NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: 88 Films (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - September 2025: 88 Films in the UK have also transferred St. John Legh Clowes' "No Orchids for Miss Blandish" to Blu-ray. I love this film's atmosphere - venues pool in inky darkness, punctuated by harsh key lights that carve angular shadows across faces, lending a noirish paranoia to even mundane exchanges; Slim Grisson's brooding silhouette against a rain-slicked window, for instance, recalls the fatalistic glow of The Maltese Falcon (1941), though here it's more theatrical than textured. It is an arresting relic of post-war British cinema, aspiring to the slick fatalism of American film noir while constrained by its low-budget origins. This 1080P transfer, also in the film's original 1.37:1 aspect ratio, sourced from a meticulously restored negative captures the moody noir cinematography of Gerald Gibbs (Devil Doll, X the Unknown, The Green Man, Whisky Galore!,) with impressive fidelity. Fine film grain is preserved for an authentic texture, while deep blacks and balanced contrasts reveal intricate shadow details in the gang hideouts and nightclub scenes without crush or haloing, resulting in a sharp, artifact-free image that far surpasses the softer, interlaced look of older DVD editions and even edges out prior Blu-ray efforts in overall clarity and dynamic range.

NOTE: We have added 76 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE.

On their Blu-ray, 88 Films use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. The soundtrack honors the film's vintage mono origins while providing a clean, hiss-free restoration that emphasizes the sultry jazz swells of Greek / Italian George Melachrino's (The Gamma People, The Shop at Sly Corner, Appointment With Crime, Eight O'Clock Walk,) score and the gravelly pulp dialogue with surprising warmth and presence; higher frequencies occasionally carry a period-appropriate tinny edge during tense exchanges, but the overall fidelity is robust, with no age-related irregularities or distortion, allowing Jack La Rue's brooding drawl and Linden Travers' fervent pleas to resonate clearly. Augmenting the score - we have Zoe Gail, as lounge singer Margo, delivers sultry torch songs amid the Black Dice's haze, her poised vaudeville poise mirroring the film's erotic undercurrents. "Still Waters" (Melachrino / Dyrenforth) is a breathy ballad of hidden passions, Gail's husky build foreshadowing Miss Blandish's obsession with Slim, her gaze locking onto La Rue for meta-intimacy. "When He'd Got It, Did He Want It?" follows with innuendo-laced wit, Gail's arch phrasing and sly brass underscoring post-coital regret, blending campy bounce with thematic bite on possession. Capping the set, "Danse d'Extase" (Melachrino) features Toy & Wing's acrobatic frenzy - flips and scarves in exotic whirl - offering kinetic release via their vaudeville flair, a cartoonish burst of rapture amid the noir grit. These interludes, dismissed as tacky then, now charm as pulpy poetry, bridging violence and vulnerability. Optional English (SDH) subtitles ensure accessibility for the occasionally thick accents and 88 Films Blu-ray is region 'B'-locked.

This 88 Films Blu-ray edition shines with a robust suite of new and archival supplements that deepen appreciation for the film's scandalous legacy, starting with an engaging audio commentary by genre experts Kim Newman (author of Classic Monsters Unleashed) and Barry Forshaw (author of "British Crime Film", "British Gothic Cinema",) who dissect its transatlantic pretensions and censorship battles with wit and insight; the trio of fresh featurettes - 1/2 hour "Class War" by Stephen Thrower (Murderous Passions Volume 1: The Delirious Cinema of Jesús Franco), probing the film's subversive class dynamics; the 17 minute "A Shock to the System" by Melanie Williams (David Lean - British Film-Makers,) exploring its cultural jolt; and the 1/4 hour "Cheap Thrills" by Maxim Jakubowski (Mammoth Book of Best British Crime,) illuminating James Hadley Chase's pulp roots - offer concise, scholarly yet accessible analyses, complemented by the archival "Miss Blandish and the Censor" (over 40 minutes - repeated from the Indicator Blu-ray), a riveting BBFC deep-dive; rounding out the package are the snappy theatrical trailer and the lurid U.S. "Black Dice" promo, making for a collector-friendly array that's more focused and contemporary than the broader but dated bonuses on the rival editions reviewed here.

