After our last 70’s horror flicks, it’s back to one of my co-favorite decades, the 1930’s, with another Carole Lombard outing. This one is No More Orchids, which, though it predates The Eagle and the Hawk by only a year, is separated chronologically by three other Carole Lombard films. This was back when movie studios made movies—lots of them.
No More Orchids – The Film
Miss Lombard stars as Anne Holt, a “spoiled heiress.” To provide some insight into my methodology for picking films to record, any combination of 193x and “heiress” are “must-haves.” The grass is green, the sky is blue, and movies from the ’30s about heiresses have fur in them; this is pretty much a universal law. I’m close to adding a “+divorce” rider to that, but No More Orchids doesn’t have a divorce plot. No, it’s a pretty straightforward “love conquers all” story with Anne falling in love with Tony and overcoming betrothal and blackmail on the part of her grandfather, the richest man in America.
No More Orchids – The Furs
As alluded to earlier, heiresses from the 30’s wear furs, and Anne Holt is no exception. Anne wears three different fox and fox-trimmed outfits throughout the film. The opener is probably the best, but the others are pretty enjoyable. We have white fox, and
We open on Anne Holt, passed out in her cabin on a cruise. Passed out in style in this big white fox wrap.
Anne gets a ride from Tony Gage (Lyle Talbot).
The ride was at the behest of Anne’s grandmother, also on the cruise with Anne. Anne has replaced her white fox wrap with perhaps a red or blue fox wrap, and it may be an electric pink fox, but I doubt it. The wrap accents what appears to be a black satin dress nicely.
Anne and Tony meet again on the deck, where, as they stare out a the ocean, we get a good glimpse of the rear of the wrap. Always appreciate it when a good fur is shown from all angles throughout a scene.
Anne and Tony start to fall in love. Altogether now… Awwwww…
Closeup of Carole Lombard’s face framed by fox fur because that’s pretty much what this site is about.
Later on, her grandfather’s threats to their relationship pile up, Anne goes to get advice from her father. She does this in a dress trimmed with enormous fox sleeves.
This is one of those things I wish never went out of fashion, big fox trim on random evening wear.
No More Orchids is one of those films that’s not particularly memorable, well, for anything but the furs. It merely exists in terms of film history, but it provides an excellent contribution to fur fashion. Lombard in fur looks fantastic as always; despite the fact, there were no full-length coats in the film, the wraps and trim are used to significant effect.
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