Georgy Girl (1966)

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Probably one of the most popular of movie themes from the Sixties is Hey There Georgy Girl from which The Seekers sold a gazillion records. It perfectly captures the mood of the film set in swinging London of the Sixties.Lynn Redgrave got a deserved Best Actress nomination for playing the title role, a somewhat dowdy, but incredibly vivacious young lady who is just itching to explore life. Her father's employer James Mason who has seen Georgy grow up and he's liking what he sees. Giving music lessons is what keeps Georgy in spending money as she shares her flat with the beautiful Charlotte Rampling and her randy boyfriend Alan Bates. When Bates knocks up Rampling the arrival of the new one changes all their lives.Redgrave is so vivacious in the star role that if Elizabeth Taylor hadn't been up the same year for Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Lynn might have copped the Oscar. Mason got a nomination for Best Supporting Actor though with his name he got first billing. The film also got nominations for the song Hey There Georgy Girl and for black&white cinematography.Unjustly neglected is Charlotte Rampling as the beautiful and selfish roommate. She makes it clear she's giving up the child and Bates at Redgrave try to make a go of it. But he's not about to commit.Sometimes the wrong people do bring the little ones into the world. In the end as Mason and Redgrave marry and there's an instant family, the entire audience gives it's good wishes that they'll make it. And some of the best families are created this way.Georgy Girl led by Lynn Redgrave's vivacity is as fresh as it was in 1966.

This kitchen sink, Richard Lester hybrid with it's chart busting tune makes a mighty attempt to masque sad tragic and venal lives with frivolity in swinging London in the 60s.Frumpy, got no expectations Georgy (Lynn Redgrave) is pursued by parents recently widowed employer, James Leamington (James Mason ) to be his mistress. She opts out to make the scene with care free Joe (Alan Bates) and Merideth . When Merideth gives birth to Joe's child she rejects it. Georgy steps in and takes the child to raise along with Joe before returning to Mr Leamington with an ultimatum.The undercurrent of ugliness soon overwhelms the lighter moments of this film centered around four individuals operating at various levels of deceit between each other as well as themselves. They are all desperate in their own way and act accordingly.The four leads do a fine job of annoying with Mason adding to his formidable reputation as a pathetic cad. Bates is a touch too zany and Redgrave a tad too naive but Charlotte Rampling's coldness and contemptuous Merideth is both despicable and riveting.Stripped down Georgy Girl is a grim drama in a callous world as gray as the London sky that it's filmed in but it's smug carefree treatment discounts both the humanity and believability that is conveyed for most of the film's length in an ambiguous and uneven fashion.

Georgy Girl is truly an amazing little film. What makes it stand out? The acting. These people are actors. Every actor training today should watch these people. Every glance, every laugh, every move these actors make is real and true and just perfect in it's delivery. The story itself isn't really all that fascinating or attractive. There are some really odd characters here. One would think that Georgy, who is also odd, would want to run as fast as she can to get away from these people. But Georgy takes an awkward situation and turns it into something great for herself and her new baby.Every person who has ever felt lonely or unappreciated despite how hard they try will probably find something here to identify with and that is one reason why people will love this film.

Marvelous film, an extension of the British kitchen-sink dramas from earlier in the decade (but with a friskier spirit), introduced audiences to Vanessa Redgrave's kid sister, Lynn (in an Oscar-nominated performance). She's Georgina, a too-tall, plain and frumpy, kissless clown, a nursery school teacher who plays second-fiddle to her more beautiful flat-mate--and harbors a crush on her pal's sexy boyfriend in the bargain. While dodging the advances of her father's wealthy employer, Georgina also serves as nursemaid to her roommate when she becomes pregnant, never dreaming of the circumstances to follow. From Margaret Forster's novel, which she co-adapted with Peter Nichols, the film is visually alive, stylish and skittering about with "free and easy" abandon (yet with moral choices and a sobering heart at its center). Redgrave is nothing short of fabulous here; her "Georgy" is often slumped over sulking, an easy mark with little sense of humor--she's either completely inflexible or terribly over-eager. The writing is so clever and enticing for everyone on-screen that the supporting characters tend to upstage Redgrave (and, indeed, her moods are exasperating near the end), but Lynn is a wonderful presence. Also excellent: Charlotte Rampling as pregnant Meredith (who gets the film's most viciously funny lines), Alan Bates as her devilish lover, and James Mason as the older man who is the first to harbor a fancy for our heroine. A delightful bit of comedy-drama, one of the few from this era not to use 'mod' touches to set the time and place. It is as fresh and breezy today as in 1966. *** from ****