Black Orchid

I caught this film late one night on the ABC and was pleasantly surprised to find Ronald Howard - best known for his role as Sherlock Holmes in the 1954 television series - playing the main character Dr.John Winnington, a kind hearted doctor who has the misfortune to stuck in a loveless marriage to a selfish woman, more interested in dinner parties than his work in curing disease.

I thought Black Orchid was a rather good film, short and sweet (running a little less than one hour). A neat little murder mystery in a who-dunnit structure. The audience is able to participate in attempting to pick who the "real" killer is, following Christine and John's friend Eric as they desperately try to clear Winnington's name and find her sister's "real" murderer, whoever that may be...

4 out of 5 stars.

John and Sophie Winnington are trapped in a loveless marriage. He is a doctor and she feels he neglects her for his patients, yet won't give him a divorce. In comes Sophie's younger sister, Chris, who immediately clicks with John and, all in the space of a few minutes of screen time, Sophie has found out about their affair, given John a divorce, and left with the revelation that he may be free of her now, but the law prevents him from marrying Chris as she is his ex-wife's sister. He checks this out and finds it is so, and the only way he could marry Chris legally is if Sophie were dead...

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.

Yes they were Russell Napier as Capt. Stanley Lord and Tucker McGuire as The Unsinkable Molly Brown the latter credited in "Black Orchid"(1953) as "American Woman" in the travel agency - (blink and you will miss her).And to clear up an above user who commented that at one point a woman apologized she "had only one gardener", well it was the wife of the publisher of "Eric Blair" literary joke ha ha, played by Patrick Barr.The latter being miscast as he normally played professional honest roles like "Mutt" Summers in "The Dam Busters" (1955).

Whenever a character has his car tampered with by the murderer sawing through brake pipes in a downhill ride, I find myself screaming at the screen "Turn off the ignition and change down gears and use the side of the road to brake your speed".I accept compulsory safety belts were some time off into the future.Another annoying trait occurred when a complete stranger (nice Christine) knocks at the door and a maid lets her in unmonitored even saying she will be going off duty leaving the house apparently unoccupied.Another stupid mistake in films occurs when the murderer insists on acknowledging his crime and explaining his motive unbidden to a stranger.

I suspected the maid Annette had lesbian leanings for Sophie her boss, the estranged wife of Dr.John Winnington (Ronald Howard) but of course film producers could not deal with same sex love on screen in 1953.Anyway it kept my attention for an hour so I awarded it 6/10.