Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

BLONDE-IN-BONDAGE

Mark Miller and Anita Thallaug
BLONDE-IN-BONDAGE aka Blonde in Bondage and Blondin i fara/1957). Director: Robert Brandt.

Larry Brand (Mark Miller), an American reporter, is sent to Sweden by his editor to do a story on the country's morals. While there he meets one beautiful woman after another, including Laila (Ruth Johansson) and Mona (Anita Thallaug), who sings -- more than once -- a terrible song called "Shock Around the Clock" and does a little strip tease. Mona is an addict who is fed drugs by her dealer boyfriend and manager, Max (Lars Ekborg), who gets nasty when Larry does his best to get Mona away from him and comes afoul of the drug gang. One good scene has Larry thrown unconscious on to a railroad track and nearly fricasseed. There's also a cat fight between two hookers and a chase-climax in a fun house. The Swedish locations are good, the music is terrible, the acting is adequate and then some, and Miller is okay enough as the hero. The actor who makes the most vivid impression is the talented Ekborg as Max. This is a Swedish film but it doesn't appear to be dubbed. Miller is probably best known for the TV sitcom version of Please Don't Eat the Daises. Ultimately this is rather boring despite all the goings-on.

Verdict: Not exactly a gift from Sweden. **.

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