THE FILM
FILM DIRECTOR: Robert Aldrich
SCREENWRITER: Leon Griffiths
FILM STARS: Kim Darby, Scott Wilson, Tony Musante, Robert Lansing, Irene Dailey, Connie Stevens, Wesley Addy, Joey Faye, Ralph Waite
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: James Hadley Chase
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Panther
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1972
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR:
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1939
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: No Orchids for Miss Blandish
NOTES
GENRE: Crime
WORDS: I saw the film many moons ago (1989). I have only seen it once. I like Aldrich so I would have liked it. but then, why have I seen it only once? I don’t recall exactly. I do recall I wanted more “star power” in it, even though the cast are good.
I haven’t read the book (his first) by prolific English crime writer James Hadley Chase. His novel was was heavily “indebted” to William Faulkner’s “Sanctuary” (1931) for its plot line. Now, that I have read (all Faulkner is good). Chase’s book was criticized at the time for it’s violence and luridness (as were both film versions later) as was Faulkner’s book in 1931.
The Chase novel was previously filmed under the original book title in England in 1948, and set at that time though the book and the film are set in New York circa 1939. Aldrich’s “Grissom Gang” is set in Mississippi in 1931 (Mississippi native Faulkner’s 1931 book is set in Missouri, in 1929). Confused?
Why the change in time and place? Perhaps the film recognises the Faulkner influence on Chase or perhaps it was just a coincidence. The 1931 setting of the film buys into the wave of late 1930s gangster crime films in the wake of “Bonnie and Clyde (1967) … and there were many.
LINKS
TRAILER
Orwell wrote an essay about the decline of the English murder in literature, juxtaposing No Orchids for Miss Blandish with Raffles and Sherlock Holmes. He made an interesting case that the former ( which was considered to be semipornographic) mirrored the rise of fascism.
Are you going to do any of the classic private eye movies like The Maltese Falcon?
Orwell would! Though I can see what he is saying. The American pulp PI’s / gumshoes tended to be violent reactionary types. “Maltese Falcon” … I am unlikely to post unless I can find a movie tie on it. A pity as I have read it, and “Red Harvest” and “The Thin Man” by Hammett and, of course they are great, and not at all similar to the reactionary thick ears that came later. There is room for both.