Among the most controversial British films ever produced, this lurid crime drama caused an unprecedented storm of controversy upon release: local councils banned it, the Bishop of London denounced it, and MPs demanded an investigation into the BBFC for allowing it to be seen.
Based on the notorious novel by James Hadley Chase (which itself was condemned by George Orwell), No Orchids for Miss Blandish is a mixture of sex, violence and immorality, and tells the brutal story of a kidnapped heiress who falls for one of her crazed captors.
This fascinating example of British film noir, which the Monthly Film Bulletin described as “the most sickening exhibition of brutality, perversion, sex and sadism ever to be shown on a cinema screen” is now released on UK Blu-ray for the very first time.
Extras
High definition remaster
Original mono audio
Miss Blandish and the Censor (2019): ex-BBFC examiner Richard Falcon discusses the controversial film's history with the British Board of Film Censors
Interview with producer Richard Gordon and actor Richard Neilson (2010, 35 mins): filmed interview with the famed US distributor-producer, and the actor
Soldier, Sailor (1945, 51 mins): World War II docudrama, conceived by No Orchids for Miss Blandish’s writer-director St John Legh Clowes
Original British and American theatrical trailers
Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Robert Murphy, analysis of the different versions of the source novel, an extract from an essay on No Orchidsfor Miss Blandish by George Orwell, news accounts of the controversy surrounding the film’s release, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits