Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
B Noir Murderess--the first black widow, November 1, 2003
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.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You're not well, Claire, July 25, 2004
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.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"You're not a normal woman.", February 27, 2008
First, this is a review of the VCI Entertainment package of this long lost noir, originally made by one of the briefest of the poverty row studios, Classic Film. Simply put - this is the DVD version to get. It boasts the best picture and sound quality currently available of this title, and most likely the best one that will ever be available. It is far superior to the currently available Alpha release, thanks to the restoration work of Jay Fenton who also contributes a very good commentary track for the film as well.
They just don't make femme fatales/serial killers like Claire Cummings anymore. Played by the appropriately icy Leslie Brooks, Claire is in the great tradition of poverty row villainous woman: absolutely hard core and cut throat in ways that none of the major studios of the time felt comfortable dealing with. Claire is not in any way, shape or form a "misunderstood" woman, in the way the majors preferred their femme fatales. Nor is she a "tough kid" - basically all right but just a little rough and hardened by life, ala Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce. And she doesn't need a patsy to do her dirty work for her, as does Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity. Nope, Claire can take care of things herself, thank you. Claire is a psychopath that seeks men out for the money and power they bring her and kills them quickly if they fail to deliver the goods. She is absolutely crazy, brilliant - homicidal. No sweet kid underneath here, not by a very long shot. Claire represents a key quality that was so glorious about poverty row cinema: characters were not required to be sympathetic.
This poverty row, noir classic has several other things going for it.
1. It was directed by Jack Bernhard, who also was at the helm for another great poverty row noir, Decoy. Not well know anymore, Bernhard was a great poverty row director that really knew his craft and was able to deal with difficult themes, most notably seriously crazy, complex women, with grace and skill.
2. The film contains a great performance from Leslie Brooks, and also from the male lead, Robert Paige. Paige was passed the prime of his career when this film was made, having slipped from the major studios to poverty row, and he would slip further after this, ending up with very spotty television work. Yet his work in this film is committed and very moving. There is, in fact, one scene in the film in which his character, Les Burns, drunkenly confronts Claire with his suspicions, that is so well acted any actor of any era would be proud to call their own. Paige was a fine actor, giving this poverty row production 100%
3. Another poverty row hallmark: great character actors playing great juicy parts. My favorite in the film - the sadly forgotten James Griffith, who always played a slim fox, full of snide oily comments delivered in a butter smooth voice.
4. Perhaps most importantly, this film was shot by George Robinson, who also was the cinematographer on such moody pieces as House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, and The Scarlet Claw. Another old pro who really knew his stuff. Jay Fenton talks about this great artist quite a bit in his wonderful commentary track, explaining how he liked to shine tiny flashlights in actors eyes to make them glow with madness or evil, and how he was a master of shot composition.
All in all, a great film presented in a great package. Highly recommended. -Mykal Banta
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