Blanche Fuller (Valerie Hobson) is a beautiful and spirited woman employed as a domestic servant after the death of her parents. After a succession of failed positions, she receives an invitation from her rich uncle Simon, whom she has never met due to a family break instigated by her father, to become governess to his granddaughter Lavinia.
On arriving at Clare Hall, her uncle's impressive country estate, she first encounters Philip Thorn (Stewart Granger). She assumes that he is her cousin Laurence because of his striking resemblance to the portrait over the mantelpiece bearing the Fury family crest. In fact, he is the illegitimate and only son of the former owner of the estate, Adam Fury, and is employed by her uncle as the steward. Blanche's uncle explains that while he was a Fuller when he inherited Clare from Fury's widow, he took the family name, and asks her to change her name as well. Thorn bitterly resents being employed by strangers on an estate that he thinks should be his, and for several months has had a lawyer searching for proof of his legitimacy. He tells Blanche that if she takes the name, she should know the legend of the founder of the Fury family, who was killed in during the Crusades. His body was defended even in death by his pet Barbary ape, who is on the family shield, so that the spirit of Fury's ape is said to watch over the rights of the family.
Desiring position and security, Blanche marries her cousin Laurence, however she and Thorn soon begin a love affair. On the day Thorne discovers the lawyer can find no proof that a marriage between Adam Fury and his mother ever took place, Laurence dismisses Thorn after killing one of his favorite mares. That night Thorn kills both Laurence and Simon, then plants evidence to incriminate a group of gypsies, whom Simon had antagonised in the past.
After the inquest, Thorn is obsessed with the absolute possession of Clare, telling Blanche that it is fate that their children will inherit "our house." Despite warning him she will destroy him if he harms Lavinia, heir to the estate and final obstacle to his ambition, Blanche discovers him encouraging the child to make a dangerous jump with her pony. She intervenes, and, fearing for the child's life, goes to the police, implicating Thorn in the murder. She confesses to their love in court, where it is also revealed she is pregnant. Upon hearing this, Thorn (who had been acting in his own defense) softens and stops questioning her. On the day of his execution, Lavinia goes out alone to try the jump she had been denied, and breaks her neck at the moment Thorn is hanged.
Months later, Blanche gives birth to a son, whom she names Philip Fury. She dies, leaving her infant son as sole heir to the estate.
The original novel was published in 1939.[5] Cineguild bought the film rights before the book had even been written.[6]
Real-life inspiration
In 1848, Isaac Jermy and his son, Isaac Jermy, Jr. were shot and killed on the porch and in the hallway, respectively, of their mansion, Stanfield Hall, Norwich, by James Blomfield Rush, a tenant farmer of theirs. Rush had been their tenant for nearly a decade, making statements that he had mortgaged and remortgaged his farm to raise money for improvements, yet had not improved the farm's output. The deadline to pay off the mortgages was approaching; otherwise foreclosure and eviction would follow, adversely affecting both his children and his pregnant mistress, Emily Sandford.
The title to the Jermy estate came into question when relatives made claims to it. However, Isaac Jermy was the Recorder of Norwich, a prominent local man with legal connections, and it was therefore unlikely that he would lose the property. Rush's plan was to kill both Jermys and the younger Jermy's pregnant wife while disguised, and blame the massacre on the rival claimants to the estate.[7][8]
Rush planned that Emily Sandford would provide an alibi by stating that he was at the farm during the hour or so that the crime was committed. Rush wore a false wig and whiskers, but failed to disguise his body sufficiently; the butler, the wounded Mrs. Jermy and the housemaid Elizabeth Chestney survived to identify him. Furthermore, Emily Sandford refused to support his alibi. Tried in 1849, Rush defended himself but was convicted and subsequently hanged.[7][8]
Production
Star Valerie Hobson was married to producer Anthony Havelock-Allan. She later recalled "I had just had our son, who was born mentally handicapped, and he meant the film as a sort of 'loving gift', making me back into a leading lady, which was a wonderful idea. The film didn't work completely."[9]
The film was announced in September 1946.[10] (Shortly afterwards 20th Century Fox announced they would make a film from another Shearing novel, Moss Rose.[11]) Stewart Granger, then one of the biggest stars in British films, signed to co-star and Marc Allégret was to direct.[12]
Shooting
Filming started in January 1947 at Pinewood Studios.[13]
The courtroom scenes were filmed in the Shire Hall at Stafford.[14] The location scenes for the film were shot at Wootton Lodge (which stood in for Clare Hall in the story), a magnificent three-storey Georgian mansion at Upper Ellastone on the Derbyshire–Staffordshire border and on the surrounding Weaver Hills, as well as on Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire.
Granger later said the film "was a silly story, too grim and melodramatic, but it's a wonderful looking film... I enjoyed working with Valerie Hobson, but the film didn't work."[9]
Havelock-Allan later said he felt the most exciting aspect of the story was the murder being committed by a "gypsy woman" who was actually a man. However, he says: "Stewart Granger refused to play it dressed as a woman, even though you would only have seen a flash of him, so it lost that high point scene."[9]
Trade papers called the film a "notable box office attraction" in British cinemas in 1948.[15] By the end of 1949, it managed to earn £200,500 in box office rentals in the British Isles. However, it was not enough to recoup the film's cost and it recorded a loss of £135,400[2] (equivalent to £5.18 million in 2023)[16]. (Another account says it earned producer's receipts of £145,300 in the UK and £101,500 overseas.[3])
Havelock-Allan later acknowledged the film was a disappointment:
We took far too long over Blanche Fury, it cost too much money and it didn't 'work' and never attracted any great audience. David and Ronnie didn't like what I was trying to do with Blanche Fury, which was along the lines of the very successful costume films from Gainsborough. I wanted to make a serious one with a better story and I thought it would make a lot of money. I found out what I was making was a 'hard' film, not a 'soft' film which the others were. There was a real hatred in it as well as love, and the public didn't want it. Cineguild more or less broke up over that.[9]
^ abcGillett, Philip (2003). The British working class in postwar film. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 200. ISBN0719062578.
^ abcChapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 353. Income is in terms of producer's share.
^"WHAT LONDON IS READING". Cairns Post. No. 11, 546. Queensland, Australia. 17 February 1939. p. 11. Retrieved 14 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
