No Orchids for Miss Blandish is a 1942 British stage adaptation by James Hadley Chase and Robert Nesbitt of Chase's 1939 novel of the same name. [1] It ran for 203 performances at the Prince of Wales Theatre in the West End. [1]
The play starred Robert Newton as Slim Grisson, Mary Clare as Ma Grisson, and Linden Travers, [1] who reprised her role as Miss Blandish in the 1948 film adaptation. [2] The stage version was well received, [3] particularly in comparison to the film, which was widely denounced as salacious due to the film's portrayal of violence and sexuality. [4]
The story, set in Kansas City, follows the wealthy American Miss Blandish who is kidnapped after a failed robbery, during which her fiance is killed. Her initial captors are subsequently killed during a run-in with another gang, led by Ma Grisson and her son, Slim. Ma sexually molests Miss Blandish and plans to kill her after extorting a ransom from her family. However, Slim opposes his mother's plan as he has fallen in love with Miss Blandish and she subsequently falls in love with Slim. The Blandish family secretary, Mr. Lucie, hires the private detective Dave Fenner to help rescue Miss Blandish. After the bloody rescue attempt, in which Slim is killed, Miss Blandish commits suicide.
In 1950, a French adaptation was presented in Paris starring Nicole Riche, Jean-Marc Tennberg, Renée Gardes and Sacha Tarride, which a review in Carrefour called a masterpiece. [1] Riche disappeared between acts of one of the performances which was canceled and the audience was given their money back. [5] A letter was found in her dressing room condemning her of appearing in an "immoral" production. She appeared two days later stating that she had been kidnapped, released and was found by gypsies in a wood. [1] The story was dismissed by the police as "poppycock" and was seen as an attempt to promote press coverage about the play. [6]
In a 1978 revival in Glasgow, Pierce Brosnan played the role of Eddie, one of the goons. [1]
Melanie Richards Griffith is an American actress. Born in Manhattan to actress Tippi Hedren, she was raised mainly in Los Angeles, where she graduated from the Hollywood Professional School at age 16. In 1975, 17-year-old Griffith appeared opposite Gene Hackman in Arthur Penn's neo-noir film Night Moves. She later rose to prominence as an actor in films such as Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984), which earned her a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. Griffith's subsequent performance in the comedy Something Wild (1986) attracted critical acclaim before she was cast in 1988's Working Girl, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won her a Golden Globe.
Kate Barker, better known as Ma Barker, was the mother of several American criminals who ran the Barker–Karpis Gang during the "public enemy era" when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the Midwestern United States gripped the American people and press. She traveled with her sons during their criminal careers.
The Moving Finger is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the USA by Dodd, Mead and Company in July 1942 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1943. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence.
A Murder Is Announced is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1950 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in the same month. The UK edition sold for eight shillings and sixpence (8/6) and the US edition at $2.50.
They Do It with Mirrors is a detective fiction novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1952 under the title of Murder with Mirrors and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 17 November that year under Christie's original title. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6). The book features her detective Miss Marple.
James Hadley Chase was an English writer. While his birth name was René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, he was well known by his various pseudonyms, including James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Raymond Marshall, R. Raymond, and Ambrose Grant. He was one of the best known thriller writers of all time. The canon of Chase, comprising 90 titles, earned him a reputation as the king of thriller writers in Europe. He was also one of the internationally best-selling authors, and to date 50 of his books have been made into films.
Poirot Investigates is a short story collection written by English author Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in March 1924. In the eleven stories, famed eccentric detective Hercule Poirot solves a variety of mysteries involving greed, jealousy, and revenge. The American version of this book, published by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1925, featured a further three stories. The UK first edition featured an illustration of Poirot on the dust jacket by W. Smithson Broadhead, reprinted from the 21 March 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.
Florence Lindon-Travers, known professionally as Linden Travers, was a British actress.
Vesper Lynd is a fictional character featured in Ian Fleming's 1953 James Bond novel Casino Royale. She was portrayed by Ursula Andress in the 1967 James Bond parody, which is only slightly based on the novel, and by Eva Green in the 2006 film adaptation.
Annie is a 1982 American musical comedy-drama film based on the 1977 Broadway musical of the same name by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan, which in turn is based on the Little Orphan Annie comic strip created by Harold Gray. Directed by John Huston and written by Carol Sobieski, the cast includes Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Ann Reinking, Tim Curry, Geoffrey Holder, Edward Herrmann, with Aileen Quinn as the title character. It is the first film adaptation of the musical.
The Grissom Gang is a 1971 American crime neo noir directed and produced by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by Leon Griffiths. The film is the second adaptation of the 1939 novel No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase; a previous version had been made in Britain in 1948. The cast includes Kim Darby, Scott Wilson, Tony Musante, Robert Lansing, Irene Dailey, Connie Stevens, Wesley Addy, Joey Faye and Ralph Waite.
The Chalk Circle, by Li Qianfu, is a Yuan dynasty (1259–1368) Chinese classical zaju verse play and gong'an crime drama, in four acts with a prologue. It was preserved in a collection entitled Yuan-chu-po-cheng, or The Hundred Pieces. The Chinese language original is known for the beauty of its lyrical verse, and considered a Yuan masterpiece; a series of translations and revisions inspired several popular modern plays.
No Orchids for Miss Blandish is a 1948 British gangster film adapted and directed by St. John Legh Clowes from the 1939 novel of the same name by James Hadley Chase. It stars Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, and Linden Travers, with unbilled early appearances from Sid James, as a barman, and Walter Gotell, as a nightclub doorman.
No Orchids for Miss Blandish is a 1939 crime novel by the British writer James Hadley Chase. It was a critical and commercial success upon release, though it also provoked considerable controversy due to its explicit depiction of sexuality and violence. In 1942, the novel was adapted into a stage play and in 1948 it became a British film. The novel became particularly popular with British servicemen during World War II.
No Orchids for Miss Blandish may refer to:
Listen Lester is a 1924 black-and-white silent film drama/comedy film directed by William A. Seiter, with a screen adaptation by Lewis Milestone and William A. Seiter, based upon the 1918 stage play of the same name. Released by Universal Pictures on May 20, 1924, the film stars Louise Fazenda and Harry Myers.
Kulin Kanta is Indian cinema's 1925 crime thriller silent film directed by Homi Master. Based on a true incident the Bawla murder case, Kulin Kanta featured the story of the Maharaja Holkar of Indore and a dancing girl who wanted to escape from the harem. The film starred the "macho hero" Khalil cited as Indian cinema's "first ever star" in the role of the "lecherous Maharaja". The director of photography was G. K. Gokhale, with story written by Mohanlal G. Dave.
Nicole Rischmann, better known by her stage name of Nicole Riche, was a French stage and film actress.
Popeye is a character in William Faulkner's 1931 novel Sanctuary. He is a Memphis, Tennessee-based criminal who rapes Temple Drake and introduces her into a criminal world which corrupts her.
The Flesh of the Orchid is a 1948 thriller novel by British author James Hadley Chase. It is a sequel to the book No Orchids for Miss Blandish by the same author.