Blanche Fury (1947)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio-Insert live-action screen plus vintage projector sound.
Rating
Year Of Production	1947
Running Time	94:19
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Marc Allegret
Studio Distributor	Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Valerie Hobson Stewart Granger Michael Gough Walter Fitzgerald
Case	6 Clip and Ring
RPI	$14.95	Music	Clifton Parker

     Beyond Home Entertainment have recently given us a release of a number of movies under the banner Classic Matinee Triple Bill. Each case contains three separate discs, with three separate titles featuring the same leading actor. The first of these sets that I have seen is Classic Stewart Granger which contains that actor's Love Story (1944), Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) and Blanche Fury (1948).

     Although the slick for this release claims that these films are all "gems from the (J. Arthur) Rank catalogue", Love Story - renamed A Lady Surrenders in the U.S.- was actually produced by Gainsborough Pictures, with the famous logo of the Gainsborough Lady still elegantly intact at the beginning of this disc. J. Arthur Rank was to purchase the entire Gainsborough organization during the production of Caesar and Cleopatra the following year, including the services of Gainsborough's contract stars, including those of Stewart Granger.Blanche Fury though, was a fully fledged Rank production and together with the same year's Saraband for Dead Lovers, produced by Michael Balcon's Ealing Studios, marked the end of the "Gothic melodrama" that had been so successful since The Man in Grey in 1943. These flamboyant, emotionally overwrought films had taken Stewart Granger to the top of the list of British box office favourites, but after five years their popularity had waned. Just around the corner for Granger lay Leo the Lion ready to pounce from Hollywood, and King Solomon's Mines (1950) the first of his films under his lengthy MGM contract.

     In his biography Sparks Fly Upwards, Granger has nothing good to say about Blanche Fury, the only film in this set in which the actor gets top billing. Despite Granger's billing the film is dominated by the titular heroine, played by the elegant redhead Valerie Hobson. Hobson excelled in witty, sophisticated comedy and her early body of work in England earned her a stint in Hollywood, most notable for her appearance in Bride of Frankenstein (1935). After returning to England, Hobson was cast by Alexander Korda in his Technicolor production of The Drum. Once British audiences saw the dazzling beauty of Miss Hobson in three-strip Technicolor, her popularity soared. The actress's final film was Knave of Hearts (1954), in the same year that saw her make her final acting appearance in the London production of The King and I opposite Herbert Lom. Seeing the beauteous actress in the gorgeous gowns created for Blanche Fury, it is very easy to imagine how dazzling she must have been as Anna Leon Owens in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. In the year of that stage success, 1954, Valerie Hobson announced her retirement to marry politician John Profumo. Then in 1963 came the infamous scandal involving Profumo with call-girl Christine Keeler which resulted in the downfall of the Harold Macmillan Conservative Government. The beautiful Hobson face was on the world's front pages for all the wrong reasons. Despite this, the actress remained married to Profumo until her death in 1998.

     With echoes of so many films, including Rebecca, Jane Eyre and Dragonwyck, Blanche Fury is a hot blooded pot-boiler about the governess (Hobson) who is abused by employers and then finds she has family ties to a wealthy estate, Claire. She arrives on the doorstep of the imposing estate and her uncle takes her in as governess. She climbs to respectability and wealth by marrying the prissy heir to the property (Michael Gough - Batman's butler "Albert"), only to fall for the handsome strapping b****** son (Granger) who lusts for what he believes is rightfully his - the estate and the redhead, in that order of priority. There is infidelity, murder, misadventure, a scandalous trial, gypsies, heaving breasts, horseback riding to release those animal lusts, all packaged up in the glory of Technicolor. The sets are dazzling and the costumes, particularly our heroine's, quite beautiful. The plot is fast and uninvolved and the two leads charismatic and extravagantly attractive. Valerie Hobson begins all prim, proper and resolute but as her passion for Granger grows her performance develops subtle changes that take her way beyond any stereotype. Her iciness in the opening sequence transforms during the drama into a woman of emotional depth, warmth and quite radiant beauty. This is quite a performance. Two Academy Award winning photographers were responsible for the filming of Blanche Fury, principal photographer Guy Green (Great Expectations) and, for the exteriors, Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret). The direction of Marc Allegret, whose work was primarily in French cinema,, is unobtrusive and thoroughly disciplined. In a running time of approximately ninety minutes the time flies by leaving one at the end title quite breathless and wishing there was a little more of this entertaining, lusty confection.

