Blonde Fever

If you like Gloria Graham, you'll want to check out the silly comedy Blonde Fever. If you don't like her, you'll want to avoid it, since she's the lead and her cutesy persona is on full display. She's a waitress in a small hotel, interested in her boss, Philip Dorn, only after she finds out he's won the lottery. Philip is already married to Mary Astor, who unfortunately has very little screen time. Gloria's boyfriend, Marshall Thompson is young and gawky, and Gloria flocks to Philip's age and inexperience-even though he has very little experience winning the lottery and cheating on his wife.

Felix Bressart is the headwaiter of the hotel's restaurant, and while he doesn't have much of a character, he's the one everyone in the movie comes to for advice. Gloria's very cute, but I think Felix is cuter, so I'll watch anything he's in. This isn't a movie I'll want to watch again, since the story isn't that great and the performances are a bit lacking, but if you like Gloria, you'll probably enjoy it.

I made it a point to watch this film because I read that it was Gloria Grahame's first film and I am a huge Grahame fan. Like most people I am most familiar with her work in the noir genre. I had assumed that "It's a Wonderful Life "was her first film, since that is where she actually garnered her first public attention, but clearly I was wrong. At any rate it wasn't bad for a first effort from her.

Mary Astor is good as the long suffering wife of a philandering husband with a gambling problem as well. Astor always rose above whatever material she was given and here is no exception. This film is lightweight wartime fluff. I would think that most people forgot about it the minute they left the theater.

Marshall Thompson, who is also making his film debut is appropriately goofy and yet charming as the boyfriend competing for the wandering attentions of Ms. Grahame's Sally.

Phillip Dorn is not an actor I'm that familiar with, but he's okay here as the husband , Mr.Donay, with the wandering eye (and lips, hands, etc.).

This is no masterpiece of fine film craftsmanship, but it is harmless if dated, as most women today wouldn't put up with Mr.Donay's nonsense and Ms. Grahame's character would have been looking for another job.

One other thing. People always talk about what a superior studio MGM was, but realistically they put out as much junk as the others. The difference was that they spent a ton of money on their huge musicals and big star vehicles, but their "B" pictures were as crappy as everybody else's.

Mary Astor, operator of a dude ranch near Reno and wedded to a feckless husband who has had problems with "other women" and gambling in the past, battles with golddigger in training Gloria Grahame, whose interest in suave hubby increases when she learns he's just won $40,000 on a lottery ticket. Will husband realize he should stick with stalwart Mary, or, being smitten with BLONDE FEVER, will he run off with the scheming Ms. Grahame?

While this movie has the plot (and the female cast) for a heckuva a mid-40s soap opera, this one is played as comedy. Alas. With the men playing their parts as broadly as possible, a lot of the result is painful. Nevertheless, Gloria Grahame, not yet a noir heroine, plays her not very nice role well enough, and Mary Astor, in one fairly long dramatic scene when she finally gets fed up with her worthless husband, demonstrates just how well she can act, if given the right part. Shame on MGM for sticking her with all those Mother roles.

Philip Dorn and Mary Astor are a couple running a pricey roadhouse. Marshall Thompson and Gloria Grahame (in her screen debut) work for them and hope to get married. Then Dorn wins $40,000 in a sweepstakes, develops a passion for Miss Grahame, and she for him.

On paper it looks like a good set-up, with credited writers like Ferenc Molnar and George Oppenheimer. On the screen, alas, it works only intermittently, when Felix Bressart is speaking as the mlld-mannered bartender, and there are occasional sparks of witty dialogue between Dorn and Miss Astor. Otherwise, it's another Code-compliant, sexless sex comedy, with most of its budget spent pre-production, musical cues are lifted from the Andy Hardy series, and the main pleasure is playing spot-the-players in the crowd. Yes, that's Elisabeth Risdon on a motorcycle on the start. Yes, that's Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy at a table. It's not that there are any issues with the production. It's that there's no real issue in the movie, and we know from the beginning that everything will turn out all right.

Philip Dorn plays Peter Donay, a co-owner of a very fancy restaurant. However, his wife (the other owner) realizes she's married to a handsome pig. Throughout the film, Peter tries to have his way with the pretty young waitress, Sally (Gloria Graham)...and his wife (Mary Astor) knows her hubby is a philanderer. But instead of divorcing him or even confronting him about this, she tries to manipulate Sally's young boyfriend into coming between her and Peter.

The film is supposed to be funny, though at least for me this was a tough order, as I just kept thinking Peter was a jerk and his wife way too longsuffering. Perhaps such a guy might have been seen as funny back in 1944, but today I think most viewers would just dislike him too much to make this a film to recommend to others. The film does have some good acting and the nice MGM polish....but the story just doesn't work out well due to the script.