Georgy Girl (1966)

Handbook: Matthew Ayers

• Based on the novel by Margaret Forster

o Forster also co-wrote the screenplay

• Title song written by Tom Springfield and Jim Dale

o Performed by The Seekers

o Became a hit single

Director: Silvio Narizzano

• Born in Montreal. Worked at the CBC

• Moved to the UK in the early 1960s

• Georgy Girl: most successful film

• Die! Die! My Darling (1965)

• Why Shoot The Teacher? (1978)

Cast

Lynn Redgrave: Georgina ‘Georgy’

o Part of the Redgrave acting dynasty

• Tom Jones (1963)

• Girl with Green Eyes (1964)

• Georgy Girl (1966)

 • Gods and Monsters (1998)

Charlotte Rampling: Meredith

• Georgy Girl (1966)

• The Damned (1969)

• