Our Girl Friday

Last updated

Our Girl Friday
Our Girl Friday FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Noel Langley
Written by Noel Langley
Based on The Cautious Amorist by Norman Lindsay
Produced byNoel Langley
George Minter
Starring Joan Collins
George Cole
Kenneth More
Robertson Hare
Cinematography Wilkie Cooper
Edited by John Seabourne
Music by Ronald Binge
Production
companies
Langley-Minter Productions
Renown
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • 1 December 1953 (1953-12-01)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Our Girl Friday (U.S. title The Adventures of Sadie) is a 1953 British comedy film starring Joan Collins, George Cole, Kenneth More and Robertson Hare. [1] It is about a woman who is shipwrecked with three men on a deserted island.

Contents

The film was based on the Australian writer Norman Lindsay's 1932 novel The Cautious Amorist . [2]

Plot

A ship collision results in four survivors from an ocean liner winding up on a desert island: spoiled heiress Sadie, lecturer Professor Gibble, journalist Jimmy Carrol and ship's stoker Pat Plunket.

Carrol falls in love with Sadie and she kisses him. Gibble falls in love with Sadie. This causes conflict between Carrol and Gibble that results in Sadie wanting to move to the other side of the island to live alone.

Gibble gets the wrong impression that Pat and Sadie are intimate. Pat finds a bottle of rum and gets drunk.

Sadie takes over as leader on the island. When the men threaten to strike, she declares that the group will never function until she marries one of the men. They draw straws and Gibble gets the short straw, but tries to back out in favour of Pat. Then a ship appears and the group is rescued.

Safe on the ship, Gibble falls in love with Sadie again and asks her to marry him. So does Carrol. However, Sadie is in love with Pat, but he refuses her marriage proposal, saying they are too different. But Sadie persuades the ship's captain that Pat is obliged to marry her, but before it can happen that ship goes down.

Sadie wades ashore at the same island where Pat has already arrived.

Cast

Production

Film rights to Norman Lindsay's novel were purchased in 1948. The film was to be written and directed by Noel Langley and Robertson Hare was attached as a star. The original producer was John Sutro and the working title was Sadie was a Lady. [3] Lucille Ball was going to be the female star. [4] Then Jane Russell was going to play it. [5] By now George Minter was producer and the title was The Girl on the Island. [6] The film ended up not being made until several years later.

Joan Collins was borrowed from J. Arthur Rank to appear in the film. She wrote in her memoirs, "It was an absolutely gorgeous part. And funny, too. My yen to play comedy was developing. The script was hilarious and the three actors who were in it were important stars." [7]

"I wore a bikini and no make up", said Collins later. "It was quite restful and more like a holiday than work." [8] Collins later claimed that in this film she was the first actress to appear in a bikini on screen. Her character tears up a shirt into a makeshift one. [9]

The movie was mostly shot on location in Majorca, Spain, with studio work done in London. More's fee was £4,500. [10] Filming began 22 June 1953. [11]

Peter Sellars has an uncredited cameo as the voice of a cockatoo. [12]

Reception

Box office

Although the film was released after Genevieve (1953), which made More a star, it performed disappointingly at the box office. He later wrote the film "was not so successful as we had hoped. We had all enjoyed ourselves making it, but the result was a bit of a disappointment". [10]

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "This is a humourless comedy whlch makes little of its situation. The jokes are largely about Robertson Hare wearing a grass skirt and peeping at Sadie bathing in the sea." [13]

Kine Weekly said: "Bizarre romantic comedy. ... The picture has quite an amusing shipboard opening in which Hermione Gingold, the guest artist, scores as a fluttering spinster, but its main action occurs on the island. Joan Collins' acting ability is somewhat limited, but she strips well as Sadie. Robertson Hare contributes a characteristic study as the snooty Gibble, George Cole makes every line tell as Carrol, and Kenneth More registers as the exuberant Plunkett. The staging is effective, but Noel Langley's treatment wavers. The play's early shafts, directed at social humbug, intellectual snobbery and modern civilisation, are aimed slightly too high, but once the humour descends to knockabout, laughs flow freely." [14]

