Beware of Blondie

The cycle of Saturday Morning Blondie (a 1940s series from the comic strip) has run its course again today on one of the movie channels.

The film is somewhat of a lackluster if painless effort. We also see the neighbors, who in the strips these days are friends of the Bumsteads. Now, they are not that friendly. The films did not have them before. The neighborhood know-it-all is a familiar face.

Beware of Blonde involves Dagwood (who someone notes has the most seniority) in charge of the office while Mr. Dithers is on vacation. Dithers has not been present in recent entries, having sold the company. He is barely present here (on the phone, his face not shown; the usual actor wasn't involved). 

I only watched a little bit of the last film. One summary on TCM talks about the company being restructured somehow. Maybe they explained how Mr. Dithers came back as an owner. It is taken for granted here that there is nothing special going on. Anyway, as usual, it's ridiculous that whoever owns the company gives the guy any real responsibility. He is obviously a doofus, even if there is evidence he is good at draftsmanship.

Anyway, the typical concept of these films is that various subplots tie up at the end. This is not really what happens here. He is tired on his first day as a temporary boss because he is up doing taxes. This does lead to an amusing final bit involving the postman, which makes for a nice consistency to end the series.  But, it really doesn't matter much.

We do have another case of Blondie being jealous because he is somehow involved with a pretty woman, here a con who for some reason latches on Dithers construction company. She sees an opportunity when Dagwood stupidly talks about the signed checks he was given. But, I'm not sure why she was around in the first place. His being tired really plays no role. He has confused people when given the responsibility to do deals regularly. 

Anyway, as with the boss trusting the doofus, Blondie knows he is loyal. Her being jealous continuously (it pops up in the very first film) makes her look idiotic.  The plot itself, as I noted, is basically linear. He bumbles some, he has a somewhat amusing dream about being convicted for fraud (he gives a check to pay off the supposed angry husband of the woman), and so on. 

The way he is saved is also tacked on. The better films balance the subplots and one is involved with the others. For instance, Blondie starts a bakery business and the goofy guy she befriends turns out to be the president of an important client. How does he get out of this one? It turns out that Dithers accidentally gave him checks from a defunct bank account. 

The two con artists had at this point fled town. So, basically other than wasting their time, they should get off easily too unless the guy they have to cash the check somehow messes things up. Anyway, if that happens, it's off-screen. The plan was for the Bumsteads to mortgage their house to get the money (a sizable $5000 for 1950), but not necessary.  

Anyway, Arthur Lake (Dagwood) later played the doofus in a short-lived television series. Penny Singleton (Blondie) was the voice of Jane Jetson.