     Blanche fury and Saraband for Dead Lovers brought to an end a golden era in British filmmaking. British producers, and their artists and craftsmen, had perfected the Gothic melodrama as a cinematic genre, thrilling audiences with their lustily flawed heroines and dashing, often despicable, heroes. These were superbly entertaining films with a style all their own.

     You will never regret meeting Blanche Fury, and her like has sadly departed the silver screen. We have lost the stylish elegance and sophistication that made these sensual treats such pleasures.

Video

     The video transfer of Blanche Fury given to us here is a little below the quality of the same set's Caesar and Cleopatra . This film, like many "old" British films, has suffered from the poor prints we have seen on TV since the introduction of that medium. It is pleasing to see this vintage movie looking clean and relatively without damage in this satisfying presentation. Obviously taken from a very good print, there has been some digital enhancement, but only minor artefacts were noted. There is no aliasing, even on the highly detailed fabrics. The original 1.37:1 image is here presented at 1.29:1.

     From the first frame of the opening credits the Technicolor image is rock steady, without any jitters, crisp and clean, with a spotless light background for the titles. The image detail is good, with modest film-like grain. There are many darker scenes, and detail does tend to be lost here in the murk. Costumes are particularly dazzling and close-ups are extremely sharp; a number of scenes between Granger and Hobson, largely filmed in close-up, become dazzling displays of beautiful, sympathetic photography and superb make-up. Skin tones are particularly good, from the tanned masculinity of Granger to the English rose pallor of Hobson. Miss Hobson's make-up is subtle and barely noticeable, unlike that in many films of the 1940s. Colours are rich and vibrant, with the entire spectrum pleasingly presented.

     There is no debris and only minor blemishes. There are a few scratches at one of the last reel "changes", but these are brief and minor. Cue marks have been removed.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

    There is one audio stream on the disc, English mono Dolby Digital 2.0 encoded at 192 Kbps. The sixty-three year old soundtrack is in extremely good condition, and complements the outstanding image on the screen. Dialogue is beautifully recorded, with post dubbing noticeable in the exterior scenes. There is a modest amount of background hiss, and the occasional crackle. There were no dropouts.

     The mono sound is generally full and satisfactory, with Clifton Parker's (The Blue Lagoon - the Jean Simmons one)) score enhancing the at times tempestuous atmosphere on screen. Although the reproduction is limited, there is a dramatically satisfying performance of the score by The Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of - whom else? - Muir Mathieson.

Audio Ratings Summary

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     Apart from the Main Menu the disc contains only the feature film.

Main Menu

     There is a quite attractive graphic of a cinema ceiling and proscenium, with curtains flanking the wide screen. On the screen is a scene from Blanche Fury, unfortunately blown up to fill the dimensions of the screen, with top and bottom of the image cropped. The accompanying audio is the sound of an ancient projector.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

     There is at present no Region 1 release of Blanche Fury.

     In Region 2, a generous box set devoted to the films of Stewart Granger is available. Included in the The Stewart Granger Collection (12 discs) are : Adam and Evelyne, Blanche Fury, Caesar and Cleopatra, Captain Boycott, Fanny by Gaslight, The Lamp Still Burns, Love Story, Madonna of the Seven Moons, The Magic Bow, Waterloo Road, Woman Hater and Caravan.

     I can only repeat my comments on other reviews of the movies in this set. If you are an avid fan of Stewart Granger, then the Region 2 box is an excellent buy. If you are content with the three titles which comprise this set, then this Beyond release is good value - three movies for under $15.

     Bringing to a close the famous cycle of Gothic melodramas produced in Britain during the forties, Blanche Fury is a thoroughly satisfying movie experience, with at its centre a fascinating heroine played superbly by Valerie Hobson. The Technicolor production values demonstrate British cinema at its peak and, though the print has some minor drawbacks, the transfer is clean and at many times is extremely beautiful, particularly in its close-ups. This is great melodramatic entertainment, and it is sad there is not one second of extras in this set of three memorable British films.

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