Variety said the film "does not come up to expectations". [15]

Filmink called it "whatever". [16]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Coy sex comedy for the family: pretty unbearable." [17]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Flimsy comedy just about gets by on the characters of the stars. First film in Eastman Colour." [18]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "This is one of those films that you think you've seen before until you realise that all the oh-so-familiar scenes have come from many different pictures. The story of amorous castaways competing for a single woman makes for a one-joke movie, although George Cole and Robertson Hare are amusing as the no-hopers tilting their caps at Joan Collins's very sexy Sadie." [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth More</span> British actor (1914–1982)

Kenneth Gilbert More, CBE was an English film and stage actor.

<i>Miss Robin Hood</i> 1952 British film

Miss Robin Hood is a 1952 British comedy film directed by John Guillermin, and starring Margaret Rutherford and Richard Hearne. Other actors involved include Dora Bryan, James Robertson Justice, Peter Jones, Sid James, Reg Varney, Kenneth Connor and Michael Medwin. The film features a variety of unusual camera work such as unexpected extreme close-ups and fast motion sequences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gregson</span> English actor (1919–1975)

John Gregson, born as Harold Thomas Gregson, was an English actor of stage, television and film, with 40 credited film roles. He was best known for his crime drama and comedy roles.

<i>Doctor in the House</i> (film) 1954 British film

Doctor in the House is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty Box. The screenplay, by Nicholas Phipps, Richard Gordon and Ronald Wilkinson, is based on the 1952 novel by Gordon, and follows a group of students through medical school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Kendall (actor)</span> English stage and film actor (1897–1962)

Henry Kendall AFC, was an English stage and film actor, theatre director and revue artiste.

<i>Lady Godiva Rides Again</i> 1951 British film

Lady Godiva Rides Again is a 1951 British comedy film starring Pauline Stroud, George Cole and Bernadette O'Farrell, with British stars in supporting roles or making cameo appearances. It concerns a small-town English girl who wins a local beauty contest by appearing as Lady Godiva, then decides to pursue a higher profile in a national beauty pageant and as an actress.

John Gervase Dighton was a British playwright and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Kent</span> English actress

Jean Kent, born Joan Mildred Field was an English film and television actress.

<i>The Weak and the Wicked</i> 1954 film by J. Lee Thompson

The Weak and the Wicked is a 1954 British drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson based on the autobiographical novel Who Lie in Gaol by his wife, Joan Henry, starring Glynis Johns and Diana Dors.

<i>The Good Die Young</i> 1954 British film by Lewis Gilbert

The Good Die Young is a 1954 British crime film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Joan Collins, Stanley Baker, Richard Basehart and John Ireland. It was made by Remus Films from a screenplay based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Richard Macaulay. It tells the story of four men in London with no criminal past whose marriages and finances are collapsing and, meeting in a pub, are tempted to redeem their situations by a robbery.

<i>Cosh Boy</i> 1953 film

Cosh Boy is a 1953 British film noir based on an original play by Bruce Walker. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and featured James Kenney and Joan Collins. It was made at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Shaw</span> English actress (1929–1978)

Susan Shaw was an English actress.

<i>Next to No Time</i> 1958 film by Henry Cornelius

Next to No Time, also known as Next to No Time!, is a 1958 British colour comedy film written and directed by Henry Cornelius and starring Kenneth More, Betsy Drake, John Laurie, Sid James and Irene Handl. It was based on Paul Gallico's short story The Enchanted Hour. It was the last feature film completed by Cornelius before his death in 1958. The film concerns an underconfident engineer who is helped by the advice of a ship's barman.

<i>The Hard Way</i> (1943 film) 1943 film by Vincent Sherman

The Hard Way is a 1943 Warner Bros. musical drama film starring Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, and Joan Leslie. Directed by Vincent Sherman, it is based on a story by Irwin Shaw which was reportedly based on Ginger Rogers' relationship with her first husband Jack Pepper and her mother Lela.

