Georgy Girl | |
---|---|
Directed by | Silvio Narizzano |
Written by | Margaret Forster Peter Nichols |
Based on | Georgy Girl by Margaret Forster |
Produced by | Robert A. Goldston Otto Plaschkes |
Starring | James Mason Alan Bates Lynn Redgrave Charlotte Rampling |
Cinematography | Kenneth Higgins |
Edited by | John Bloom |
Music by | Alexander Faris |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Everglades Productions |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 99 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $400,000 [1] |
Box office | $16.8 million [2] |
Georgy Girl is a 1966 British romantic comedy film directed by Silvio Narizzano and starring Lynn Redgrave, Alan Bates, Charlotte Rampling, James Mason, and Rachel Kempson (Redgrave's mother). [3] It was written by Margaret Forster and Peter Nichols based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Forster. The film tells the story of a virginal young woman in 1960s Swinging London, who is faced with a dilemma when she is pursued by her father's older employer and the young lover of her promiscuous, pregnant flatmate. Grossing $16.8 million, Georgy Girl was a box-office success, and it also spawned a hit theme song.
Georgina "Georgy" Parkin is a 22-year-old Londoner who has musical talent, is well-educated, and has an engaging, unpretentious character. She has an inventive imagination and loves children. At the same time, she believes herself to be plain and overweight, dresses haphazardly, and is incredibly naïve on the subjects of love and flirtation, having never had a boyfriend. Her parents are live-in employees of businessman James Leamington, who is in a loveless, childless marriage with the sickly Ellen.
Leamington watched Georgy grow up and treated her as if he were her second father, but as she has become a young woman, his feelings for her have become more than fatherly. On his 49th birthday, Leamington offers her a legal contract, proposing to supply her with the luxuries of life in return for becoming his mistress. Georgy sidesteps his proposal.
Her flatmate is the beautiful Meredith, who is a violinist in an orchestra. While she is out on dates with other men, Georgy entertains her boyfriend Jos Jones, on whom she has developed a crush.
When Meredith discovers that she is pregnant by Jos, they decide to get married, even though she tells him that she has previously aborted two of his children and only wants to marry because she is "bored". After the wedding, Jos moves in with Meredith and Georgy, becomes disillusioned with Meredith, and finds himself attracted to Georgy. Meanwhile, although she uses Leamington's interest in her to convince him to buy several expensive items for the baby, and Ellen dies suddenly, Georgy does not sign Leamington's contract.
In the midst of an argument with Meredith over her cavalier attitude to her pregnancy, Jos kisses Georgy and tells her that he loves her. Georgy flees the apartment, and Jos follows her into the streets of London, shouting his love for her. The two return to the flat, where they have sex, after which Peggy, a neighbor, tells Jos that Meredith has gone into labour, and he and Georgy go to the hospital.
Although Georgy feels guilty, she continues her affair with Jos while Meredith is in the hospital. Meredith has no interest in her daughter, Sara, and has tired of Jos, so she announces that she plans to put the child up for adoption. When Georgy sees Sara, she is smitten.
Georgy and Jos bring Sara back to the flat. It quickly becomes clear that Georgy cares more for the baby than for Jos, and their relationship ends when Jos tires of a father's responsibilities and abandons Georgy and his baby. Now that Georgy is the sole caregiver of a child to whom she has no blood ties, Social Services wishes to remove Sara from her care.
Leamington has been following the developments in Georgy's life. When he mentions modifying his contract to accommodate the recent changes, Georgy, seeing an opportunity to keep Sara, gets him to propose marriage. As the newlyweds are chauffeured away from the church on their wedding day, Georgy ignores Leamington, devoting all of her attention to Sara.
Several of the film's scenes were filmed in north London, in Belsize Park and Little Venice, notably outside a canalside house on Maida Avenue.
