Suspense, Noir on Ice

Belita! Euro-babe!  The sultry blonde figure skater competed at the Olympic Games in 1936. Prettier than Sonja Henie, this babe also began making pictures in Hollywood.  Many of her roles were as a figure skater or dancer.  Then in 1946, she was cast as the lead in the Film Noir suspense yarn... "Suspense." The film centers around her figure skating, murder, adultery, femme fatales, and she will be put in great danger of being shredded by a weird knife contraption as she graces an audience with her skating.  This grim and dark feature betrays her beauty and grace on the ice, but you will spend most of this film fixated on her legs.  Directed by Frank Tuttle, 1946's "Suspense."

A drifter hits town. He's tall, dark and handsome and needs a job. Joe (Barry Sullivan) is also dangerous.  We sense this but don't know why...yet. The head of a carnival, Frank (Albert Dekker) gives him a job selling peanuts at the carnival's main attraction, an ice show featuring Roberta Elva (Belita). Joe watches the show as he hocks peanuts and is entranced by Roberta's beauty...as are we.  He makes a move for her but cold water is thrown on it as he finds out Roberta is married to the wealthy Frank. Joe gets smart and smooth talks Frank to promoting him.  Soon, Joe is Frank's number one guy in running the show. He even comes up with a weird idea for Roberta on the ice.  Skate and jump through a hoop of long knives.  An inch off, either way, and Roberta will be shredded. Roberta, very confident, likes the idea and it is incorporated in her act.  Her routines are uber erotic and seduce anyone withing 100 miles of the ice arena.

Joe gets aggressive and plants kisses on Roberta.  She slaps him...at first.  Then she likes him.  Now Frank senses his wife and Joe are getting too close...he's right.  He takes his sultry blonde wife to the mountains and guess who follows? Yep, Joe...and three is a crowd.  Three also proves to be deadly as Joe believes he has cleared the path for him to snare Roberta. Now Roberta begins fearing Joe, but Joe has her.  Frank?  You'll see.  Uh oh...Joe's past comes knocking in the form of an ex-girlfriend, the sultry Ronnie (Bonita Granville).  She's hot and has the goods on Joe.  She will do anything to get Joe back and now knows about the lovely skater.  Ronnie gets more aggressive.  Joe gets more aggressive.  Roberta gets smart and imperiled even more. Murder abounds.  Oh, that knife contraption? You'll see.

Will Ronnie engage in a steamy catfight with the blonde figure skater?  Will Roberta be shredded in her performance prop? Does Joe have a shot at survival now that two hot blondes are looking at him in disfavor?  This is an erotic and vicious thriller. Belita's skating routines will cause you to sweat and want to buy tickets for "The Ice Capades."  By the way, "Ice Capades" was Belita's first film. See "Suspense" and be warned, hot blondes in these Film Noir films spell death!