<i>Doctor in Love</i> 1960 British film by Ralph Thomas

Doctor in Love is a 1960 British comedy film, the fourth of the seven films in the Doctor series, directed by Ralph Thomas and starring James Robertson Justice and Michael Craig. It was the first film in the series not to feature Dirk Bogarde, although he did return for the next film in the series Doctor in Distress. It was loosely based on the 1957 novel of the same title by Richard Gordon.

<i>As Long as Theyre Happy</i> 1955 film by J. Lee Thompson

As Long as They're Happy is a 1955 British musical comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Jack Buchanan, Susan Stephen and Diana Dors. It is based on the 1953 play of the same name by Vernon Sylvaine. It was shot in Eastmancolor at Pinewood Studios near London with sets designed by the art director Michael Stringer.

<i>Keep It Clean</i> 1956 British film by David Paltenghi

Keep It Clean is a 1956 British black-and-white comedy film directed by David Paltenghi and starring Ronald Shiner and Joan Sims.

<i>The Feminine Touch</i> (1956 film) 1956 British film

The Feminine Touch is a 1956 colour British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring George Baker, Belinda Lee and Delphi Lawrence. In 1957 it was released as A Lamp Is Heavy in Canada, and The Gentle Touch in the United States.

The Hot Potato Boys is a 1963 Australian television play.

<i>Shameful Behavior?</i> 1926 film

Shameful Behavior? is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Albert H. Kelley and starring Edith Roberts, Richard Tucker and Martha Mattox. It is based on a 1910 short story of the same name by Marie Belloc Lowndes.

References

  1. ↑ "Our Girl Friday". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "THEY'VE BEEN TO THE MOON". The Argus . Melbourne. 6 August 1955. p. 39. Retrieved 25 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "LATEST FILM NEWS FROM ABROAD". The Sun . No. 11, 877. New South Wales, Australia. 19 February 1948. p. 19 (LATE FINAL EXTRA). Retrieved 25 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "LOVELY REDHEAD LEAVING FOR U.K." The Mirror . Vol. 25, no. 1363. Western Australia. 3 July 1948. p. 15. Retrieved 25 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "Lindsay Novel To Be Filmed". The Sydney Morning Herald . No. 34, 843. 24 August 1949. p. 3. Retrieved 25 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "Says Richard Kisch Americans Invade English Countryside". Sunday Times . No. 2688. Perth. 4 September 1949. p. 10. Retrieved 25 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ Collins, Joan (1985). Past imperfect : an autobiography. p. 40.
  8. ↑ Hopper, Hedda (1 May 1955). "JOAN COLLINS--with a BRAIN BEAUTY: Newest British Film Import Brings Looks and Talent to First Hollywood Assignment". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. o42.
  9. ↑ Solomons, Jason (5 June 2011). "Review: Agenda: The List: The 10 Best Cinema Swimwear scenes: As chosen by Jason Solomons, Observer Film Writer". The Observer. London. p. 6.
  10. 1 2 Kenneth More, More or Less, Hodder & Stoughton, 1978 p 160
  11. ↑ "'Girl Friday', by Aussie Author, Set as Color Pic". Variety. 10 June 1953. p. 16.
  12. ↑ Sikov, Ed (2002). Mr Strangelove : a biography of Peter Sellers. p. 84.
  13. ↑ "Our Girl Friday". Monthly Film Bulletin . 21 (240): 11. 1954 – via ProQuest.
  14. ↑ "Our Girl Friday". Kine Weekly . 441 (2425): 130. 17 December 1953 – via ProQuest.
  15. ↑ "Our Girl Friday". Variety. 30 December 1953. p. 6.
  16. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (16 April 2023). "Surviving Cold Streaks: Kenneth More". Filmink.
  17. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 768. ISBN   0586088946.
  18. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 358. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  19. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 693. ISBN   9780992936440.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.