The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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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. 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. 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
- Kim Novak - Moll Flanders
- Richard Johnson - Jemmy
- Angela Lansbury - Lady Blystone
- Leo McKern - Squint
- Vittorio De Sica - The Count
- George Sanders - The Banker
- Lilli Palmer - Dutchy
- Peter Butterworth - Grunt
- Noel Howlett - Bishop
- Dandy Nichols - Orphanage Superintendent
- Cecil Parker - The Mayor
- Barbara Couper - The Mayor's wife
- Daniel Massey - Elder Brother
- Derren Nesbitt - Younger Brother
- Ingrid Hafner - Elder Sister
- June Watts - Younger Sister
- Anthony Dawson - Officer of Dragoons
- Judith Furse - Miss Glowber
- Roger Livesey - Drunken Parson
- Jess Conrad - First Mohock
- Noel Harrison - Second Mohock
- Alex Scott - Third Mohock
- Alexis Kanner - Fourth Mohock
- Mary Merrall - A Lady
- Richard Wattis - Jeweler
- Terence Lodge - Draper
- Basil Dignam - Lawyer
- Reginald Beckwith - Doctor
- David Hutcheson - Doctor
- David Lodge - Ship's captain
- Lionel Long - Singer in Prison
- Hugh Griffith - Prison Governor
- Michael Trubshawe - Lord Mayor of London
- Richard Goolden - The Ordinary
- Leonard Sachs - Prison Doctor
- Michael Brennan - The Turnkey
- Liam Redmond - Convict Ship Captain
- Neville Jason - Convict Ship Officer
- Claire Ufland - Young Moll