Girl with Green Eyes | |
---|---|
Directed by | Desmond Davis |
Written by | Edna O'Brien |
Produced by | Oscar Lewenstein |
Starring | Peter Finch Rita Tushingham Lynn Redgrave Marie Kean Arthur O'Sullivan Julian Glover |
Cinematography | Manny Wynn |
Edited by | Brian Smedley-Aston |
Music by | John Addison |
Production company | |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £140,000 [1] |
Girl with Green Eyes is a 1964 British romantic drama film directed by Desmond Davis and starring Peter Finch, Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave and Julian Glover. Adapted by Edna O'Brien from her novel The Lonely Girl, the film tells the story of a young, naive country girl's romance with a sophisticated older man. As the film is in black and white, the green eyes are never seen.
The film studies the blossoming relationship between a young girl and a man twice her age.
Kate Brady, a young girl just out of convent school, moves from her family home in the rural Irish countryside to Dublin, where she works in a grocery shop and rooms with her friend and schoolmate, Baba Brennan. The girls go dancing at clubs and date young men they meet, but the down-to-earth Baba is more socially adept than shy, romantic Kate. On a ride to the countryside with one of Baba's boyfriends, the girls meet Eugene Gaillard, a sophisticated middle-aged author.
Kate is attracted to him, and when she happens to see him again in a Dublin bookshop, uncharacteristically approaches him and strikes up a conversation. A friendship, and later a romantic relationship, develops between Kate and Eugene despite their age difference. Although clearly in love, and happy to join him in bed, she is unable to have sex. The repeated inability to have sex with Eugene starts to take its toll. The relationship worsens on her discovery that he is married with a child, although separated from his wife who has gone to the United States to obtain a divorce.
When Kate's father learns that his daughter is seeing a married man and thus apparently committing adultery, he and his friends go to Dublin and force Kate to return to his rural home. She sneaks out on the first morning but is waylaid by a cowhand. Later when the priest begins to lecture her she runs off. She returns to Eugene. Kate's father and his friends appear unexpectedly and punch Eugene in the face, but are driven off by his no-nonsense housekeeper Josie, who fires a shotgun at the ceiling and threatens them with the second barrel, forcing them to leave. Kate and Eugene then finally succeed in consummating their relationship.
He buys her a ring and Kate treats it as a wedding ring. She starts wearing make-up and wearing her hair up, looking much more sophisticated. She tells a stranger "I got married today". They live together for a time.
Eventually, Kate becomes unhappy as Eugene does not share her Catholic beliefs, his friends do not regard Kate seriously, and he continues to correspond with his estranged wife, for whom he still has some feelings. When Eugene's wife sends a plane ticket Kate gives him an ultimatum to choose but he does not react as she wishes and it is the beginning of the end.
Kate leaves Eugene and returns to Baba, who is packing to move to London. She invites Kate to come along with her. Kate hopes that Eugene will come after her and she looks expectantly at the people on the dock edge as they sail off. He does not appear. Instead he sends word through Baba that their break-up is probably for the best. He wishes he had been younger or she had been more mature. Kate narrates explaining that she has changed and that she goes to night school. She meets "different people, different men".
In his 1964 review in The New York Times , critic Bosley Crowther compliments the film's overall structure and tone, especially with regard to the leading actors' simply presented but evocative portrayals of emotion:
Girl with Green Eyes is another of those remarkably fresh and natural films that have come from the Woodfall organisation, which is sparked by protean Tony Richardson and which has given us such a dazzling range of pictures as A Taste of Honey , Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Tom Jones . While it is not as ambitious or extensive as any of those, it is a wonderfully tender, touching and humorous little drama of a lonely Irish girl. [2]
Similarly, in its contemporary assessment of the film, the American trade publication Variety describes it as having "the smell of success" and characterises Desmond Davis as a director who "is imaginative, prepared to take chances and has the sympathy to draw perceptive performances from his cast". [3]
A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest, female companion or (occasionally) an adversary of James Bond in a novel, film, or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or sexual puns, such as Plenty O'Toole, Holly Goodhead, or Xenia Onatopp. The female leads in the films, such as Ursula Andress, Honor Blackman, or Eva Green, can also be referred to as "Bond girls". The term Bond girl may also be considered as an anachronism, with some female cast members in the films preferring the designation Bond woman.
Josie and the Pussycats is a teen-humor comic book about a fictional rock band, created by Dan DeCarlo and published by Archie Comics. It was published from 1963 until 1982; since then, one-shot issues have appeared on an irregular basis. A second series, set in the New Riverdale universe, launched in September 2016.
