Film Club watches “The Grissom Gang”

“The Grissom Gang”, film by Robert Aldrich.

The Grissom Gang is a 1971 American period gangster film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by Leon Griffiths. The film is the second adaptation of the 1939 novel “No Orchids for Miss Blandish” by James Hadley Chase, which was first brought to the screen in 1948. Previously filmed in England in 1948 under its original title, the central conceit was that the heiress, who felt stifled by her upper-class life-style, fell in love with the abductor and his comparative freedom to live his life on the edge. In this remake, Aldrich and Griffiths reversed this angle: the heiress merely strings him along in an attempt to escape. This version was also played more for laughs, in particular the outlandishly deranged behavior of the gang. The time period and locale have also been changed from 1948 New York in the first adaptation to 1931 Missouri in the remake.

Screening begins at 15:00 sharp. This activity is free of charge for all library members. Please reserve sign up at the front desk in advance. A discussion in English will follow the film.