Black Orchid

Dedicated research doctor has unhappy selfish wife. Sister of wife comes to visit and her and doctor were fated for each other. Wife gets divorce --and the plot's key is revealed : there is a law where a man cannot marry a wife's sister while wife still alive.

Wife is poisoned husband accused and condemned to death. Sister and husband's friend solve the murder.

Mind you all this happens in less than an hour so the action is fast.

The wife is far prettier than the sister thus seems somewhat miscast. You find yourself wanting to see more of her and less of the sister.

One reviewer called it a quota film....sounds reasonable. Grade B on the Hollywood scale...maybe even a C.

Still OK, if you are bored with little time.

RECOMMEND

This short, engaging mystery has more in common with television episodes than it does with full-fledged, intricate movie mysteries. The characters are fairly one-dimensional, so we can dispense with character development and move the plot along. There are a couple of red herrings along the way before the true killer is revealed at the end.

It's the usual made-for-TV plot: man is torn between shrewish, manipulative wife and her cute, kindly sister. Wife is killed, husband is blamed; sister and best friend must find the killer because the police won't look beyond the most obvious evidence.

Interesting trivia note: the "best friend" is an author named Eric Blair. Was this name chosen as a joke? "Eric Blair" was the real name of the author we know as George Orwell.

Ronald Howard stars in "Black Orchid," also starring Olga Edwards, Mary Laura Wood, and Sheila Burrell. Howard is a successful doctor in an unhappy marriage who wants to divorce his wife and marry her sister. Under British law, this is not possible unless his wife happens to be dead. You can guess the rest.

Howard at some angles and certainly in his mannerisms resembles his famous father. He gives a smooth performance, but one not particularly filled with emotion. The meatier roles go to Sheila Burrell as his wife's loyal maid, and Mary Laura Wood as the cold wife.

This is one of those short British cheapies, which I happen to like for some reason. They're always very familiar, and it's like sitting down with an old friend. And I did want to see Ronald Howard, best known for his Sherlock Holmes.

These movies, and there are hundreds of them, are all of a piece. If you've seen one, you've seen all of them.

Research doctor Ronald Howard and his wife, Mary Laura Wood, are not getting along. Her sister, Olga Edwardes has his affection and Miss Wood bitterly accedes to a divorce... noting, when all is done, that the law prevents them from marrying while she lives. She is pretty shaky, so he gives her a draft of medicine, and she exits.... to stumble in front of a lorry that can't stop.

Now Howard and Miss Edwardes can marry, but a coroner's jury returns a finding of murder, and Howard's research with nicotine fits him for the noose by an uncaring police. Can Miss Edwardes and second lead John Bentley find out whodunnit before they use the gallows?

Charles Saunders directs this second feature in a manner that suggests Hitchcock's REBECCA, without a sense of humor, as the players stiff-upper-lip their ways through disasters of their own making. Worse, in many ways, the solution to the entire mystery element of the movie is presented in an obvious and clumsy manner, leading to a conclusion in which the real murderer is thwarted by the Mrs. Danvers character. Despite these rather stupid and tiresome characters, it's always watchable, but never particularly compelling.

This one comes on the ABC often, and almost every time it does I manage to catch it either watching it or setting tape to record it. It's a great little film. Just sits around the hour mark but for that hour you have a lot of stuff packed in.

The leads were believable despite the short run time and I liked the whole mystery aspect of it. I found that enjoyable despite the fact I've seen the film like a gazillion time in repeats and it's one of those little gems, that if you blink you will miss so to speak.

Again I'd recommend this movie to anyone looking for a nice mystery to watch.

6/10 from me.