The Black Orchid

1958

Action / Drama / Romance

8
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 61% · 6 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 61% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.4/10 10 1347 1.3K

Plot summary

An aging widower fights family disapproval when he falls in love with a gangster's widow.

Director

Martin Ritt Photo
Martin Ritt

Top cast

John Indrisano Photo
John Indrisano as Hood
Sophia Loren Photo
Sophia Loren as Rose Bianco
Frank Richards Photo
Frank Richards as Hood
Peter Mark Richman Photo
Peter Mark Richman as Noble
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
865.4 MB
1280*714
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 3
1.57 GB
1920*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ma-cortes 6 / 10

Remarkable and intelligent account about a mature couple , being well directed and wonderfully performed

Patchy weeper with terrific and enjoyable performances , in which a businessman Frank Valente (Anthony Quinn) romancing criminal's widow named Rose Bianco (Sophia Loren) and the principal problem results in convincing their children that marriage will make all their lives better . As the Italian Frank wooing a mobster's widow that leads to unexpected consequences . Both of whom are strongly involved with their sons , as Frank has to convince his sternly moralising daughter (Ina Balin) about marry herself to Noble (Peter Mark Richman) , while Rose must convince her little boy Ralph (Jimmy Baird) who usually is locked at remand home like in N.Y. State Farm . This is a plain and simple film with plenty of interesting drama , Soap opera , emotion and a sensitive as well as unexpectedly tender romance . Filmmaker Martin Ritt has got a considerable success in delineating their troublesome roles in this fabricated Soaper . Various character-studios furnish the basis for this agreeable drama and it results to be a superb piece of acting . Excellent interpretation by protagonist duo , as Anthony Quinn as the bungling businessman romancing a moll's beautiful widow , this was the first of Anthony's European roles leading to his hit five years later in ¨Zorba the Greek¨ . And Sophia Loren playing magnificently the mature but attractive crook's widow , though she was 23 years old during filming, only 10 years older than the actor playing her juvenile son . The picture also established Loren's claim as a player of some worth and paved the way for her Acadeny Award-winning success three years later in ¨Two women¨ and her triumph in ¨The Cid¨ . It is a mostly staged drama in which the two main actors spend the majority of the movie attempting to persuade their children that all will be better if they marry and it can work out . Nice screenplay by Joseph Stefano dealing with sensitive themes such as the disintegration of a family , an enticing love story , rebellious childhood and including engaging dialogs . Evocative cinematography in VistaVision by Robert Burks , he's a classic cameraman and Hitchcock's usual . The music is sparse, but it's potent and lively every time it appears , it was composed by Alessandro Cicognini .This understatement motion picture was well produced by Carlo Ponti , Sophia Loren's husband , and professionally directed by Martin Ritt, who worked with Paul Newman in three Westerns : ¨Hombre¨ , ¨Hud¨ and ¨Outrage¨. Ritt was an expert on dramas such as ¨Stanley and Iris¨ , ¨Nut¨ , ¨Norma Rae¨ , ¨The front¨, ¨The Sound and the Fury¨ , though also directed films of all kind of genres such as : ¨The Spy Who Came in from the Cold¨ , ¨The Great White Hope¨ , ¨Mafia¨ and ¨Molly McGuire¨ . This ¨Black orchid¨ film will appeal to drama enthusiasts and Anthony Quinn/Sophia Loren fans . Rating : Above average, well worth watching ; along with ¨Hud¨ ,and ¨Outrage¨ being one of Ritt's best movie.
Reviewed by bkoganbing 7 / 10

But for the kids

Black Orchid concerns the story of two neighbors both of whom lost their respective spouses and seem like a natural match for each other. But for their respective children the ship of romance would have some smooth sailing.Sophia Loren is a bit young to play a middle aged widow, but she carries it off beautifully. She was a bride fresh from Italy when she married her husband and she fell in love with the material wealth of America. It cost her husband his life when he turns to being a gangster to give his wife all she desires. She also shuns and is shunned by the neighborhood.Anthony Quinn is a widower whose wife died years earlier and left him to raise daughter Ina Balin who was making her big screen debut. Although she is engaged to Peter Mark Richman she wants him to move in with her and her father and Richman who has his business in another town wants his own household. As for Loren's kid Jimmy Baird he's on a youth farm for youthful offenders. How he reacts to his mother's new romance is a bit unusual but in keeping with how the adult characters are drawn in this drama.What I liked about Black Orchid is the sheer ordinariness of the people yet some great drama is played out across the screen. No heroes or villains, just people going about the day to day business of living. For a writer it's probably the most difficult to find a story with these characters, but it is done beautifully in Black Orchid.Case in point. Anthony Quinn and Sophia Loren were together before in the Italian film Attila where Quinn plays the title role the scourge of Europe and Loren is a pulchritudinous and seductive Roman princess. Two totally different types, but that's a tribute to the acting ability of the stars.This is a film that should get more attention and maybe it will some day.
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