Cheating Blondes

According to IMDB, "Cheating Blondes" was originally 66 minutes long. However, the version I found on YouTube was only 49...meaning that it appears as if someone sliced out 15 minutes of the film....nearly a quarter of the film! So, keep this in mind as you read, as a complete copy of "Cheating Blondes" might just be a better or worse movie.

Early in the story, Ann Merrick (Thelma Todd) is attacked by a man bent on raping her. A shot rang out...and the guy is dead (good riddance). But in the confusion, Ann disappears and then re-appears some time later, pretending to be Ann's identical twin, Elaine. This is a pretty silly gimmick, that's for sure.

So is it any good? Well, it's always nice to see Thelma Todd in a movie, but the goofy plot idea to me seems awfully hard to believe. Still, it's not a bad time-passer AND you get to see Miss Todd dressed up as a giant butterfly!

Thelma Todd is a poor girl who is a prime suspect in a murder case. She decides to hide out as her show-girl twin sister who changed her name and has now dropped out of sight. Reporter Ralf Harolde, who proposed to her and was turned down, tries to prove it's actually the sister the police wants. Earl McCarthy, rich young millionaire, wants to marry Miss Todd. But which one?

There are some issues, like what happened to the other sister. They are actually dealt with. Considering this is a Larry Darmour production, it's actually a nice little drama. The only question I have is why he cast it with skilled comedians like Inez Courtney, Mae Busch, and Brooks Benedict... who offer decent performances for director Joseph Levering in his last non-western. It hasn't got much of anything in production values, but Miss Todd, as always, is worth looking at.