Blanche Fury

Plot synopsis:
Blanche Fury, née Fullerton (Valerie Hobson) is in bed, very ill, giving birth. She starts remembering her life.She has been through several positions of employment before and lost them due to her independent nature. She is given one last chance to be the hired companion for a irritable rich old woman, Mrs Hawkes (Margaret Withers). However, she recieves a letter offering her another position and she leaves Mrs Hawkes after having given her opinion of what she thinks of her.She is the new governess at the mansion of the Furys with a far superior salary. There, she comes to terms with her distant cousins. Her task is to teach and accompany young Lavinia (Suzanne Gibbs). However, the most complicated man within the household is Philip Thorn (Stewart Granger). He's an illegitimate child of the late father of the family, and he's suing the family so that he can inherit everything.There is a gypsy encampment near the village. Phillip enlists her aid in recovering some horses that were stolen by the gypsies and she is attacked by some of them. She and Phillip fight their way free and escape with the horses successfully. This angers the gypsies into seeking revenge. Blanche falls in love with Philip, however, she prefers to marry the wealthy son of the family, Simon (Walter Fitzgerald). Philip is told by his lawyer that they couldn't find any proof of his mother having married secretly in Italy. He is then driven by the heritage that he feels in his blood and the legend of the symbol of the family that guards it. When a beloved old horse is shot and killed because she can no longer profit the owners with foals it is the last straw. Philip murders the father and son in the disguise of the gypsies. This is easily believed as the gypsies had plenty of motive and had tried to take vengeance before by burning the family barn and been caught. Blanche knows that he did it because she saw him at the window that night and she aided in the murder by not warning her husband and his son or calling for help as she was told to do.Philip undergoes a change in personality because of the murder. He begins to behave as if he were the master of the place, although Blanche tells him to be discreet. He tells her that the only thing which stops him from being master and commander is the little girl,Lavinia, but Blanche won't allow him to kill the innocent child who will inherit everything in time. She changes her testimony and accuses Philip of the murders after he encourages the little girl to attempt a dangerous jump with her pony, in spite of Blanche warning him not to harm the child. Philip is sent to the gaols.At the trial, Philip insists on defending himself. Blanche gives her evidence, and accuses him of plotting against Lavinia. However, Philip is defending himself well, so it seems as if it were just Blanche's imagination. However, Blanche asks for permission to sit down, as she is heavily pregnant. This makes Philip stop, he realizes suddenly that he is the father of her child, and that the child is going to have the opportunity of being the rightful inheritor of the mansion and all its privileges. So Philip allows himself to be convicted with no further defense.The day that Philip is executed Blanche tries to stop Lavinia who is determined to try the jump on her pony. The child is killed and Blanche carries her body back to the estate in grief. This provokes Blanche going into labour too soon. She will die, but the child will live and will be the sole heir of the estate. It is suggested that this has been fated from the beginning by the legendary guardian of the place and family and all is back in the hands of the rightful blood heir.

Tags: murder

Review:
This dark, engrossing drama centers on a beautiful English girl(Valerie Hobson) who goes to live at her uncle's Gothic estate where she engages in an illicit affair with the head-strong steward(Stewart Granger).
Once Blanche enters the estate the men of the home have their heads turned, and from that point on Clare estate, and the whole Fury dynasty, is in danger of going down a very dark path that can may only lead to pain and misery.
Two lead stars firing on all cylinders, both Stewart Granger and Valerie Hobson positively ooze grace and quality amongst the glorious colour and corking costumes.
Blanche Fury is very much one for those who like Gothic melodramas or uneasy mansion set thrillers, the likes of Dragonwyck, House Of Usher, perhaps even Alfred Hitchcock's wonderful Rebecca.
There are simply no movie actors or actresses today who could play the star roles with the same enormous presence, dignity, grace, self-assurance, and acting skill manifested by the superb and striking Hobson and Granger---not to mention their precise and exemplary articulation of the English language.
"Blanche Fury" is one of those films that is rarely aired on TV, impossible to find on video, and OUGHT to be released to DVD for magnificent production values, use of color, and all out dripping-with-Gothic eeriness.
(unfortunately, Gough is familiar to contemporary audiences pretty much only as Alfred the butler from the "Batman" films of the 90's, which is rather a crime since he's most proficient playing cads and sinister megalomaniacs).Watching "Blanche Fury" is like diving head first into a Victorian Gothic romance novel, and is pulled off with style and panache in every sense.
