Janet Munro has a bit of a cult because she died so young and played "the girl" memorably in a bunch of cult movies - notably The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Swiss Family Robinson and Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
This film gave her a rare lead role - as in, the film actually centers around her character, she isn't an ornament or a reward. It's a shame it isn't better.
I mean, the role gives her a lot of chances to Act. A lot. In the opening scene she comes home trashed, wrecks her apartment, scribbles lipstick all over the mirror, staggers around. Then it flashes back to her being bored in Wales - she goes out one night and gets drunk with some sleazy dudes, wakes up naked in bed in London after having has sex without remembering (being raped basically).
She staggers around miserable then meets the Perfect Man - John Stride, a kind, understanding bartender who thinks she's wonderful... mind you even though she's tired and under the weather he still has sex with her. She is willing in this case but the power dynamic isn't exactly equal (he's looked after her, paid her rent, organised the room, etc).
And then later on when she wants to go out and get a job he's jealous and later on he's possessive. She goes out anyway - he still loves her. She goes to a party - she starts flirting with married Alan Badel. Strine begs for her to come back, she tells him "he's nothing"... which is kind of inconsistent with how her character and their relaitonship has been depicted.
She goes nuts and overdoses. John Stride goes and hooks up with the nice girl who pines after him.
This is horrible sexist claptrap. I think the filmmakers thought they were cutting edge with social realism - a bit of rape and sex.
But at heart it's about a woman with ambition who is punished. The filmmakers give us such empathy for Munro to start off with - she comes from a boring town, she's got nothing to look forward to, men ply her with alcohol and she is raped... but then they depict her as dumb and silly (she just wants to be famous).
It is not a fun movie. At first I felt for Munro then as the film went on it just got unpleasant and I started to hate the movie. The filmmakers do not like her character -they patronise and pity her. It's like it was made by old men going "tsk tsk". They don't give her any agency. It sucks.
Munro does what she can.
This was made by Independent Artists, a production company who made some interesting films in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This isn't one of them.
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