The fabulous Mary Astor is the one saving element of this light romantic comedy that has a weak script and story, if not some good character performances, lacking sympathy for the leading man Philip Dorn (aka Mr Joan Crawford 1944) and providing newcomer Gloria Grahame (sans cheek fillers) with an unsympathetic nymphet character that no one will root for. Astor and Dorn own a dude ranch where Graham works as a cigarette girl and when Dorn wins the lottery, she turns her back on dishwasher fiance Marshall Thompson and makes an indiscreet pass at him. It's up to ask her to keep her head to try and make this marriage work, but with a serial philanderer like Dorn, is it really worth it?
This has his charming moments, thanks to the presence of Astor, witty chef Felix Bressart, Astor's lively society matron friend Elisabeth Risdon and cameos by Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy as a couple arguing at their dining table. Risdon, best known for playing the nagging aunt in the "Mexican Spitfire" series, is very funny, being revealed to be Thompson's passenger on the back of his motorbike, and speaking in hep lingo and offering advice one wouldn't normally expect from a society matron. If it wasn't for these few elements, I would have to rank blonde fever closer to a bomb because it's leading male and antagonist female are just simply too one-dimensional to be likeable.
This has his charming moments, thanks to the presence of Astor, witty chef Felix Bressart, Astor's lively society matron friend Elisabeth Risdon and cameos by Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy as a couple arguing at their dining table. Risdon, best known for playing the nagging aunt in the "Mexican Spitfire" series, is very funny, being revealed to be Thompson's passenger on the back of his motorbike, and speaking in hep lingo and offering advice one wouldn't normally expect from a society matron. If it wasn't for these few elements, I would have to rank blonde fever closer to a bomb because it's leading male and antagonist female are just simply too one-dimensional to be likeable.