Monday 19 March 2018

Freeview film of the day : monday 19th of March

Blanche Fury (1948 94mins.) [Talking Pictures TV 7.45pm]

A penniless governess is invited to stay with a wealthy relative, where she hopes to secure her future and take over the estate by marrying her infatuated cousin. However, her secret romance with a stablehand has tragic consequences for all concerned.

Drama, starring Valerie Hobson, Michael Gough, Stewart Granger and Walter Fitzgerald.

A great example of a sub-genre of film that fell out of favour in the 1960s and is now largely overlooked by viewers and most film makers and historians (the work of Todd Haynes being an important exception.)

Dismissed as 'melodramas' or (worse still) 'women's pictures' these small-scale domestic dramas actually had a lot to say about contemporary society and morals : in the hands of a genre master (especially George Cukor and Douglas Sirk) they could be as gripping and engaging as any crime thriller or action adventure.

Blanche Fury is a taut and atmospheric thriller with a superb cast headed by the neglected Valerie Hobson and the masterful Stewart Granger - it's writer and director is the Swiss born Marc Allégret, making a rare excursion into English language film making, and he brings a certain Continental flair and style to the work.

A brooding and claustrophobic film that certainly deserves a wider audience.

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