1965 film
The Pleasure Girls is a1965 British drama film directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Francesca Annis, Ian McShane and Klaus Kinski.[3]
Plot
When Sally moves to London to pursue a modelling career, she moves in with Angela and Dee and discovers the world of the carefree "bachelor girl" in the Swinging London of the 1960s. Over one weekend – filled with parties, blossoming friendships, and romantic encounters with Keith and Nikko – the vivacious women learn about life's pleasures and pains.
Production
The film was based on a script by Gerry O'Hara. Film producer Raymond Stross liked the dialogue of one of O'Hara's other scripts and asked to read anything else the writer-director had. Stross suggested O'Hara write something set in Chelsea, so he wrote his script "A Time and a Place", which became The Pleasure Girls.
In a 2010 interview O'Hara said: "Probably our biggest star was Klaus Kinski, who got £900 for 10 days work in the film, just before he went off to appear in Dr. Zhivago. The entire shoot was only 20 days. It was shot in a house in Kensington; we didn’t have the money for a studio. Plus, it made the whole thing that much more realistic. Michael Reed shot it; he was very fast, very good. ... I hated the title, and I hated the title music. It had nothing to do with the film! But they didn’t consult me about it, so that’s what happened. Still, I think the movie is rather good."[2]
Critical reception
On the film's release Kine Weekly said: "This is very nearly a very good film, but it lacks the essential fullness of construction. However with the aid of a title that promises more than the story provides, it should please quite a large public. ... Points of appeal: sex, pretty girls, saucy title and quota ticket".[4]
Variety reviewed the film as "Slim, superficial yarn about young femme problems amid the bight lights; familiar situations, but some fair budding talent and occasional crisp direction of a routine pic".[5]
Sight and Sound wrote: "The London portrayed here is in transition and full of contradictions; we're on the cusp of the permissive Swinging 60s, and there are new freedoms for bachelor girls sharing a flat. At the same time, the old hierarchies are still in place – 'nice' girls don't have sex before marriage. ... It's a fascinating social document and is less dated than might be expected. Some of the dialogue may now grate a little but there is menace and intensity to the storytelling."[6]
Leslie Halliwell said: "The road to ruin sixties style, hackneyed but quite well observed."[7]
David Parkinson in The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "This attempt to show the problems facing a young model in the Swinging Sixties is an exasperating effort from writer/director Gerry O'Hara, who seems to think that incessant references to sexual freedom are enough to sustain a paper-thin story about the ever-changing relationships od Francesca Annis and her flatmates. The script strains every sinew to be gear and fab."[8]
Releases
The film was published in dual format edition (containing both DVD & Blu-ray on the one disc) by the BFI.[9] It was released as part of the "Flipside" strand. It was produced in an alternative export cut (Blu-ray only) and export version scenes (DVD only).[9]
