BLACK ORCHID is a quickie of a British mystery running almost an hour. Well paced with fine acting. Dr. John Winnington(Ronald Howard)seems very trapped in a loveless marriage. His wife(Mary Laura Wood)feels he is more interested in dinner parties than his duties at the hospital. And he seems to ignore and neglect his wife with no shame. Mrs. Winnington's younger sister Christine(Olga Edwardes)comes into the picture and flirtation and lust commences. The doc's wife is wise to the attraction and has enough; she leaves him with a sly warning that British law will not let him marry her sister...that is as long as she is alive. Guess what? Winnington will soon become the prime suspect in his wife's tragic murder. Christine and John's best friend Eric(John Bentley)will set out to clear his name.This Black & White film is short and sustainable. The best acting comes from Wood. Other players: Sheila Burrell, Russell Napier, Patrick Barr and Mary Jones.

This is a B-movie from the UK. Like a typical B, it clocks in at about an hour and has a breezy pace from start to finish. The story idea's pretty good but some sloppy writing here and there prevent this from being better.Dr.John Winnington (Ronald Howard) is a doctor married to a horrible woman. Sophie Winnington (Mary Laura Wood) is very demanding and selfish and doesn't do well being at home when her husband sees his patients. So, she runs around on him and goes to parties--and has a very, very strained relationship with her husband. Sophie's sister, Christine (Olga Edwardes), comes to live with them. She also starts working for John on his research. Soon Sophie announces that John is boring and she wants a divorce--something John has been begging her for years. Later, when Sophie comes back to get her things after the divorce, she announces she's leaving with another man AND if John and Christine want to marry because apparently the law says you cannot marry your sister-in-law if your wife is still alive. This is an obviously telegraphed plot point--and soon the wife is dead. The police assume the husband did it in order to marry Christine--but Christine and her friend decide to investigate the case for themselves.Quite a bit of the film makes little sense and shows shoddy writing--like the script was hurriedly slapped together. When the pair are investigating the crime, then man they think is responsible for the murder leaves them alone with his wife for a while. Then, as they leave, he recommends they go back to London by a shortcut--down a bit hill. IMMEDIATELY, I thought 'he's cut the brakes--don't go that way'. Did this occur to these two characters? Nope. Later, after this car crashes, the man is shaken up and taken to the hospital. What does the woman do? Yup, she goes back to investigate the man's house...ALONE. And, when the guy wakes up and calls for the nurse to bring the police, he tells the copper that Christine is in danger and might be killed and he tells them who the murderer is. The policeman and the nurse AND the people at the local police station announce that he is crazy and refuse to investigate!!! I would sure as h#&& think that if a person woke up after an accident that MIGHT have been caused by sabotage AND the person says a murder is about to be committed, I would have reacted!!! Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy--and a bit of common sense would have make the film better.

John Wittington is a dedicated physician married to a beautiful but unhappy woman, Sophie. She endlessly complains and snipes at him - for not showing up to a dinner party, for ignoring her and so forth. Clearly all of our sympathy is meant to be for the good doctor but the disgruntled, self- centered Sophie does have a point. He tells her that she knew from the beginning of their marriage that his work was the most important thing in his life. Here are two people who never should have married. Then enters Sophie's sister, Christine. She takes a great interest in his work and clearly admires him. In about two minutes they fall in love. Sophie agrees to a divorce. As she's leaving their house she, with a wicked grin, tells her now ex- husband that he will never be able to marry Christine because it is illegal for a man to marry his ex- wife's sister. Which he finds out to be true (was this really so back then?). Of course, if the ex- wife is dead, this problem goes away. Well, she does end up dead and the doctor is arrested and convicted of her murder. Fortunately, Christine and the doctor's good friend Eric don't believe he did it and investigate on their own. The movie is well paced and entertaining. It was nice seeing Ronald Howard as the doctor; I had only previously seen him in the Sherlock Homes television series. The entire cast was very good but special kudos go to the actress playing Sophie. Recommended as an enjoyable way to spend an hour.

John and Sophie Winnington are trapped in a loveless marriage. He is a doctor and she feels he neglects her for his patients, yet won't give him a divorce. In comes Sophie's younger sister, Chris, who immediately clicks with John and, all in the space of a few minutes of screen time, Sophie has found out about their affair, given John a divorce, and left with the revelation that he may be free of her now, but the law prevents him from marrying Chris as she is his ex-wife's sister. He checks this out and finds it is so, and the only way he could marry Chris legally is if Sophie were dead...