Blondie's Reward

This time around, Ed Vance (Frank Jenks) and Bill Cooper (Chick Chandler once again) intercept Dagwood (Arthur Lake) outside of a Realtor's office to attempt to swindle the funds which Mr. Radcliffe (Jerome Cowan) has entrusted Dagwood to bid a purchase option upon prime acreage, to offer swampland, thus potentially yielding an event which may lead to Dagwood's demotion to office boy.

"Blondie's Reward" (Columbia 1948), Chapter 23 in this series, marks the swan song of Abby Berlin as Director of the Bumstead film family. Written by Edward Bernds, this one is filled with the desires of various characters to achieve a "Reward" of sorts.

Mr. Radcliffe has the notion to impress wealthy industrialist John D. Dickson (Paul Harvey) with plans to construct a potential plant, thereby hoping to procure that cherished prime Real Estate, to cinch a tentative deal.

What Mr. Dickson wants is for his daughter, Alice (Gay Nelson), to dump her opportunist fiancé, for whom he has no use.

What Blondie (Penny Singleton) wants, in the meantime, is for Dagwood to use his days off from the office to varnish the wooden floors at the Bumstead residence. Dagwood obliges and begins in their dining room, inside which he varnishes himself into a corner and must escape through a window, which causes confusion after a police officer observes this.

Alexander (Larry Simms) and Alvin Fuddle (Danny Mummert), passing football with Alvin's college-age cousin Ted Scott (Ross Ford), are asked to vouch for Dagwood's person in a film relying upon a plot of mistaken identity.

What Alexander and Alvin want is a set of mail-order barbells, in order to practice athletics, as cousin Ted.

What Ted wants, when Blondie enlists him to drive to the Dickson estate, to retrieve Radcliffe's blueprints for Dagwood, is to impress Alice Dickson, which he does by putting her fiancé in his place although Ted is identified as Dagwood Bumstead.

When Mr. Radcliffe receives word of the social blunder, he pleads with Blondie to play along with his plan, which does not include that boxing match between Dagwood and Mr. Dickson, an unexpected visit by Alice to thank Dagwood for his "heroics," nor the return of those con artists.

"Blondie" films can serve as gems of escapism from daily life or from heavier fare--or from nonsense fare. Even as this series winds down, its later chapters may seem a bit more relaxed than their predecessors. But "Blondie's Reward" does hold its own, by proving that its creative staff still manages to add fresh ideas to this series.

BLONDIE'S REWARD (Columbia, 1948), directed by Abby Berlin, the 23rd installment to the popular series based on Chic Young's "Blondie" comic strip, ranks one of the least memorable, but overlooking its familiarity, a satisfactory merry-mix-up scenario taken from what's supposed to be Dagwood's time off from work.

The story opens with Blondie (Penny Singleton) and Dagwood (Arthur Lake), along with their teenage son, Alexander (Larry Simms) and daughter, Cookie (Marjorie Kent) having their morning breakfast together. Unlike other mornings, Dagwood does not have to rush out of the house to catch his bus off to work for that Blondie has arranged for his boss, George M. Radcliffe (Jerome Cowan) in giving him the day off. Instead of spending time loafing around, Blondie provides Dagwood's day of rest with a handful of chores to do. He starts off the day shellacking the living room floor. After completing that, Dagwood finds himself cornered on the wrong side, but thanks to Alvin Fuddow (Danny Mummert), the "boy genius" from next door, Dagwood takes his advice by opening the window behind him and climbing out, resulting from a passing policeman (Frank Sully) mistaking him for a burglar. After that's settled, Dagwood later plays football with Alexander and the neighborhood boys, coached by a college football star named Ted Scott (Ross Ford) who happens to be Alvin's cousin. As he is to make a forward pass, Dagwood knocks down both the postman (Eddie Acuff) and Mr. Radcliffe (Jerome Cowan), who happened to stop by, and Dagwood's day of rest by asking him to become his "dummy" in a big real estate deal. Naturally Dagwood obliges and naturally, and unwittingly, purchases worthless property from a couple of crooks, Ed Vance (Frank Jenks) and Bill Cooper (Chick Chandler). When Radcliffe learns of the blunder, instead of traditionally firing him, he has him demoted to office boy, thus, giving Dagwood's job and office to the overjoyed Ollie (Jack Rice). When Dagwood is unable to obtain real estate plans from Radcliffe's client, John Dixon (Paul Harvey), as a favor to Dagwood, Ted offers to get them. In doing so, Ted, mistaken for Dagwood Bumstead, meets Dixon's attractive daughter, Alice (Gay Nelson). When he finds Alice's jealous fiancé speaking harshly to her, Ted losing his temper and socks him into the swimming pool. Feeling he's cost Bumstead his job, Ted makes a hasty departure. Pleased from what has occurred, Dixon agrees in doing business with Radcliffe only after offering Bumstead his congratulations. Complications arise with Ted believed to be Dagwood; Mr. Dixon wanting Dagwood to show him his boxing technique; and the two crooks, discovering the property isn't worthless after all, wanting to get back the deed before Dagwood's discovers its worth. And what is Blondie's reward? Stay tuned to find out.

