seymourblack-1 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.

dougdoepke On the whole, this cheap little production is better than it ought to be. Sexy Claire (Brooks) is a spider woman, par excellance. She seduces up-scale men, marries them, then kills them. Not exactly the motherly type. Yet the relatively unknown Brooks plays the part in interesting fashion. You can almost see her brain calculating behind an icy exterior. Too bad her career was so brief, confined for whatever reason to the 40's. Paige does well enough as her sometime 'true love'. I'm just wondering if this heart tug was to soften her image for censorship purposes, without it, she's a pretty ruthless case. Also, thin-faced, big-eyed James Griffith excelled at eccentric parts. Here, he sort of mugs it up in semi-humorous fashion, as though he's not taking any of this too seriously. Worse, by implying that he (Al) was ever a romantic interest of Claire's produces a real stretch. The direction by Jack Bernhard is smooth enough, if uninspired. Too bad the production didn't reach for noir lighting since the material is perfect for creepy shadows. Instead, staging and lighting remain conventional, perhaps because of budget constraints. However, I do wish the script had dispensed with the omniscient psychiatrist (Leonard). A lot of films of that period included 'head doctors' and I'm not sure why. I guess he's supposed to bring Claire's behavior within science's grasp. To me, however, it's more intriguing to place some behaviors beyond science.Anyhow, this cheapo remains an interesting little feature. Too bad that with a little more daring and imagination, it could have produced memorable results.

mark.waltz 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.

MartinHafer 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.