that time. Even then, it takes a three-way set-up, some psychoanalysis and a bullet to do the job.

The movie is a great example of a low-budget B programmer which just manages to rise a little above the average. The script is okay, the acting is adequate, the story is interesting. What makes it work? Director Jack Bernhard, just as much a journeyman as the actors, keeps the film moving briskly, with little time to let us get bored or impatient. The photography helps quite a bit, with several noirish scenes at night. Also important is Leslie Brooks as Claire. Brooks was an actress that stayed firmly planted as a lead in B movies, with an occasional foray as a second lead in A movies. She's not an actress who would worry the A crowd, but she does a fine job as Claire, the self-centered, manipulative and deadly ice queen. The only really weak part of the movie is the conclusion, when psychiatry is used as an explanation for her behavior. For me, this undercuts her nicely murderous actions; after all, don't we all just want the nice things in life?

There are even tips for fine living. What could be a healthier lunch than "martinis, chicken salad for two and coffee, please." Or "four Manhattans, waiter, with half French, half Italian vermouth." Why, that's a Perfect Manhattan.

That Hanneman Woman

[richardchatten · 5/10 · 30 September 2021]

A talky, competent potboiler enhanced by the presence centre stage of the statuesque Leslie Brooks, who sure looks the part as a glamorous sociopath in a part that really called for a Davis or a Stanwyck.

But Miss Brooks' glacial handsomeness and how she'll come to grief - since you know the Breen Office won't let her get away with the fruits of her nefarious activities - keep you watching.

Blonde Ambition & Collateral Damage

[seymourblack-1 · 7/10 · 3 November 2015]

Although it was made on a shoestring by a small independent company and features some below-par acting, this movie redeems itself because of its lively pace, its outrageous story and the performance of its leading lady. Based on the 1938 novel "Once Too Often" by Whitman Chambers, "Blonde Ice" follows the exploits of an extremely ambitious femme fatale whose pursuit of wealth, power and status leaves in its wake, a lot of collateral damage in the form of broken hearts and dead bodies.

At a ceremony held in his own mansion, wealthy businessman Carl Hanneman (John Holland) marries Claire Cummings (Leslie Brooks) in the company of his guests who include some of Claire's colleagues from the San Francisco newspaper where she's employed as a society columnist. Immediately after making her vows, she leaves her new husband to join her old flame Les Burns (Robert Paige) on the balcony. There she tells the sportswriter that he's still the man that she loves and adds "I'll think of you on my honeymoon".

Whilst on honeymoon in Los Angeles, Carl sees a love letter that Claire's written to send to Les and immediately decides to divorce her and return to San Francisco. That night, Claire hires a charter plane to fly to San Francisco and back and pays the pilot Blackie Talon (Russ Vincent) an extra $100 to ensure his future discretion about the trip. When she returns home after her very brief honeymoon, she arranges for Les to meet her and take her back to her husband's house where they discover Carl's dead body. He'd been shot dead in circumstances that suggest that he'd committed suicide. The police are convinced, however, that Carl was murdered but don't have sufficient evidence to charge either Claire or Les.

A short while later. Claire gets another of her boyfriends to introduce her to a politically ambitious attorney called Stanley Mason (Michael Whalen) who she wants to administer her late husband's estate and soon they become an item. When Mason is elected to Congress, he announces his engagement to Claire but problems then arise when Blackie Talon turns up to blackmail her and Mason's psychiatrist friend Dr Geoffrey Kippinger (David Leonard) expresses strong reservations about her suitability for marriage. Naturally, Claire resolves these problems with her usual ruthless efficiency but further complications follow.

"Blonde Ice" is a film noir with a number of the usual archetypes such as the femme fatale, the weak man who repeatedly gets into danger because of his obsession and the "good girl" who the man consistently ignores. The involvement of psychoanalysis in the plot and the presence of a blackmailer who suddenly emerges from the shadows are also typical noir components. What the story eschews though is the twists and the uncertainties surrounding identities and motivations which often add greater intrigue to some of the best films of this style.

Leslie Brooks exemplifies what's best about this movie as she's bold, brazen and shows no reservations or conscience about her character's actions or crimes. Everything she does is treated as simply the next logical step in her progression to her goal. The remainder of the cast are adequate at best but this doesn't detract from the enjoyment because the uncomplicated nature of the whole undertaking makes all the wickedness on-screen highly entertaining and often comical to watch.

Don't Waste Your Time

[cdale-41392 · 3/10 · 9 March 2019]

"Blonde Ice" is part of the two disc / six movie DVD collection "Dangerous Dames." Every collection is bound to have a Dud and I'm pretty sure this movie is the one for this collection. Or at least I hope it is as I still have three movies to go.