Others in the cast include Alyn Lockwood as Mary, the switchboard girl; Daisy, the Bumstead dog, and Chester Clute as LeRoy J. Blodget. While not as memorable as some of the better entries, it's easy to confuse BLONDIE'S REWARD with some of the other ones, especially its use of familiar faces as Paul Harvey, Frank Jenks and Chick Chandler, all having appeared in earlier segments, assuming different character roles this time around. Eddie Acuff resumes his portrayal as the doomed mailman who avoids getting run over by Dagwood during delivery time, a role he's acquired since LEAVE IT TO BLONDIE (1945). This time he's addressed as Mr. Johnson instead of Mr. Beasley. It appears that Edward Bernds, the screen writer, wasn't very consistent with his characters from one film to the next. He would assume the task as director for the duration of the series, with this, being the ninth and final under Abby Berlin.

Weak entry redeemed somewhat by its leading players familiar with both their characters and material, and Alvin's amusing finish involving barbells.

Formerly distributed on video cassette through Barr Entertainment (King Features), BLONDIE'S REWARD, along with 27 other films in the series, aired on American Movie Classics from 1996 to 2001. Next installment: BLONDIE'S BIG DEAL(1949) (**)

This is the twenty-third in the Blondie movie series. In this one, Dagwood is allowed to stay at home. He wants to relax but Blondie wants him to varnish the floor! Mr. Radcliffe arrives to take Dag to work to purchase a piece of land for him as a "dummy". (No, NOT the kind you usually think of but Mr. Bumstead fits that bill, of course!) There's also a visiting pro football player, some crooks who deal with Dag, and some boxing involved. The second entry in the series written by Edward Bernds, this was another very funny outing for him. And director Abby Berlin does wonders with the material cramming as much action as allowed. This would be his final contribution to the movie series though he'd return to the source material when helming the pilot of the TV version several years later. Bernds takes over with the next entry. So that's a high recommendation for Blondie's Reward. P.S. Eddie Acuff's postman finally gets a name here: He's Mr. Johnson.

Dagwood Bumstead is certainly not getting in solid with his new boss Jerome Cowan in Blondie's Reward. Cowan gives Arthur Lake a rare day off, but it's a working day off. He's sent to act as a dummy for Cowan who wants to buy a parcel of land.

But Lake proves he's a dummy in fact as well as name when he buys the wrong parcel from a pair of sharpies played by Frank Jenks and Chick Chandler. He's stuck with some swamp land that no one has any use for and Cowan has to keep on salary and not fire him in order that he pay back what he gave him to buy.

Young Ross Ford is also mistaken for Dagwood when he goes on an errand for him and punches out Myron Healey who is the prospective son-in-law of Cowan client Paul Harvey. But Cowan's daughter Gay Nelson likes what she sees and Harvey likes what he hears about as he didn't really like Healey anyway.

A combination of the Bumstead kids and neighbor Danny Mummert save the day for the Bumsteads and Penny Singleton puts things right for her man. As Blondie always does.

This is an amusing entry in the Blondie series.

While I did enjoy "Blondie's Reward" I am deducting a point for one grotesque scene where Alvin pretends to be mentally deficient. It's terribly acted and just gross.

The rest of the story is quite good. Dagwood is instructed to buy a valuable piece of property for his boss but instead buys some swampland from some crooks. Naturally Radcliffe is angry but instead of his usual (firing Dagwood) he demotes him. But, through a mix-up the demotion doesn't last long. Dagwood is supposed to pick up some papers from a client but a neighbor (a former pro footballer and All-American) does the errand for Dagwood. There, he encounters a brutish jerk who attacks a woman and then him...and the All- American ends up knocking the crap out of the jerk! Now you'd think going to a client's home and hitting someone would be a problem...but the client is thrilled...he hates the jerk and loves that Dagwood (or who he thinks is Dagwood) taught the guy a lesson on manners. What's next? Well, Dagwood has his old job back and all appears to be working out fine...until the ruse is discovered. What's next?? Well, A LOT!!!

Overall, despite the nasty scene I mentioned, a good installment of the series. Worth seeing, though it is certainly insensitive.