Girl on Approval | |
---|---|
Directed by | Charles Frend |
Screenplay by | Kathleen White |
Produced by | Harold Orton |
Cinematography | John Coquillon |
Edited by | John Bloom |
Music by | Clifton Parker |
Production company | Eyeline Films |
Distributed by | Bryanston Films (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 75 min |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Girl on Approval is a 1961 black and white British drama film directed by Charles Frend and starring Rachel Roberts, James Maxwell and Annette Whiteley. [1]
Its budget was £22,494. [2]
Mr and Mrs Howland arrive at a children's home to collect Sheila, a troublesome 14 year old, who has had several foster parents before. They are taking her "on approval" for the weekend. They already have two children. They are warned that she thinks nobody wants her. We are told her father is unknown and her mother is in prison. They are told not to spoil her. They do not take her immediately. The social worker drives Sheila to their house on a Friday. Sheila tries to jump out of the car while they drive.
Sheila sits annoying the dog and picking a hole in the settee. She calms when they call her a young lady and offer her a sweet. Mrs Howland finds her suitcase packed and coat on in the middle of the night. After a fight she makes her a plate of chips, but he is still unsettled. She says she is not used to sleeping alone... so Mrs Howland joins her.She is allowed to sleep in to 11.30 and given a cup of tea in bed.
Mr Howland gives her a present: a pair of roller skates. She starts calling hem auntie and uncle.
Mrs Howland goes shopping and despite being charming, Sheila wanders off and steals a watch. Mrs Howland returns it. It becomes clear that Sheila's behaviour is a defence mechanism to stop herself getting hurt emotionally. The Howlands ask to keep her extra days. She starts helping a little by bathing the boys.
Mr Howland takes her to see the Treasure of Monte Cristo at the cinema. She moans about the seat. She starts to cause a rift between the couple.
Mr Howland goes to speak to the social worker who sees it as a vicious circle, and fears Sheila will treat her own children badly.
Sheila starts hanging around Mr Howland and Mrs Howland starts getting jealous. They get snappy with each other so Anne wants to send her back. But they persevere.
Mrs Howland takes Sheila for a new hairdo. Sheila gets the scissors and cuts it off. Mrs Howland goes to the social worker who points out that if her own children don't say thank you, why should she expect Sheila to say thank you.
Anne buys Stephen a toy gun. Mr Howland snaps it in half as he disapproves of war toys.
Another fight starts between Anne and Sheila when she refuses to pick up her wet towels in the bathroom. They cannot decide to keep her or let her go.
Sheila disappears on the evening on which she is meant to go. She wanders around at the park and looking at the children's home where she had been.
A man interviews Mrs Howland about he disappearance. Sheila ends up at a chip shop . She observes a courting couple then approaches a strange man. She changes her mind but he follows her. Mr Howland seeks the help of the police. Mr Howland rescues her just in time.
She stays an extra night. In the morning Sheila concludes she is only being tolerated due to the payment from the state.
As Sheila stands at the front door with her case the whistle blows on the kettle and she is asked to stay for tea. Anne gives her the first true hug just as the social worker arrives. But Mr Howland shows her out and they keep Sheila.
BFI Screenonline called it "a typical social drama of the period"; [3] Robert Shail thought it "added little" to director Charles Frend's reputation; [4] but myReviewer.com thought that despite being "a bit stilted," the film "is still a potent and emotive tale told well." [5]
Room at the Top is a 1959 British drama film based on the 1957 novel of the same name by John Braine. It was adapted by Neil Paterson, directed by Jack Clayton, and produced by John and James Woolf. The film stars Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears, Donald Wolfit, Donald Houston, and Hermione Baddeley.
Justine Kay Kendall McCarthy was an English actress and comedienne. She began her film career in the musical film London Town (1946), a financial failure. Kendall worked regularly until her appearance in the comedy film Genevieve (1953) brought her widespread recognition. Prolific in British films, Kendall also achieved some popularity with American audiences, and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her role in the musical-comedy film Les Girls (1957).
Sir Michael Elias Balcon was an English film producer known for his leadership of Ealing Studios in West London from 1938 to 1955. Under his direction, the studio became one of the most important British film studios of the day. In an industry short of Hollywood-style moguls, Balcon emerged as a key figure, and an obdurately British one too, in his benevolent, somewhat headmasterly approach to the running of a creative organization. He is known for his leadership, and his guidance of young Alfred Hitchcock.
