Blanche Fury (1948) - film review

England, in the mid-1800s.  After the death of her parents, Blanche Fuller finds herself alone and destitute.  Whilst working as a companion to an ill-tempered old woman, she receives a letter from her uncle, Simon Fury, offering her the position of governess at his family estate, Clare, in Norfolk.  On her arrival, Blanche mistakes her uncle’s steward, Philip Thorn, for his son, Laurence.  Although she quickly falls in love with Philip, Blanche feels compelled to marry Laurence.  It is then that she learns that Philip – the illegitimate son of the last of the Furys – is determined to reclaim the estate for himself – even if it means removing all those who stand in his way...

This respectable Gothic melodrama, based on a novel by Joseph Shearing, was directed, with some style and imagination, by the renowned French director Marc Allégret.   The inspired art design and cinematography successfully evoke the period in which the film is set and the stormy passions that lurk just beneath the surface of Victorian decorum – lust, revenge and hatred, bubbling tempestuously in the soul’s crucible.  It’s a shame that the screenplay and performances don’t achieve the same level of excellence.

© James Travers 2008

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