Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

BLACK ORCHID

Olga Edwardes, Ronald Howard
BLACK ORCHID (1953). Director: Charles Saunders.

Dr. John Winnington (Ronald Howard) has a terrible marriage to the attractive Sophie (Mary Laura Wood). Sophie's sister, Christine (Olga Edwardes), has always had a thing for her brother-in-law, and it turns out that those feelings are returned. Unfortunately John learns that even if he and Sophie are divorced, there is some obscure law that states that a man can't marry his (former) sister-in-law while the wife is alive. Naturally Sophie comes to a bad end ... Black Orchid is like the British equivalent of an especially cheap Republic second feature. A writer friend named Eric Blair is played by John Bentley, while Sheila Burrell [Paranoiac] enacts the role of the maid, Annette. Black Orchid has a running time of less than an hour, but the average episode of Perry Mason is much more entertaining. The whole thing is like a TV production in any case. The actors in this are especially obscure. Charles Saunders also directed Womaneater.

Verdict: Forgettable. **.

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