“James Hadley Chase's notorious novel (and play) was a thinly disguised plagiarism from Faulkner's Sanctuary, a fact underlined by having Jack LaRue play virtually the same role that he had played in The Story of Temple Drake, the official first movie version of the Faulkner novel. No Orchids was universally condemned by most British critics as being about the most depraved and brutal British movie ever made, but it was also the climax of mounting violence in American films and of British censorship resistance to the same violence that was escalating in British crime films of the period. It needed the notoriety to make it a box-office winner, for despite size, gloss (and a particularly good Hollywoodian score), it was not a good film, sadly lacking in the one element essential to the gangster film, pace. Its director, St. John L. Clowes, was a good playwright (Dear Murderer) who wanted to become a director in the worst way, and succeeded admirably. Today its brutality, sex and exaggerated gangster stereotypes are more laughable than shocking (though there are some good supporting performances, especially from the Cagney-ish Richard Nielsen), but