That neglected sub-genre, Ice Follies Noir, came to TCM today with Suspense (1946), starring Barry Sullivan as an ambitious peanut vendor, Belita as a sexy skating star (take that, Sonja Henie!), Bonita Granville and Albert Dekker as Belita's understandably bitter hubby. I am just watching it now and hope I'm not the only one who is relishing this movie. With direction by Frank Tuttle (This Gun for Hire, 1935's The Glass Key) and a script by Philip Yordan (House of Strangers, The Big Combo), this movie really has something...though I can't quite decide what it is yet. This big budget Monogram production (yeah, an oxymoron) has a terrific visual look to it (Karl Struss is the cinematographer and I've never seen a Tuttle movie that was visually ugly).
This movie has everything: surrealism on ice with Belita bursting through a skull that would have made Dali smile, art deco architecture (courtesy of images of the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, which Lynn mentioned here), classy ice dancing, Barry Sullivan slithering, a welcome appearance by George E. Stone, and a performer (on ice, yet) named Miguelito Valdes, who looks as though he taught Desi Arnaz how to sing.
One thing that I have definitely decided is that Belita wears the craziest hats I've seen this side of Janis Carter and Minnie Pearl. PLEASE tell me someone else saw this movie?