I first discovered this little gem on tv a few years ago and loved it , i taped it and for some unknown reason kept watching it over and over it has a kind of hypnotic pull to i mean you have to really get into,  i guess its not for everybody but it has been held in some regard up until recently,martin scorseses mentioned this as one of his guilty pleasures in film comment years ago and popular film presenter and critic from australia bill collins said while presenting another film that this would have to be one of the best british films from the forties.I totally agree it has a great gothic feel and the decor is marvelous as is the estate it was filmed on it has good solid performances and stewart granger is espescially good.Take note of the gypsy elements because at the time these points were crowd pullers other granger films to watch out for with similarities - "moonfleet","caravan","saraband for dead lovers","madonna of the seven moons".
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.
This Rank production is an interesting tragic drama during the 19th century , concerning about Blanche Fury (Valerie Hobson) , a young poor and ambitious woman .
Blanche marries to wealthy son but then the illicit relationship between Blanche and Thorn originates a string of fateful happenings .This is an entertaining Gothic-drama-romance plenty of passion , tragedy , murder and plot twists .
Granger was in his English period when he usually played lush costumer (Saraband for dead lovers , Madonna of the seven moons , Caesar and Cleopatra , Fanny by Gaslight) and the main protagonist , Valerie Hobson (Werewolf of London , Bride of Frankestein) , after she married John Profumo , then Churchill's junior minister , she left the cinema when married , and later his resignation from politics caused by known 'Profumo scandal' in 1963 , after that , she dedicated behalf to mentally handicapped kids .
It's about a beautiful and willful young woman (Valerie Hobson) who  doesn't like her rich clod of a husband, instead she has the hots for  poor-but-gorgeous estate manager Stewart Granger.
It's easy to get  excited over forbidden fruit that looks like Stewart Granger, but a  whole lot harder to deal with a murderer who wants to marry you for  reasons that have nothing to do with romance.
Between the solid performances by Hobson and Granger, the lush  Technicolor photography, the steamy romance, and the creepy ending,  this is one to look for.
In all it's an impressive little period piece film, but you have to like this kind of story to get through it happily.The leading woman is not the compelling innocent that Joan Fontaine pulls of in "Rebecca," or "Jane Eyre." In fact, she a little offputting--not because she strong, but because she's a little practical, not a romantic type, and movies like this work with types.
Is Marc Allegret a director?Or does he simply(but smartly) use others' talents?His most memorable pre-war movies are not really his.For instance ,"Fanny" owes everything to its actor,Raimu,and its writer,Marcel Pagnol:it is actually a Pagnol movie.Ditto "Entrée des Artistes" which is remarkable by Henri Jeanson's lines ("I wear my Légion d'honneur to impress the fool" ) and Louis Jouvet's acting genius.A short English period occurred just after the war -when he other French directors such as Renoir and Duvivier worked abroad during the war.Which leads us to "Blanche Fury".This movie is par excellence an effort in which Allégret uses the others' skills.Objections remain:an arguable editing ,too much ellipse (the relationship Lawrence/Blanche is botched,and the pace is often too fast and hasty :again the Blanche /Thorn love affair is believable only because of the actors' splendid performances).And the screenplay,however ,is wonderful:snatches of lady Chatterley,Jane Eyre ,the turn of the screw,My cousin Rachel,Wuthering Heights and more come to mind.Even Vincente Minelli's "home from the hill"(1960)!This is a romantic story par excellence.
