Blonde Fever

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.