The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders

British cinema poster for The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
Directed by Terence Young
Starring Kim Novak
Richard Johnson
Angela Lansbury
Vittorio De Sica
Leo McKern
George Sanders
Lilli Palmer
Music by John Addison
Edited by Frederick Wilson
Production
company
Winchester Productions
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Country United Kingdom
Box office $2,000,000 (US/ Canada rentals)[1]

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders is a 1965 British historical comedy film directed by Terence Young and starring Kim Novak, Richard Johnson and Angela Lansbury.[2] It is based on the 1722 novel Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe.

Casting

This was Kim Novak's departure film for three years; she didn't return to the motion picture screen until 1968; when she played three different characters in The Legend of Lylah Clare. Novak married her co-star Richard Johnson in March 1965. The lead role was originally considered for Diane Cilento who had gathered critical acclaim from her role in Tom Jones but she had other commitments.[3] Had she appeared in the film Sean Connery would have played the male lead.

Plot

In the 18th Century, an orphan, Moll Flanders, grows up to become a servant for the town's mayor, who has two grown sons. Moll is seduced and abandoned by one, then marries the other, a drunken sot who dies, making her a young widow.

Moll is employed by Lady Blystone to be a servant. She meets a bandit, Jemmy, who mistakes her for the lady of the house and begins to woo her, pretending to be a sea captain. Moll rebuffs the advances of Lady Blystone's actual lover, the Count, only to be fired from her job when they are spotted together.

A banker marries Moll but quickly loses her when a gang of thieves spirits her away. Moll ends up in jail and finds Jemmy there as well. Their execution is at hand when the banker, finding her there, dies of a sudden heart attack. Now a wealthy widow, Moll buys freedom for herself and her true love, and she and Jemmy have a shipboard wedding.

Cast

Reception

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders was one of the 13 most popular films in the UK in 1965.[4]

References

  1. ↑ This figure consists of anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Top Grossers of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966 p 36
  2. ↑ "The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965)". bfi: Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  3. ↑ http://www.seanconneryonline.com/art_ms0465.htm
  4. ↑ "Most Popular Film Star." Times [London, England] 31 Dec. 1965: 13. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.

External links