Decoy (1946) and Blonde Ice (1948)
Posted: March 6th, 2009, 12:24 pm
I've been on a film noir jag for the last month or so. Two "B" movie standouts among the new movies I've seen lately happen to be the work of Jack Bernhard. If his name is unfamiliar, welcome to the club. Mr. Bernhard, who's still alive at age 96, had neither a long nor, uh, exactly distinguished career in terms of normal measures of success as a director, though his movies certainly have a similar vibe. However, his usually low budget movies, among which are Decoy (1946), starring his then wife, Jean Gillie, and Blonde Ice (1948) starring Leslie Brooks--both of whom play femme fatales to the tenth power--are fascinating because of the outrageous behavior of all parties and the strange combination of brisk pacing of the storyline blended simultaneously with characters who seem to be moving underwater. Also, the villainesses really have no redeeming qualities nor are we given any real reason for their brazen behavior, other than the desire to have money and social position. I guess such niceties as a backstory weren't in the budget, and besides, it makes the story more amusing and strangely lifelike.
If you like your film noir gritty, (these movies stretch the PCA envelope quite a bit, especially with Miss Gillie behind the wheel) unlikely, (a person come back from the dead in Decoy) and at times hilarious--even though in a way, I guess you could say they are also "female empowerment" movies--you must see these flicks.
The men, btw, particularly Herbert Rudley in Decoy, (poor Herb is seen above in the crackerjack first scene) and Robert Paige, (below with Miss Brooks) in Blonde Ice all have reason to regret being born. On reflection, though, I must say that my favorite performance in Decoy must be the odd reading that the immortal tough guy Sheldon Leonard gives his cop character, "Jo Jo", and the appearance of Robert Armstrong (yes, the guy from King Kong), as a guy on death row, (but not for long.)
Jay Fenton, who helped to restore Blonde Ice has quite a bit to say about it on his dvd commentary and here. Glenn Erickson of DVD Savant and Stanley Rubin (the bemused author of the story of Decoy), put together a genial dvd commentary on the Decoy disc.
Hope you'll chime in with your comments on these little known movies.