Rita Tushingham is a British actress. She is known for her starring roles in films including A Taste of Honey (1961), The Leather Boys (1964), The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Smashing Time (1967). For A Taste of Honey, she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and Most Promising Newcomer at both the BAFTA Awards and Golden Globe Awards. Her other film appearances include An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), Under the Skin (1997), Being Julia (2004), and Last Night in Soho (2021).
Never Been Kissed is a 1999 American romantic comedy film directed by Raja Gosnell, and starring Drew Barrymore, Jessica Alba, David Arquette, Michael Vartan, Leelee Sobieski, Jeremy Jordan, Molly Shannon, Garry Marshall and John C. Reilly.
A Stolen Life is a 1946 American drama film starring Bette Davis, who also produced it. The film, based on the 1935 novel A Stolen Life by Karel Josef Benes, was directed by Curtis Bernhardt. Among the supporting cast are Glenn Ford, Dane Clark, Peggy Knudsen, Charlie Ruggles, and Bruce Bennett. It is a remake of the 1939 British film Stolen Life starring Elisabeth Bergner and Michael Redgrave.
Looking for Alibrandi is a 2000 Australian coming-of-age film directed by Kate Woods and written by Melina Marchetta. The film is set in 1990s Sydney, New South Wales and features a cast of Australian actors, including Pia Miranda as Josephine Alibrandi, the film's main character; Anthony LaPaglia as her father, Michael Andretti, who left her and her mother before her birth; and Kick Gurry as Josie's love interest, Jacob Coote. The film won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film in 2000.
Valley Girl is a 1983 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge and written and produced by Wayne Crawford and Andrew Lane. Loosely based on the tragedy Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the film centers on the romance between a valley girl and a city punk. Michelle Meyrink, Elizabeth Daily, Cameron Dye and Michael Bowen appear in supporting roles. Valley Girl was released in the United States on April 29, 1983, to critical and commercial success.
The Country Girls is a trilogy by Irish author Edna O'Brien. It consists of three novels: The Country Girls (1960), The Lonely Girl (1962), and Girls in Their Married Bliss (1964). The trilogy was re-released in 1986 in a single volume with a revised ending to Girls in Their Married Bliss and addition of an epilogue. The Country Girls, both the trilogy and the novel, is often credited with breaking silence on sexual matters and social issues during a repressive period in Ireland following World War II and was adapted into a 1983 film. All three novels were banned by the Irish censorship board and faced significant public disdain in Ireland.
Looking for Alibrandi is the debut novel of Australian author Melina Marchetta, published in 1992. A film adaptation of the same name was made in 2000.
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.
Wetherby is a 1985 British mystery drama film written and directed by playwright David Hare and starring Vanessa Redgrave, Ian Holm, Judi Dench, Stuart Wilson, Tim McInnerny, and Suzanna Hamilton.
The Trap is a 1966 British-Canadian adventure western film directed by Sidney Hayers and starring Oliver Reed and Rita Tushingham. Shot in the wilderness of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the film is an unusual love story about a rough trapper and a mute orphan girl.
Nineteen Minutes (2007) is the fourteenth novel by the American author Jodi Picoult. It was Picoult's first book to debut at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. This novel follows the unfolding of a school shooting, including the events leading up to the incident and the aftermath of the incident.
Desmond Stanley Tracey Davis was a British film and television director, best known for his 1981 version of Clash of the Titans.
A Place to Go is a 1963 British crime drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Bernard Lee, Rita Tushingham and Michael Sarne. It was based on the 1961 novel Bethnal Green by Michael Fisher.
The Wild and the Willing is a 1962 British romantic drama film, directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Virginia Maskell, Paul Rogers, and Samantha Eggar. It is the film debuts of Ian McShane, John Hurt, and Samantha Eggar. It was written by Nicholas Phipps and Mordecai Richler based on the 1960 play The Tinker by Laurence Doble and Robert Sloman.
Fresh Meat is a British comedy-drama television series created by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, who also created Peep Show.
Moondance is a 1994 drama film based on the 1936 novel The White Hare by Francis Stuart. It was directed by Dagmar Hirtz and stars Rúaidhrí Conroy, in his second feature film following Into the West. It also features Ian Shaw, Julia Brendler and Marianne Faithfull, who also provided the vocals for the song "Madam George" written by Van Morrison, who wrote the lyrics for the songs included in the soundtrack.
Green Eyes is a 1977 American made-for-television war drama film directed by John Erman and written by Eugene Logan and David Seltzer. It is a "touching and moving story" about a Vietnam veteran Lloyd Dubeck who went through a soul searching journey.
The Delinquent Season is a 2018 Irish romantic drama film written and directed by Mark O'Rowe in his feature film directorial debut. It follows the story of two married couples in suburban Dublin who begin to experience difficulties in their respective relationships. The film was released theatrically in Ireland on 27 April 2018 by Element Pictures.