Beat Girl (1960)
(Wild for Kicks)
Country: GB
Technical: bw 83m
Director: Edmond T. Gréville
Cast: David Farrar, Noëlle Adam, Gillian Hills, Adam Faith, Shirley Anne Field, Peter McEnery, Christopher Lee, Nigel Green, Oliver Reed
Synopsis:
London, and a wealthy architect returns home with his new French bride, but his daughter doesn't want to know. She and her Beatnik friends have turned their backs on the old world and the Bomb; everything is either 'cool' or 'square', Daddy-O. Trouble is, across the road from their cafe is a strip joint, and one of stepmum's old friends works there.
Review:
This British Rebel without a Cause, made at MGM Borehamwood (spot the conspicuous location footage of actual Soho), is a hysterically permissive but fundamentally conservative flirtation with adult entertainment for kids by the British film establishment (witness the drop dead cast and Edgar Wallace-style production values). It fell accordingly foul of the censor, mainly thanks to a jaw-dropping 'exotic dance' (by Pascaline) that baptises underage Jennifer in the aesthetics of the adult entertainment business. In fact it is hopelessly confused about its transgressiveness: the Beatnik crowd are a hopelessly chaste and abstemious lot, but then insanely irresponsible in their 'chicken' antics. Meanwhile, Faith is able to hold forth with the odd rock ballad without a backing group or amplification while another band (the John Barry Seven, no less) or jukebox carries on regardless. In short, there is plenty to entertain here, even if it has little to do with advancement of the seventh art.
(Wild for Kicks)
Country: GB
Technical: bw 83m
Director: Edmond T. Gréville
Cast: David Farrar, Noëlle Adam, Gillian Hills, Adam Faith, Shirley Anne Field, Peter McEnery, Christopher Lee, Nigel Green, Oliver Reed
Synopsis:
London, and a wealthy architect returns home with his new French bride, but his daughter doesn't want to know. She and her Beatnik friends have turned their backs on the old world and the Bomb; everything is either 'cool' or 'square', Daddy-O. Trouble is, across the road from their cafe is a strip joint, and one of stepmum's old friends works there.
Review:
This British Rebel without a Cause, made at MGM Borehamwood (spot the conspicuous location footage of actual Soho), is a hysterically permissive but fundamentally conservative flirtation with adult entertainment for kids by the British film establishment (witness the drop dead cast and Edgar Wallace-style production values). It fell accordingly foul of the censor, mainly thanks to a jaw-dropping 'exotic dance' (by Pascaline) that baptises underage Jennifer in the aesthetics of the adult entertainment business. In fact it is hopelessly confused about its transgressiveness: the Beatnik crowd are a hopelessly chaste and abstemious lot, but then insanely irresponsible in their 'chicken' antics. Meanwhile, Faith is able to hold forth with the odd rock ballad without a backing group or amplification while another band (the John Barry Seven, no less) or jukebox carries on regardless. In short, there is plenty to entertain here, even if it has little to do with advancement of the seventh art.
(Wild for Kicks)
Country: GB
Technical: bw 83m
Director: Edmond T. Gréville
Cast: David Farrar, Noëlle Adam, Gillian Hills, Adam Faith, Shirley Anne Field, Peter McEnery, Christopher Lee, Nigel Green, Oliver Reed
Synopsis:
London, and a wealthy architect returns home with his new French bride, but his daughter doesn't want to know. She and her Beatnik friends have turned their backs on the old world and the Bomb; everything is either 'cool' or 'square', Daddy-O. Trouble is, across the road from their cafe is a strip joint, and one of stepmum's old friends works there.
Review:
This British Rebel without a Cause, made at MGM Borehamwood (spot the conspicuous location footage of actual Soho), is a hysterically permissive but fundamentally conservative flirtation with adult entertainment for kids by the British film establishment (witness the drop dead cast and Edgar Wallace-style production values). It fell accordingly foul of the censor, mainly thanks to a jaw-dropping 'exotic dance' (by Pascaline) that baptises underage Jennifer in the aesthetics of the adult entertainment business. In fact it is hopelessly confused about its transgressiveness: the Beatnik crowd are a hopelessly chaste and abstemious lot, but then insanely irresponsible in their 'chicken' antics. Meanwhile, Faith is able to hold forth with the odd rock ballad without a backing group or amplification while another band (the John Barry Seven, no less) or jukebox carries on regardless. In short, there is plenty to entertain here, even if it has little to do with advancement of the seventh art.