GamerTab That was an excellent one.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

JohnHowardReid A Cineguild Production, made at Pinewood Studios, released in the U.K. through General Film Distributors (presented by J. Arthur Rank) in 1948, in Australia through G.B.D./20th Century-Fox on 30 September 1948, in the U.S.A. through Eagle Lion on 16 February 1949. New York opening at the Sutton: 23 November 1948. Registered in February 1948. Copyright 28 January 1949 in the U.S.A. by Independent Producers Ltd. 8,712 feet. 96 minutes.SYNOPSIS: The Fullers possess the Fury Estate. Thorn means to win it back — by fair means or foul.COMMENT: Strong on rich yet somber period atmosphere, unmatched in the creative artistry of its camera-work and sets, riveting in its performances (from the superbly etched characterizations of Granger, Hobson, Fitzgerald and Gough to the equally acid-sharp cameos of Amy Veness, Margaret Withers, James Dale and J.H. Roberts), powerful in plot and startling in its effects, "Blanche Fury" is a brilliantly realized film. I would describe it as absolutely MUST viewing! Oddly, when the film last screened on local TV, its presenter seemed not to appreciate the picture at all. Indeed, he described it as a popular melodrama designed for the unlettered masses who would enjoy all its fast riding and mindless action. He implied it definitely did not rate as a film for the connoisseur — a category in which the presenter doubtless included himself. In point of fact, the masses stayed away from the film in droves. Fortunately, the film's rich production and artistic values were highly appreciated by small but influential bands of cineastes. (Available on an excellent ITV DVD).

James Hitchcock The plot of "Blanche Fury" is very loosely based on an actual Victorian murder case. A young woman named Blanche Fuller is employed as the governess for the granddaughter of her rich uncle Simon, who has taken the surname "Fury" after inheriting a stately home and country estate from a distant relative, Adam Fury. Desperate for status and position, Blanche marries her widowed cousin Laurence, the father of the little girl she is looking after, but the marriage is not a happy one. Dissatisfied with the cold and unloving Laurence, she begins an affair with Philip Thorn, Simon's handsome steward.Thorn, however, thinks that he should be more than just Simon's servant. He is the illegitimate son of the otherwise childless Adam Fury and believes that his parents were secretly married; if this were true he, and not Simon, would of course be the legitimate heir to the estate. When he fails to find any evidence of this secret marriage, he and Blanche conspire to murder Simon and Lawrence, believing that the local gypsies, who have a grudge against Simon, will be blamed for the killings. (The film's treatment of the gypsies, who are portrayed as violent, thieving vagabonds, would doubtless be regarded as offensive today). Thus begins a cycle of bloodshed and retribution. (One scene seems to be a deliberate borrowing from a very similar scene in "Gone with the Wind, made a few years earlier).The British cinema during this period could often be overly restrained, even when dealing with subjects which might have called for a more openly emotional approach; "Brief Encounter" and "The Browning Version", for example, are two films which take the stiff-upper-lip approach to the subject of marital infidelity. Just occasionally, however, the British could go to the opposite extreme and produce some full-blooded, screaming melodrama, both in contemporary ("The Madonna of the Seven Moons") and in historical ("The Wicked Lady") dramas. Thorn is played by Stewart Granger, who seemed to specialise in handsome but dangerous rogues, especially in period dramas. (He also starred in "The Madonna of the Seven Moons"). Blanche is played by the lovely Valerie Hobson who, fifteen years later, was inadvertently to be caught up in a notorious scandal herself; she was the wife of John Profumo, the Conservative cabinet minister who was forced to resign over his affair with a call- girl. Unlike some other historical melodramas from this period, such as "The Wicked Lady" or the American-made "Dragonwyck", "Blanche Fury" abandons the gloomy, Gothic, film-noir-influenced black- and-white look for vivid colour. (Like "An Ideal Husband" it can perhaps be seen as an early example of the "heritage cinema" style). It shows, moreover, just how well this alternative approach could work. Rather than using a dark, gloomy style to emphasise the dark deeds of Blanche and Thorn, director Marc Allegret chooses to contrast those deeds with the beauty of the rolling English countryside (on the Derbyshire-Staffordshire borders) and the grandeur of a Georgian stately home (called Clare Hall in the film, but actually Wootton Lodge). Allegret's reasoning was presumably that, as Thorn's motive for the murders was the sin of covetousness, it was necessary to show just what he was coveting in all its full glory. (Blanche seems to have been motivated by her guilty passion for Thorn as much as by financial greed, but in his case it is clear that he loved the estate far more than he loved her). Despite its political incorrectness, "Blanche Fury" remains a very watchable example of a passionate forties melodrama. 7/10

writers_reign It seems clear that someone with clout had the good sense to import Marc Allegret to direct this over-heated Gothic wet dream and thus invest it with a touch of class. Allegret - elder brother of Yves, also a fine director and the first husband of Simone Signoret - enjoyed a long and illustrious career punctuated by titles such as Fanny (the second of the great Pagnol trilogy Marius-Fanny-Cesar), Entree des artistes, Gribouille, etc and his touch is evident in the stunning camera-work especially the early scene-setting. The leads Valerie Hobson and Stewart Granger acquit themselves well enough despite a lack of chemistry but on the other hand Hobson continually strived toward the genteel and didn't do sensual whilst Granger more or less plays himself, an arrogant, vain narcissist. No doubt it has its admirers.

zetes Actually, it's a British period piece that has many plot elements in common with a strain of movies of the 1940s, like Rebecca, Dragonwyck, and even Duel in the Sun. A woman working as a maid, Blanche Fuller (Valerie Hobson), discovers that she is on the fringes of a very wealthy family, the Furies. When she arrives, she discovers a strange situation. Her family, the Fullers, who come from a lower class background, have married into the Furies, all of whom have died. The only remaining Fury, or possibly a Fury, is Philip Thorn (Stewart Granger), supposedly the illegitimate son of the last living Fury. He works on their estate, called Claire, but he is trying to inherit the estate; his lawyer is researching his lineage. He's desperate to get his hands on the place. When Blanche marries her cousin, Laurence Fury, Thorn devises to seduce her. Also in his plotting he decides to use a group of Gypsies who have come into conflict with Claire and the Furies. Though it took a while for Blanche Fury to capture my wandering attention, eventually I started to get into it. The performances are what drew me in. Granger was especially delightful as the evil, scheming Thorn. I had to laugh at his clever deviousness at times. A man after my own heart, he is! Hobson is quite good, as is Michael Gough, who plays her weakling husband. The color cinematography and musical score are fine. The script feels like it came from a novel, but it was written for the screen, making it especially impressive. I like the character arc of Blanche Fury. She begins as a sort of a schemer herself, planning to get rich and wield her feminine power over the estate. Only when she comes into conflict with Thorn, a more clever and desperate conspirator, does she realize she herself has done wrong and will now have to do the right thing. The ending is weird, but rather haunting. This is an exceptional film. 9/10.