Due to the film's strong implied violence and sexual content for its time, amongst other reasons, British critics called it one of the worst films ever made.
Plot
Miss Blandish (Linden Travers), a sheltered heiress, is targeted for a simple robbery by a cheap thug who ultimately involves two groups of rival gangsters, their goal being her diamond jewelry worth $100,000. The robbery is botched when one of the robbers, Riley (Richard Nielson), is knocked down by her bridegroom, Foster Harvey, and the resulting shooting spree leaves Harvey and some of the assailants dead. The surviving robber (Bailey), drives away with Miss Blandish, leaving the dead bodies behind. Bailey meets up with two members of the Grisson gang and they decide to keep hold of Miss Blandish for ransom instead (her father is worth $100 million).
She ends up the captive of the Grisson gang and her father puts a private detective on the case. Ma Grisson (Lilli Molnar) who leads the gang, intends to collect the ransom and kill Blandish rather than take the risk of releasing her. Meanwhile, Slim Grisson (Jack La Rue) and Blandish fall in love and plan on running away together.
Blandish sends the diamonds to her father with a note saying she is in love with Slim, but he refuses to believe it. Meanwhile, Ma Grisson is shot by rival gangsters when she cannot get Slim to the phone. The police surround the cabin where Slim and Miss Blandish are holed up and gun Slim down, "rescuing" the kidnap victim and returning her safely home. Afterwards, she throws herself from her balcony over the loss of Slim.
The film was meant to be the first of eight films shot in Britain that were set in America. James Minter was the executive behind the idea.[8]
Censorship
The British Board of Film Censors requested that a 45-second kiss be reduced to 20 seconds. They also requested a scene be reshot where a character was beaten to death, which cost the producers GBP £3,000.[9]
Reception
The film caused enormous controversy upon its release, because of the high levels of implied violence and rape that were passed by the British film censors. Though made with a largely British cast, it was set in New York, with the actors often struggling with their American accents.[10]
No Orchids for Miss Blandish received strong criticism for its treatment of violence and sexuality.[11] Cliff Goodwin says that it was "unanimously dubbed 'the worst film ever made'" by British reviewers.[4] The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "the most sickening exhibition of brutality, perversion, sex and sadism ever to be shown on a cinema screen". The Observer reviewer, C.A. Lejeune, described the film as "this repellent piece of work" that "scraped up all the droppings of the nastier type of Hollywood movie".[12]The Sunday Express film reviewer called No Orchids for Miss Blandish "the worst film I have ever seen".[13] The British film critic Derek Winnert quotes reviewer Dilys Powell as writing that the film should be ‘branded with a "D" certificate for disgusting’.[14] The Australian newspaper The Age also gave a harsh review: "No Orchids for Miss Blandish is not only a disgrace to the studio that made it, but it also reflects on the British industry as a whole...the entire production is unpardonable".[15] The film was also denounced by the Bishop of London, William Wand, and several UK politicians, including Edith Summerskill.[16]
Later critics have been equally dismissive, though for different reasons. Leslie Halliwell described No Orchids for Miss Blandish as a "hilariously awful gangster film...one of the worst films ever made".[13]Leonard Maltin in Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide states No Orchids for Miss Blandish "aspires to be a Hollywood film noir and misses by a mile".[17]
A number of cinemas refused to show the film.[18] Despite (or because) of the condemnation, the film was commercially successful[19] and broke box office records in Britain in areas where it was not banned.[20]
In 2018, a Blu-ray edition of the film was released by Kino Lorber, providing an improved picture and audio quality, though without significant extras beyond the original trailers.[21]
12Cliff Goodwin, Sid James: A Biography. Random House, 2011 ISBN0753546825, (p. 67-68).
12Phillips, Gene D. (Summer 1973). "Faulkner And The Film: The Two Versions Of "Sanctuary"". Literature/Film Quarterly. 1 (2). Salisbury University: 263–273. JSTOR43795435. - Cited: p. 273.
↑Phillips, Gene D. (Summer 1973). "Faulkner And The Film: The Two Versions Of "Sanctuary"". Literature/Film Quarterly. 1 (2). Salisbury University: 263–273. JSTOR43795435. - Cited: p. 271, 273.
↑"FILM FLASHES". Truth. No.2989. Sydney. 4 May 1947. p.55. Retrieved 11 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
↑"U.S. FILMS MADE IN U.K."The Mail. Vol.36, no.1, 867. Adelaide. 13 March 1948. p.8. Retrieved 11 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
↑"BITS AND PIECES". Warwick Daily News. No.8935. Queensland, Australia. 24 March 1948. p.2. Retrieved 11 September 2017– via National Library of Australia. The Censors in London have asked the producers...
↑Motion Picture Exhibitor review; 14 March 1951, page 3042
↑"Outrage: No Orchids for Miss Blandish" by Brian McFarlane in British Crime Cinema, edited by Steve Chibnall, Robert Murphy. Routledge, 1999. ISBN0-415-16870-8 (pg. 37-50).
↑"The Chiel's Film Review". The Age, 27 November 1948 (p. 5).
↑The British Board of Film Censors: film censorship in Britain, 1896–1950. James Crighton Robertson. Taylor & Francis, 1985, ISBN0-7099-2270-1 (p.174-5)
↑Maltin, Leonard (2011), Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide: From The Silent Era Through 1965 (Second Edition). Penguin, ISBN0452295777 (pg. 474).
↑"Outrage: No Orchids for Miss Blandish" by Brian McFarlane in British Crime Cinema, edited by Steve Chibnall, Robert Murphy. Routledge, 1999. ISBN0-415-16870-8 (pg. 37-50).
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