The World Ten Times Over

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The World Ten Times Over
Twttopos.jpg
British film poster
Directed by Wolf Rilla
Written by Wolf Rilla
Produced byMichael Luke
Starring Sylvia Syms
Edward Judd
June Ritchie
William Hartnell
CinematographyLarry Pizer
Edited byJack Slade
Music by Edwin Astley
Production
companies
Associated British Picture Corporation presents
A Cyclops Production
Distributed by Warner-Pathé Distributors (UK)
Release dates
  • 31 October 1963 (1963-10-31)(London, England)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£110,036 [1]
Box office£36,519 (distributor receipt) [1]

The World Ten Times Over (US title Pussycat Alley) is a 1963 British drama film written and directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Sylvia Syms, June Ritchie, Edward Judd and William Hartnell. [2] Donald Sutherland makes a brief appearance, in one of his earliest roles. The British Film Institute has described it as the first British film to deal with an implicitly lesbian relationship. [3]

Contents

Plot

The lives of two club hostesses Billa and Ginnie, who work in the Soho area of London, have their friendship challenged by jealousies arising when Ginnie becomes romantically involved with Bob, a rich married businessman.

Cast

Production

The film marked the debut of Cyclops Productions, a company formed by Wolf Rilla and producer Michael Luke. Finance was provided by Associated British. Filming started in January 1963 and took place on location in London and at Elstree Studios. [4]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Wolf Rilla's direction lacks any distinctively personal tone, and the film's stylistic coherence is further weakened by an indulgence in those shock effects and crude linking devices so beloved of British film-makers. The low point of the film is perhaps the climactic night-club sequence, tastelessly conceived and crudely executed, during which the old 'warm-hearted tart' cliché is turned inside out, to unpleasant and implausible effect. The players, handicapped by some inapposite casting, cope as best they severally can with the unmemorable dialogue, but even William Hartnell (made up to look unnervingly like Lord Attlee in his Prime Ministerial days) is unusually ineffective, Sarah Lawson's brief but telling appearance, and Larry Pizer's polished photography, in fact, are the consolations of this further monument to Elstree's evident aspirations towards emulating the 'Free French'." [5]

Variety wrote, "The result is overdramatic but provides opportunities for deft thesping. Nightclub and location sequences in London have a brisk authenticity," the reviewer went on to praise Sylvia Syms' performance, "Her scenes with her father (William Hartnell) are excellent. Hartnell, playing the unworldly, scholarly father, who has no contact with his daughter, also gives an observant study. The other two principals are more phonily drawn characters. Edward Judd seems strangely uneasy in his role and Ritchie, despite many firstrate moments, sometimes appears as if she is simply jumping through paper hoops." [6]

TV Guide gave the film two out of four stars, concluding, "this is a somewhat stylized film, but the story is too depressing to make it work in the long run." [7]

The BFI praised Sym's "moving, melancholic performance." [3]

Filmink said some viewers have "read this as a lesbian love story – maybe it is, but it’s definitely a female friendship story, very feminist for its time." [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 219.
  2. ↑ "The World Ten Times Over". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  3. 1 2 "The World Ten Times Over". British Film Institute . Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  4. ↑ "Can Mr Peck Charm Cinemagoers from Chair by the Fire?". Herald Express. 14 January 1963. p. 4.
  5. ↑ "The World Ten Times Over". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 30 (348): 156. 1 January 1963 – via ProQuest.
  6. ↑ Variety Staff (1 January 1963). "Review: 'The World Ten Times Over'".
  7. ↑ "Pussycat Alley". TVGuide.com.
  8. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (22 February 2023). "The Surprisingly Saucy Cinema of Sylvia Syms". Filmink. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
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