The title song, written by Tom Springfield and Jim Dale, was recorded by Australian band The Seekers. A single release of the song (with different lyrics) topped the singles chart in Australia, and was a top 10 hit in both the UK (#3) and the U.S. (#2 for two weeks). It was the 56th biggest British hit of 1967, [4] and the 57th biggest American hit of 1967. [5] The song became a gold record, and it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song.
The film was successful at the box office. By 1967, it had earned an estimated $7 million in the United States and $6 million in other countries. [6] By the end of 1967, it had earned $7,330,000 in North America in rentals accruing to the distributors. [7]
Bosley Crowther wrote in the New York Times: "Georgy Girl is a striking example of what could only be achieved with a uniquely right performer in the crucial rule. ... The screenplay is generously spangled with truly wonderful throwaway lines, delicious plot surprises and lovely quirks of character." [8]
Variety wrote: "Miss Redgrave has a pushover of a part, and never misses a trick to get that extra yock, whether it's her first passionate encounter with Alan Bates or her fielding of Mason's amorous overtures. She's consistently on target, and hits the bullseye all along the line. Mason adeptly displays that wealth is an important factor in getting one's girl. Bates makes a breezy lover and husband, though the scene in which he pursues his quarry through London, stripping on the way, is rather way out, Charlotte Rampling is fine as the attractive, bitchy flat mate, Bill Owen and Rachel Kempson [ sic ] add effective contributions as the parents. A lively score, brisk editing and excellent lensing, contribute to a well-made commercial picture." [9]
British film critic Leslie Halliwell said: "Frantic black farce which seemed determined to shock, but has a few good scenes once you get attuned to the mood. A censorship milestone." [10]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote of the film: "Another swinging London story filled with people running through London late at night, dancing madly in the rain, and visiting deserted children's playgrounds to ride on the roundabouts. In style a poor imitation of various 'new wave' exercises, it has a slick line in repartee which amuses at first until its shallowness becomes apparent. The continual jokes about Georgy's size, for example, tend to pall after numerous repetitions. Nor does the film have much continuity. It proceeds in triangular jerks from scene to scene, linked tenuously and loudly by continuous snatches of music to keep the action going. The potentially excellent cast and the promising comedienne talent of Lynn Redgrave can do little in the face of such opposition from both script and direction." [11]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film four stars out of five, writing: "At the time a sexual showstopper, this can now be seen as an unconscious parody of Swinging Sixties chic. It is saved from mere shock novelty by Lynn Redgrave's performance as the dowdy girl pursued by older employer James Mason, who finds her own identity looking after the illegitimate baby of flatmate Charlotte Rampling. Former TV director Silvio Narizzano piles on the tricks of cinematic trendiness, but it's the acting that stabilises the story into something memorable from a boringly self-conscious era." [12]
The film was the basis for an unsuccessful[ citation needed ] 1970 Broadway musical titled Georgy.
In 2013, it was adapted for BBC Radio 4 by Rhiannon Tise. [20]
Dame Vanessa Redgrave is an English actress. Throughout her career spanning over six decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and an Olivier Award, making her one of the few performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. She has also received various honorary awards, including the BAFTA Fellowship Award, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and an induction into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE was an English actor and filmmaker. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), as well as two BAFTA nominations for Best British Actor for his performances in The Night My Number Came Up (1955) and Time Without Pity (1957).
Lynn Rachel Redgrave was a British-American actress. She won two Golden Globe Awards during her career.
Margaret Forster was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and critic, best known for the 1965 novel Georgy Girl, made into a successful film of the same name, which inspired a hit song by The Seekers. Other successes were a 2003 novel, Diary of an Ordinary Woman, biographies of Daphne du Maurier and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and her memoirs Hidden Lives and Precious Lives.
Rachel, Lady Redgrave, known primarily by her birth name Rachel Kempson, was an English actress. She married Sir Michael Redgrave, and was the matriarch of the famous acting dynasty.
