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The Blind Goddess (1948 film)

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The Blind Goddess
British pressbook
Directed byHarold French
Written by
Based onplay The Blind Goddess by Patrick Hastings
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRay Elton
Edited byGordon Hales
Music byBernard Grun
Production
company
Distributed byGeneral Film Distributors (UK)
Release dates
  • 9 September 1948 (1948-09-09) (London)
  • June 1949 (1949-06) (US)[1]
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£143,000[2]
Box office£88,000 (by July 1953)[2]

The Blind Goddess is a 1948 British courtroom drama film directed by Harold French and starring Eric Portman, Anne Crawford and Hugh Williams.[3] The screenplay concerns a secretary who sets out to expose his boss, Lord Brasted, for embezzlement. It was based on a popular 1947 play of the same title by noted barrister Patrick Hastings.[4][5]

Claire Bloom made her screen debut in the film.[6]

The "blind goddess" in question is Justice.

Plot

A valet shoots a man (later named as Count Mikla) dead, steals a bundle of documents, and sets up the crime scene to look like a suicide.

Derek Waterhouse sits in an exclusive restaurant with a young woman, Mary Dearing. He is a lawyer and has a quick word with his client, Lady Brasted, before leaving. Outside he chats with the girl in his car until they are moved along by a policeman. Waterhouse is the private secretary to Lord Brasted. He tells Mary that Lord Brasted offered him £10,000 to stay silent on a complicated deal he was trying to stop the prime minister from learning about.

Lord Brasted meets with Mary's father, Lord Dearing, a senior advocate, saying that Waterhouse is trying to blackmail him. Lord Brasted confesses to his wife that Waterhouse's accusations are true. When Waterhouse goes to the PM, Lord Barsted has little option other than to sue him for libel.

Lady Brasted tries to lean on her former relationship with Waterhouse and goes to convince him to change his story (as he has already told the PM it is unclear what this would achieve). Waterhouse goes to discuss the case with Lord Dearing, but Dearing has to decline as he has already been engaged by Lord Brasted to represent him in the upcoming case of Brasted v. Waterhouse.[7]

The case goes to court at the Old Bailey. Waterhouse discloses that £500,000 sent to Count Mikla in Prague for post-war relief had been diverted to other persons. He believes papers in Count Mikla's possession would prove this. Waterhouse claims that Brasted offered him a three year assignment in West Africa plus £10,000 which he interpreted as a bribe to keep silent.

Brasted's counsel accuses Waterhouse of trying to blackmail Brasted for a sum of £20.000.

Lady Brasted reveals to Lord Dearing that she has a love letter from Waterhouse which would incriminate him in terms of motive. However, when Dearing goes to the Brasted house that evening it is a totally different letter from Waterhouse which is revealed. It is said to have been concealed in the lining of Count Mikla's briefcase. The murderer from the opening scene enters the room. He is introduced as Johan Meyer and Lord Brasted says he has information on the case.

Lady Brasted shows Lord Dearing the love letter and he persuaded her to show it to her husband.

Lord Dearing first presents the briefcase document to the court, which very much damns Waterhouse. However, it is pointed out that it begins "Dear Mikla" rather than "Dear Stefan" which he can prove is the usual style of his letters. It is presumed that this letter if forged by Brasted. Dearing is then forced to reveal the love letters. This is equally damning. Although it says "he will have to go higher" this has two interpretations: a higher amount of money or a higher authority (the PM).

The secretary refuses to waver in his story, which is complicated by his former love of Lady Brasted. Cross-examination focusses on this and accuses the Secretary of blackmail.

Barsted wins the case. The love letter is printed in the newspapers. It is on Savoy Hotel headed paper. When Dearing and his wife dine at the Savoy that evening the head waiter brings over the newspaper and points out that the notepaper was not created until April but the letter is dated March.

Meanwhile Mary reappears. Somehow Lady Brasted had intercepted Waterhouse's letter to Mary and passed it off as a letter to her. Mary confronts Lady Brasted.

Lord Brasted is happy that the love letters were not to his wife. He questions if their marriage was a good one. She goes to bed. He goes out to post letters, declining the help of his butler. Although the exact circumstance is not seen, it is implied that he throws himself under a car.

Cast

Production

Patrick Hastings was a successful lawyer who wrote plays in his spare time, of which Blind Goddess was most popular.[8] It premiered in 1948, a few years before Hastings' death.[9]

Film rights were purchased by Gainsborough Productions, then part of the Rank Organisation. Gainsborough head of production Sydney Box worked on the screenplay with his wife Muriel Box. It was filmed in July 1948 at Islington Studios with sets designed by the art director Norman Arnold.[10]

It was the film debut of Claire Bloom. She had auditioned for the part of Ophelia in Hamlet and been unsuccessful, but her screen test impressed the Rank Organisation and they put her under contract.[11]

Betty Box, who produced, requested the original script be modified so that Lady Brasted did not take a lover but only pretended to.[2]

Release

The film was released in the US in 1949. The American distributor tried to engage interest by advertising the film in the New York Law Journal.[12]

Reception

Critical

Variety said "the film is very much a carbon copy of the original play" but praised the handing and acting.[13]

The New York Times wrote, "Justice, the poets have it, is a blind goddess...But the (film), which arrived at the Forty-second Street Embassy yesterday, illustrates that justice is not blind precisely but merely myopic and rather routine";[14] while TV Guide noted, "good performances help keep this rather stagy and stiff adaptation moving."[5]

Box Office

The film was not a success at the box office.[15]

References

  1. ^ Of Local Origin New York Times 22 June 1949: 28.
  2. ^ a b c Andrew Spicer, Sydney Box Manchester Uni Press 2006 p 210
  3. ^ "The Blind Goddess (1948)". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
  4. ^ David Parkinson. "The Blind Goddess". RadioTimes.
  5. ^ a b "The Blind Goddess". TVGuide.com.
  6. ^ "The Blind Goddess". britmovie.co.uk.
  7. ^ "THE BLIND GODDESS". The Australian Women's Weekly. Australia. 5 March 1949. p. 34. Retrieved 21 June 2020 – via Trove.
  8. ^ Sir Patrick Hastings, 71; Lawyer and Playwright The Washington Post 28 Feb 1952: B2.
  9. ^ PLAYS IN BRIEF Courtenay, John. The Sketch; London Vol. 208, Iss. 2695, (Jan 21, 1948): 38.
  10. ^ "FASCINATING JOB". Kalgoorlie Miner. Western Australia. 8 July 1948. p. 2. Retrieved 21 June 2020 – via Trove.
  11. ^ Round the British Studios Nepean, Edith. Picture Show; London Vol. 52, Iss. 1334, (Feb 7, 1948): 7.
  12. ^ "Inside Pictures". Variety. 29 June 1949. p. 16.
  13. ^ Review of film at Variety
  14. ^ "At the Embassy". 23 June 1949. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  15. ^ Harper, Sue (2000). Women in British Cinema: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know. A&C Black. pp. 156–157. ISBN 9781441134981.
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