No Orchids for Miss Blandish | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | St John Legh Clowes |
Written by | St John Legh Clowes |
Screenplay by | St John L. Clowes |
Story by | James Hadley Chase Robert Nesbitt 1942 (play) |
Based on | 1939 book by James Hadley Chase |
Produced by | St John Legh Clowes |
Starring | Jack La Rue Hugh McDermott Linden Travers Walter Crisham |
Cinematography | Gerald Gibbs |
Edited by | Manuel del Campo |
Music by | George Melachrino |
Production company | Tudor-Alliance |
Distributed by | Renown Pictures Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $800,000 [1] |
No Orchids for Miss Blandish (US re-release title Black Dice) 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. [2] [3] It stars Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, and Linden Travers (reprising her title role from the West End play by Chase and Robert Nesbitt), with unbilled early appearances from Sid James, as a barman, [4] and Walter Gotell, as a nightclub doorman. Due to the film's strong violence and sexual content for its time, amongst other reasons, several critics have called it one of the worst films ever made.
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 Riley (Richard Nielson) kills her bridegroom, Foster Harvey after Harvey had just knocked down Riley, dislodging his gun. Bailey then knocks out Miss Blandish. While Bailey and Riley put Miss Blandish into the car, Johnny picks up Riley's discarded gun, shooting Riley dead. Bailey shoots Johnny dead from his driver's seat. Bailey drives away with Miss Blandish, leaving two dead bodies in his wake. Bailey meets up with two members of the Grisson gang. The three would-be robbers decide to kidnap Miss Blandish for ransom instead (her father is worth $100 million).
The three original kidnappers are killed, and Blandish ends up the captive of the Grisson gang. Her father puts a private detective on the case. The Grisson gang, led by Ma Grisson (Lilli Molnar), 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 off together.
Blandish sends the diamonds to her father with a note saying she is in love with Slim, but he refuses to believe it. 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. She throws herself from her balcony over the loss of Slim.
Phillips wrote that "It is a matter of record that [the source novel] was heavily indebted to Sanctuary for its plot line." [6]
Jane Russell was sought for the leading role. [7] The part was eventually played by Linden Travers.
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]
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]
The film caused enormous controversy upon its release, because of the high levels of violence that had got past 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] Despite this condemnation, the film was commercially successful. [12]
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]
The film broke box office records in Britain in territories where it was not banned. [19]
Another film based on the novel is The Grissom Gang by Robert Aldrich (1971).
Sanctuary is a 1931 novel by American author William Faulkner about the rape and abduction of an upper-class Mississippi college girl, Temple Drake, during the Prohibition era. The novel was Faulkner's commercial and critical breakthrough and established his literary reputation, but was controversial given its themes. It is said Faulkner claimed it was a "potboiler", written purely for profit, but this has been debated by scholars and Faulkner's own friends.
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.
Ronald Leigh-Hunt was a British film and television actor.
La Chair de l'orchidée is a 1975 film by Patrice Chéreau as his directorial debut, adapted by him and by Jean-Claude Carrière from the 1948 book The Flesh of the Orchid by British writer James Hadley Chase, "a pulp-novel sequel to No Orchids for Miss Blandish" (1939). The film stars Charlotte Rampling, Simone Signoret, Bruno Cremer, Edwige Feuillère and, in a cameo, Alida Valli.
Florence Lindon-Travers, known professionally as Linden Travers, was a British actress.
Murders in the Rue Morgue is a 1932 American horror film directed by Robert Florey, based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1841 short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". The plot is about Doctor Mirakle, a carnival sideshow entertainer and scientist who kidnaps Parisian women to mix their blood with that of his gorilla, Erik. As his experiments fail because of the quality of his victims' blood, Mirakle meets with Camille L'Espanye, and has her kidnapped and her mother murdered, leading to suspicion falling on Camille's fiance, Pierre Dupin, a medical student who has already become interested in the earlier murders.
Jack La Rue was an American film and stage actor.
The Story of Temple Drake is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Stephen Roberts and starring Miriam Hopkins and Jack La Rue. It tells the story of Temple Drake, a reckless woman in the American South who falls into the hands of a brutal gangster and rapist. It was adapted from the highly controversial 1931 novel Sanctuary by William Faulkner. Though some of the more salacious elements of the source novel were not included, the film was still considered so indecent that it helped give rise to the strict enforcement of the Hays Code.
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 Bad Lord Byron is a 1949 British historical drama film about the life of Lord Byron. It was directed by David MacDonald and starred Dennis Price as Byron with Mai Zetterling, Linden Travers and Joan Greenwood.
Danny Green was an English character actor. He was best known for his role as the slow-witted ex-boxer "One-Round" Lawson in The Ladykillers.
Charles Goldner was an Austrian-born actor who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s. Born in Vienna, Austria, on 7 December 1900, he made his screen debut in the 1940 film Room for Two and went on to appear in Brighton Rock, No Orchids for Miss Blandish, Bond Street and The Captain's Paradise. His stage work included starring in the 1954 Broadway musical The Girl in Pink Tights. He died on 15 April 1955 in London, England.
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.
Minnie Malinda "Nan" Braunton was a British actress who had a prolific stage career during the 1930s and 1940s but who is best remembered for playing Cissy Godfrey in the BBC comedy Dad's Army.
Phantom Raiders is a 1940 film, the second in the series starring Walter Pidgeon as detective Nick Carter. The film was part of a movie trilogy based on original stories featuring the character from the long-running Nick Carter, Detective literary series. In the heightened tensions prior to World War II, Hollywood produced many films in the spy film genre such as Phantom Raiders.
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. It ran for 203 performances at the Prince of Wales Theatre in the West End.
Nicole Rischmann, better known by her stage name of Nicole Riche, was a French stage and film actress.
James George Minter, was a British film producer and screenwriter born in Islington, London. He established the company Renown Pictures.
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.
The Censors in London have asked the producers...