Heredity and fatality play a prominent part is this story of silence and fury:Thorn (a great Stewart Granger) is a bastard,but Blanche( a majestic Valerie Hobson) is akin to him,because,at the beginning of the movie,she's a governess,and only marriage can provide her with a place in the sun;but her husband is probably impotent :here the writers use a metaphor.his father wants him to show his authority over their valuable property,that is to say to be a man.At the beginning of the movie,Blanche is a go-getter,but as soon as she meets Thorn,her fate is sealed,she reacts to events ,she no longer initiates them.Ultimately,she will try to stop the impending disaster ,but what she does finally backfires on herself and turns it into a final Thorn victory.Thorn is much more complex than he appears at first sight:actually he should own the property and he sees the Fury family as impostors;his attitude with animals makes us side with him for a while.Then,when he's about to win,he treats the servants as his predecessors used to do,and we discover his love for Blanche takes a back seat to his love for the domain.Then the lovers' fate is sealed.Color treatments are visually astounding :when we go from Blanche's deathbed to a flashback at the beginning,then the final pictures,hellish glimmering red glow ;Blanche's arrival in the castle,in a snowed up,misty landscape;the barns fire ,which seems to set ablaze the darkest night.Afterwards,Allégret's career straightly goes downhill."L'amant de Lady Chatterley" which I haven't seen but which he may have intended as "Blanche Fury II" ,poor Brigitte Bardot's vehicles ("en effeuillant la marguerite') or abysmal works(a segment of the horrible made up of sketches movie "les Parisiennes") .His brother Yves was much better ("Manèges" "Dédée d'Anvers" "une si jolie petite plage" "les Orgueilleux")."Blanche Fury" deserves to be seen anyway..
Stewart Granger was never satisfied with his parts, he felt like always having to play superficial stereotypical rogues or heroes with nothing in them but some dashing presence, but all his appearances are excellent and surprisingly reliable for being so 'superficial', and he is always better than he thought himself.
Staffordshire is in the midlands between Birmingham and Liverpool, and the whole setting is in the rural part with soft hills and plains and deals a lot with horses - some of the tragedies here involve horses.It's an efficient drama of love and destiny and how little man or woman can control it, but it is Valerie Hobson you always will remember from this film..
Blanche (Valerie Hobson) gets invited to Clare mansion by her uncle Simon (Walter Fitzgerald) to be governess to his grand-daughter Lavinia (Suzanne Gibbs).
His son, Laurence (Michael Gough), stands to inherit the estate and sees Blanche as his future wife.
However, the colour, costume and settings add to the atmosphere - you may guess the ending but it doesn't take any of the enjoyment away from the story.It was a better film than I thought it would be..
This is an example of an intelligently made film with charm, wonderful colour and production values and a good strong story line.
BLANCHE FURY is a typical yet reasonably absorbing Gothic melodrama – given added luster by its dazzling color photography, inventive décor, and even the odd stylistic flourish by Frenchman Allegret – made in the wake of the famed "Gainsborough school" romantic period pieces which began with THE MAN IN GREY (1943; a viewing of which accordingly followed this one in short order, since I had already by-passed it last year on a couple of anniversaries tied with star James Mason!) though, plot-wise, the film seems to have at least as much to do with that which is virtually the template for this type of fare i.e.
In fact, here we have Stewart Granger (who was also in THE MAN IN GREY) forced to work as a stable-boy in his own family's estate – since he is illegitimate – while the present unrelated masters have taken up their name!; of course, he is contemptuous of this situation, though he finds a surprising ally – and love interest – in a cousin of the new landlords (Valerie Hobson) who turns up on the premises ostensibly to serve as governess to the little girl that stands to inherit the lot.
Of course, she instantly charms the younger man of the house (a characteristically despicable Michael Gough) and proceeds to marry him, while carrying on with her Granger affair; about to be dismissed for his none-too-submissive attitude, our disgruntled hero conspires with Hobson to get rid of all the obstacles to their running the estate (since he intends to marry her himself) – the blame of which he proposes to lay at the door of a gypsy troupe who had been causing trouble in the area and even threatened the family specifically!
The other problem is that the illegitimate man who SHOULD be the heir to this fortune, Thorn (Stewart Granger) is much more handsome and virile--and Blanche falls for him.
Valerie Hobson and Stewart Granger star in "Blanche Fury," a 1948 British film directed by Marc Allegret and featuring Michael Gough and Walter Fitzgerald.Hobson plays Blanche Fullerton, who is invited by her cousin (Fitzgerald) to work as a governess on his estate for the small child, Lavinia, who is heir to his estate.
The man who runs the stables, Philip Thorn, is the illegitimate son of the original owner and is trying to prove that the estate, Clare, is his.Blanche marries her cousin Laurence (Gough), though she is attracted to Philip, and they soon consummate their love.
Philip, obsessed with Clare, doesn't want to take no for an answer.Really good Gothic story, based on a novel written about an actual case from the 1800s that comprises many elements in the film.
And there's Blanche, married to Michael Gough, a prolific and wonderful stage actor who nevertheless was no leading man.There are some good twists in this story, and I really got into the characters.
