BLONDE ICE

US, 1948, 74 minutes, black-and-white.

Robert Paige, Leslie Brooks, Russ Vincent, Michael Whalen, Emory Parnell, John Holland.

Directed by Jack Bernhard.

By 1948, film noir was very popular, in big features like Double Indemnity (which this film alludes to) but also many small supporting features like this one.

This is the story of a femme fatale, very fatal, played by Leslie Brooks. As the film opens, she is marrying a millionaire, delaying at the altar, but also seeing the man she really loves during the wedding reception. She is ambitious, wanting the best life, ruthless. During the honeymoon, the husband discovers her writing letters to the man she loves – and she sets up a murder sequence, commissioning a plane from an ex-convict pilot, an alibi for the death which she discovers on returning to the home.

By profession, she is a journalist, writing columns, ingratiating herself with the editorial staff, but seeing through by young woman of the staff. And she takes up again with the man she loves, supremely confident, creating theories for the death of her husband.

While looking for a lawyer for her husband’s will, she comes across the San Francisco Mayor who is running for Congress, links up with him for the legal work, is seductive, within a short time his announcing his engagement publicly. However, the doctor on his team is suspicious of the widow.

A further complication is the pilot realising the truth and blackmailing her – and, of course, her killing him.

Once again, she is caught with  the man she loves, he reluctant, and the confrontation with the Mayor resulting in his death.

The police, the doctor, set up a situation where in a moment of breakdown, she confesses to everything.

It is an example, B-budget film, film noir and an unscrupulous femme fatale.