We start off in San Francisco at the home of Carl Hanneman. He is set to marry Claire Cummings (Leslie Brooks). She writes the social column at the local newspaper and has invited quite a few coworkers to the wedding ... including the thin and rat-faced former lover Al, and her current lover, the sports columnist Les Burns (Robert Paige). Yes. She is marrying Carl for his money and has no intention of giving up her current Beau.

Just moments after they are legally wed Carl catches her in the arms of Les out on the balcony, but she explains it away as an innocent kiss to say goodbye. Ha! Then on their honeymoon in LA Carl finds a love letter Claire has written to Les. She -literally- gives it to him in a handful of other letters she has written! Naturally, Carl isn't putting up with this crap, so he tells her it's over and he flies back to San Francisco.

Claire isn't about to give up on her meal-ticket, so she secretly hires a private plane, flies to SF, murders Carl and makes it look like a suicide, then flies back to LA. She explains his absence on their honeymoon by telling people he had to take a sudden business trip. The police aren't buying this story and investigate Les!

Meanwhile Claire sets her sights on a politician as she climbs the social ladder ... and the lies and the bodies start to pile up.

This is a bad film ... and it's not one of those so-bad-it's-good films. It's just bad.

There are plot holes, characters do things that just don't make sense, the sets are cheap, and none of these people can act.

Don't waste your time like I did.

"I wonder which hangover you will wake up from first"

[clanciai · 8/10 · 13 April 2021]

This would have been a perfect part for Bette Davis, and she would have made more off it, while Leslie Brooks is more beautiful. Bette Davis excelled in such characters, while Leslie Brooks endows it with other characteristics, like subtle calculation hidden under a shining layer of ice. Of course, there are no conciliatory circumstances here, and you can't understand how Les Burns could possibly take her back and fall for her again and again, and why that.doctor Geoffrey Kippinger is the only one who sees her through. All other men seem to be like blind mice around a piece of cheese, completely ignoring the mousetrap. What raises this film above average is the.adlorable music by. Irving Gertz, which might ultimately be the only thing you will remember of this film, almost like Preminger's "Laura" or at least in essence like it. All the rest is ordinary B-stuff, nothing special, professional policemen, Journalists and blackmailers. While Leslie Brooks steals the entire show and finally even makes a decent confession of it. How could she ever have imagined that she would get away with it? That is the question, which establishes the second rate of intelligence in this film.

Quite good

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 13 February 2011]

Claire (Leslie Brooks) is a deranged gold-digger that needs power and wealth. And she does whatever she needs to do in order to get what she wants. She chalks up a good body count before the film is over. I actually quite like her.

Leslie Brooks reminds me of Bette Davis. She put in a good performance as a woman that you don't cross. The film ticks along as we follow Claire and her pursuit of wealth. The best parts of the film are whenever she decides to kill someone - it's always a very determined and direct approach and I found myself looking forward to her next crime. She saves the best for last as she tells a psychiatrist what she thinks of him and then goes for him. She's got 3 people surrounding her but it doesn't stop her. It's top quality.

The film slowed down a bit in the middle and the ending was contrived and convenient. She seemed untouchable up to that point and I had no idea how they were going to put a stop to her behaviour. Her final actions just didn't ring true. Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable film and Leslie Brooks is most entertaining.

Today, we'd just call her Bi-Polar.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 26 December 2012]

Claire Cummings (Leslie Brooks) is a pretty reporter for a San Francisco paper who leaves when she marries a wealthy older man (John Holland) who quickly dumps her when he realizes what a tramp she is. When he ends up dead, an apparent suicide, Cummings prepares to take over his estate and move back onto her former lover (Robert Paige) but blackmail threatens her plans, and murder seems the only way out. A wise psychiatrist (David Leonard) senses she knows more than she's telling, and unravels not only the string of murders that have been occurring, but the psychological make-up of this blonde ice, definite proof of what Claire herself refers to the danger of the female of the species.

In spite of a great set-up, the presence of possibly an extremely interesting femme fatal, and the psychological study of a truly dangerous creature, "Blonde Ice" features a plot that melts into obviousness pretty much the minute it starts with its one-dimensional characters and a screenplay that is truly unexciting. What makes the great femme fatals of film noir so riveting was the fact that in spite of their dangerous natures, they did show some vulnerabilities that managed to come out in bits and pieces even though you couldn't trust them with an ounce of sincerity. Brooks is a mediocre actress that was obviously set up to be a rival to Lana Turner after her success in film noir, but lacks the softness of Turner and is truly out of her element in leading roles.