The Blind Goddess (1948 film)

The Blind Goddess is a 1948 British 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 his expose his boss, Lord Brasted, for embezzlement. It was based on a popular play of the same title by noted barrister Patrick Hastings.[4][5]

The Blind Goddess
British pressbook
Directed byHarold French
Produced byHarold French
executive
Betty E. Box
Written byMuriel Box
Sydney Box
Based onplay The Blind Goddess by Patrick Hastings
StarringEric Portman
Anne Crawford
Hugh Williams
Michael Denison
Music byBernard Grun
CinematographyRay Elton
Edited byGordon Hales
Production
company
Distributed byGeneral Film Distributors (UK)
Release date
9 September 1948 (London) (UK)
June 1949 (USA)[1]
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£143,000[2]
Box office£88,000 (by July 1953)[2]

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

Plot

A Lord sues for libel.[7]

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 shot at Islington Studios with sets designed by the art director Norman Arnold. Filming took place in July 1948.[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 by 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 engaged 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. 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. "The Blind Goddess". TVGuide.com.
  6. "The Blind Goddess". britmovie.co.uk.
  7. "THE BLIND GODDESS". The Australian Women's Weekly. Australia, 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.


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