Like his contemporary James Mason who came up roughly the same time as he did, Stewart Granger seemed to be born to play in these romance novel roles.
Still she's on the right side of the blanket and she determines to marry Michael Gough the heir to the estate for a life of ease and comfort.Granger like the real life James Scott the Duke of Monmouth searched for a connection to his father King Charles II to prove he was heir to the throne.
Didn't happen for him and didn't happen for Granger But what does happen is that he gets Hobson's mojo going far more than the insipid and privileged Gough does.These are the ingredients of Blanche Fury and if you like these movies and read these novels you can pretty much guess what happens.
I was expecting a cheap melodrama set in Victorian era, but instead this is a well-done, suspenseful movie concerning the struggle for ownership/inheritance of an estate, and a young woman who arrives as a poor relation and marries the heir.Valerie Hobson gives a strong performance as Blanche; once she is widowed (due to the machinations of her obsessed lover, Stewart Grainger as the illegitimate heir) she even looks different, older, strained, whereas she was all frills and glamor before.
Excellent, haunting, Gothic British classic...Hobson and Granger are excellent in difficult roles...one of my favourite British films of the 1940's..
Yet it's an odd, haunting little film- the photography is absolutely beautiful and Hobson and Granger give excellent performances.The film begins with three startling shots of horses galloping towards Clare Hall, the setting for much of the film.
We learn of the life of Blanche Fury- poor governess (shades of JANE EYRE)who goes to live with her rich cousin (Michael Gough) and her uncle (Walter Fitzgerald), owners of Clare Hall.
She is immediately drawn to the Heathcliff-like stable-boy, the brooding Phillip Thorn (Stewart Granger).It turns out Thorn is actually (yet it is not legally binding) the true heir to the Fury estate, for he is the illegitimate son of the previous owner's affair with an Italian woman (this gives Thorn an air of exoticism, much like the Gypsies).
BLANCHE FURY was reportedly Hobson's favourite of all her film roles, and Granger does some wonderful work too.
Blanche Fury is directed by Marc Allegret, has a screenplay by Audrey Erskine-Lindop and is based on the novel by Joseph Shearing.
The film stars Valerie Hobson, Stewart Granger, Michael Gough and Walter Fitzgerald.Valerie Hobson plays Blanche, a ladies maid who's sick and tired of being treated as an inferior by her employers.
Accepting the position of governess to the daughter of her cousin Laurence (Michael Gough), Blanche finds herself falling in love with Philip Thorn (Stewart Granger) the illegitimate son of the previous owner of her uncles estate.Stewart Granger is at his most sexy and intense here as Philip Thorn,Granger and Hobson are so good together and it's a real shame they never made another film together again.
Michael Gough is good as Blanche's cousin, a weak man who always follows his fathers wishes..
A pleasingly uncomplicated serving of brooding Victorian melodrama, garnished with suffrage but swathed mainly in pure Gothic, with sufficient sex and violence to make 'The Wicked Lady' look like The Singing Nun. Valerie Hobson plays a humble but socially aspiring paid companion who, by turn of fortune, is invited to serve as governess at her aristocratic extended family's estate, and fulfils her dreams of status by marrying her cousin and becoming beneficiary.
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.
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.
Thorn is played by Stewart Granger, who seemed to specialise in handsome but dangerous rogues, especially in period dramas.
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.
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).
Since having Valerie Hobson engage in an affair with this married man would make her look bad, the movie simply eliminates the ailing wife.
BLANCHE FURY is an engaging little 'gothic romance' type film, shot in luxurious colour and based on a novel by the long-forgotten author Marjorie Bowen, who wrote a number of fine ghost stories during her career.
A youthful Stewart Granger plays the bastard son of an aristocratic line who is determined to retrieve what he sees as his birthright; Michael Gough also appears as a dastardly character in his career debut.
Not only is the use of colour and staging incredibly controlled, we have leads like Valerie Hobson and Stewart Granger who simply could not be better.
A young penniless woman named Blanche(Valerie Hobson)sees her life's station moving upward when she takes the position of governess from her distant cousins.
Blanche will fall in love with a disinherited Fury descendant Philip Thorn(Stewart Granger), who is serving as a manservant to patriarch Simon Fury(Walter Fitzgerald).
The ambitious Blanche marries her employer(and relation)the soft spoken Laurence Fury(Michael Gough).