Tessa Charlotte Rampling is an English actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model. She was cast in the role of Meredith in the 1966 film Georgy Girl, which starred Lynn Redgrave. She soon began making French and Italian arthouse films, notably Luchino Visconti's The Damned (1969) and Liliana Cavani's The Night Porter (1974). She went on to star in many European and English-language films, including Stardust Memories (1980); in The Verdict (1982); Long Live Life (1984), and The Wings of the Dove (1997). In the 2000s, she became the muse of French director François Ozon, appearing in several of his films, notably Swimming Pool (2003) and Young & Beautiful (2013). On television, she is known for her role as Dr. Evelyn Vogel in Dexter (2013).
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress. A member of the Redgrave family, Richardson was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson.
Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Julia McNamara in the FX drama series Nip/Tuck (2003–2010) and Katherine Parr in the Showtime series The Tudors (2010). She has also appeared in films such as 101 Dalmatians (1996), Event Horizon (1997), The Patriot (2000), Return to Me (2000), Anonymous (2011), the Hollywood film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), the remake of Endless Love (2014), the thriller Red Sparrow (2018), and The Turning (2020).
Barbara Parkins is a Canadian-American former actress, singer, dancer and photographer.
The Redgrave family is a British acting dynasty, spanning five generations. Members of the family worked in theatre beginning in the nineteenth century, and later in film and television. Some family members have also written plays and books. Vanessa Redgrave is the most prominent, having won Oscar, Tony, Golden Globe and Emmy Awards.
Ivan John Clark was an English actor, director and producer. Clark is probably best known for his role as Just William in theatre and radio in the late 1940s and as the former husband of actress Lynn Redgrave, to whom he was married for 33 years. However, he established himself as a stage actor and director after moving to the United States in 1960, and became noted for directing plays featuring his wife in the 1970s beginning with A Better Place at Dublin's Gate Theatre (1973), then in America The Two of Us (1975), Saint Joan (1977–78), and a tour of California Suite (1976). In 1981, he directed an episode of the CBS television series House Calls, in which Redgrave starred.
The 39th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1966, were held on April 10, 1967, hosted by Bob Hope at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California.
Smashing Time is a 1967 British satirical comedy film directed by Desmond Davis starring Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave. It is a satire on the 1960s media-influenced phenomenon of Swinging London. It was written by George Melly.
The 24th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1966, were held on February 15, 1967.
Georgy is a musical with a book by Tom Mankiewicz, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by George Fischoff. The story is based on the Margaret Forster novel Georgy Girl and the subsequent 1966 film adaptation,
The 32nd New York Film Critics Circle Awards, honored the best filmmaking of 1966.
Silvio Narizzano was a Canadian film and television director who worked primarily in the United Kingdom. His directorial credits included the critically acclaimed films Georgy Girl (1966), Loot (1970) and Why Shoot the Teacher? (1977), which brought Narizzano several accolades, and television dramas like ITV Play of the Week, Zero One, Court Martial, Come Back, Little Sheba, Staying On, and The Body in the Library. He was nominated for four BAFTA Awards, winning once for Best Drama Series.
Loot is a 1970 British comedy film directed by Silvio Narizzano starring Richard Attenborough, Lee Remick, Hywel Bennett, Milo O'Shea and Roy Holder. It is based on the play of the same name by Joe Orton. It was entered into the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.
Blue is a 1968 American Western film directed by Silvio Narizzano and starring Terence Stamp, Joanna Pettet, Karl Malden, Ricardo Montalbán, and Stathis Giallelis. The film was made in Panavision anamorphic and released by Paramount Pictures on May 10, 1968.
English actress Charlotte Rampling began her acting career in 1965. She has appeared in more than 110 films. Her film roles include Georgy Girl (1966), The Damned (1969), Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), The Night Porter (1974), Farewell, My Lovely (1975), Stardust Memories (1980), The Verdict (1982), Angel Heart (1987), DOAThe Duchess (2008), 45 Years (2015), and Hannah (2017). She has also made television appearances, which include Dexter, Restless, Broadchurch and London Spy.