St. John Legh Clowes' "No Orchids for Miss Blandish" is one of the most polarizing artifacts in British film history - a bold, if flawed, attempt to transplant the gritty allure of American film noir to the austerity-ravaged shores of post-war England. Adapted from James Hadley Chase's 1939 pulp novel, which itself drew controversy for its unapologetic embrace of sex, violence, and moral ambiguity, the film was envisioned as the launchpad for an ambitious series of eight American-set gangster epics produced on a modest £40,000 budget. Shot entirely in Britain with a predominantly British and Canadian cast struggling to affect Yankee accents, it masquerades as a New York underworld saga but betrays its origins through its peculiar blend of melodrama, campy excess, and unfiltered brutality. At its core, the narrative follows the kidnapping of the icy heiress Miss Blandish (Linden Travers - Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes) during a botched robbery at a high-society engagement party, where her fiancé is murdered in cold blood. The initial culprits, a ragtag crew led by the trigger-happy Riley (Richard Nielson - A Matter of Life and Death,) are swiftly eliminated by the more professional Grisson gang, headed by the domineering matriarch Ma Grisson (Lilli Molnar - Pandora and the Flying Dutchman) and her psychopathic son Slim (Jack La Rue - The Story of Temple Drake.) Hugh McDermott (Devil Girl from Mars, Night People, First Men in the Moon) portrays Dave Fenner, a tenacious private detective hired by the Blandish family to track down the kidnapped heiress and unravel the web of gangland intrigue delivering a steadfast performance that grounds the film's pulpy excess with earnest procedural grit. Zoe Gail makes a memorable debut (actually her only feature film) as the sultry lounge singer Margo in No Orchids for Miss Blandish, captivating the Black Dice nightclub patrons - and the brooding Slim Grisson - with her breathy renditions of torch songs like "Still Waters" and "When He'd Got It, Did He Want It?," infusing the film's underworld haze with vaudeville charm and innuendo-laced allure. As ransom negotiations drag on, Miss Blandish - initially a symbol of untouchable privilege - undergoes a profound transformation, forging a obsessive bond with Slim that veers into Stockholm syndrome territory, complete with implied sexual submission and declarations of eternal love. Thematically, the film dissects the erotic undercurrents of power and captivity, with Miss Blandish's "melting" (as her fiancé crudely puts it) symbolizing a rebellion against post-war propriety. In a crowded field of restorations, 88 Films' 2025 Blu-ray of "No Orchids for Miss Blandish" emerges as a tantalizing upgrade for cult enthusiasts, blending technical polish with thematically attuned extras that refract the film's enduring notoriety through modern lenses. It's a worthwhile grab for noir completists seeking the freshest take on this British bad girl, earning a solid recommendation as a vibrant, if not flawless, resurrection of a cinematic lightning rod. Absolutely recommended. 

***

ADDITION: Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray - April 2019': The short story is that the Indicator improves on every front. The transfer offers, seamlessly branched to include the US cut "Black Dice", is on a dual-layered Blu-ray disc, 1.37:1, with a max'ed out bitrate. It has richer, deeper black levels, is crisper and may have a sliver more information in the frame. The UK transfer is superior on most fronts but notable in the contrast layering.

As for audio, Indicator use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English. It has resonance and is marginally crisper. The score by George Melachrino (Appointment With Crime, Eight O'Clock Walk) sounds supportive if relegated to subtleness. The Indicator offers optional English subtitles and is a Region FREE Blu-ray.

Indicator include many supplements. Firstly, the already-mentioned ability to see the US cut of the film. There is a 41-minute video piece entitled Miss Blandish and the Censor (2019) with ex-BBFC examiner Richard Falcon discusses the controversial film's history with the British Board of Film Censors bringing up all the facets of the decision on the film's reputation of controversy. Included is a 1/2 hour interview, from 2010, with producer Richard Gordon and actor Richard Neilson filmed interview with the famed US distributor-producer, and the actor - as found on the VCI DVD. Alexander Shaw's Soldier, Sailor (1945, 49:21) is a World War II docudrama, conceived by No Orchids for Miss Blandish’s writer-director St John Legh Clowes about life aboard merchant ships with the Maritime Regiment of the Royal Artillery. There are also original British and American theatrical trailers and an image gallery with on-set and promotional photography. The package contains a limited edition (3,000 copies) exclusive booklet with a new essay by Robert Murphy, analysis of the different versions of the source novel, an extract from an essay on No Orchids for Miss Blandish by George Orwell, news accounts of the controversy surrounding the film’s release, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits.

This is a wonderfully complete releases and the definite one to own for No Orchids For Miss Blandish. Indicator do it again - the best Blu-ray company in Europe and certainly comparable to Criterion for world #1. This has our highest recommendation!

***