The Bliss of Mrs Blossom

Plot

Robert Blossom is a brassiere manufacturer and workaholic. When his wife Harriet's sewing machine breaks, he sends his bumbling employee Ambrose Tuttle to repair it. Mrs. Blossom seduces him, then hides him in the attic, instructing him to sneak out in the middle of the night. Ambrose, however, is enchanted by the woman and decides to settle in to serve as her secret paramour. When he's reported missing, Det. Sgt. Dylan from Scotland Yard is assigned to the case, one he doggedly pursues for years. The mysterious noises Robert frequently hears overhead finally lead to his nervous breakdown, but Ambrose saves the day by passing along stock tips that turn his employer into a millionaire. The grateful Mr. Blossom not only allows Ambrose to remain with his wife, but presents the couple with his factory as a wedding present.

Story

The film is loosely based on a real incident. In the early 1920s, Walburga Oesterreich kept her lover Otto Sanhuber in the attic where he lived for many years. The real story doesn't have the happy ending of the movie.

Principal cast

Reception

In his review in the New York Times, Howard Thompson called the film "roguish, restrained and absurdly likable, with a neat climactic twist."

Variety described it as "a silly, campy and sophisticated marital comedy, always amusing and often hilarious in impact . . . although basically a one-joke story, [the] idea is fleshed out most satisfactorily so as to take undue attention away from the premise. Performances are all very good, Attenborough's in particular."

Time Out New York called it a "coarse comedy which looks a little like Joe Orton gone disastrously wrong . . . any sparks in the script or performances are ruthlessly extinguished by atrocious direction."