Phyllis Hannah Murray-Hill, known professionally as Phyllis Calvert, was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s such as The Man in Grey (1943) and was one of the most popular movie stars in Britain in the 1940s. She continued her acting career for another 50 years.
Sheila Susan White was an English film, television and stage actress.
The Proud Valley is a 1940 Ealing Studios film starring Paul Robeson. Filmed in the South Wales coalfield, the principal Welsh coal mining area, the film is about a seaman who joins a mining community. It includes their passion for singing as well as the dangers and precariousness of working in a mine.
Northanger Abbey is a 1987 made-for-television film adaptation of Jane Austen's 1817 novel Northanger Abbey, and was originally broadcast on the A&E Network and the BBC on 15 February 1987. It is part of the Screen Two anthology series.
The Magic Box is a 1951 British Technicolor biographical drama film directed by John Boulting. The film stars Robert Donat as William Friese-Greene, with numerous cameo appearances by performers such as Peter Ustinov and Laurence Olivier. It was produced by Ronald Neame and distributed by British Lion Film Corporation.
Charles Herbert Frend was an English film director and editor, best known for his films produced at Ealing Studios. He began directing in the early 1940s and is known for such films as Scott of the Antarctic (1948) and The Cruel Sea (1953).
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush is a 1968 British comedy film produced and directed by Clive Donner and starring Barry Evans, Judy Geeson and Angela Scoular. The screenlay is by Hunter Davies based on his 1965 novel of the same name.
Ladybird, Ladybird is a 1994 British drama film directed by Ken Loach, starring Crissy Rock and Vladimir Vega. The film received positive reviews from critics, and Rock won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival.
A Way of Life is a 2004 British drama film directed by Amma Asante starring Stephanie James and Brenda Blethyn. It is Asante's debut film. The film portrays Leigh-Anne Williams, a teenage mother living in a dilapidated Cardiff council flat. Brenda Blethyn plays the child's paternal grandmother.
So Evil, So Young is a 1961 British Technicolor reform school prison film produced by the Danzigers, directed by Godfrey Grayson, and starring Jill Ireland and Ellen Pollock.
Millions Like Us is a 1943 British propaganda film, showing life in a wartime aircraft factory in documentary detail. It starred Patricia Roc, Gordon Jackson, Anne Crawford, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Moore Marriott and Eric Portman.
The Crowded Day is a 1954 British comedy drama film directed by John Guillermin and starring John Gregson, Joan Rice, Cyril Raymond and Josephine Griffin. The film follows a group of shopgirls working in Bunting and Hobbs, a London department store, during the Christmas shopping season. It was an attempt by Adelphi Films to move into bigger budgeted films. It was the last movie Guillermin directed for the company. It was released in the United States under the title Shop Spoiled.
Good-Time Girl is a 1948 British film noir-crime drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Jean Kent, Dennis Price and Herbert Lom. A homeless girl is asked to explain her bad behaviour in the juvenile court, and says she’s run away from home because she’s unhappy there. They explain in detail what happened to the last girl who thought she could cope on her own, and this becomes the main plot.
Violent Playground is a black and white 1958 British film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Stanley Baker, Peter Cushing, and David McCallum. The film, which deals with the genre of juvenile delinquent, has an explicit social agenda. It owes much to U.S. films of a similar genre.
San Demetrio London is a 1943 British World War II docudrama based on the true story of the 1940 salvage of the tanker MV San Demetrio by some of her own crew, who reboarded her after she had been set on fire by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer and then abandoned, during the Battle of the Atlantic. The film was produced by Michael Balcon for Ealing Studios and directed by Charles Frend.
David Copperfield is a BBC television serial starring Ian McKellen in the title role of the adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1850 novel that began airing in January 1966. It also featured Tina Packer as Dora Flora Robson as Betsey Trotwood, Gordon Gostelow as Barkis, and Christopher Guard as young David. The screenplay adaptation was written by Vincent Tilsley, who had previously helmed the 1956 adaptation almost a decade prior.
"The Spongers" is the 14th episode of eighth season of the British BBC anthology TV series Play for Today. The episode was a television play that was originally broadcast on 24 January 1978. "The Spongers" was written by Jim Allen, directed by Roland Joffé, produced by Tony Garnett, and starred Christine Hargreaves, Bernard Hill, Peter Kerrigan, and Paula McDonagh.
girl on approval 1961.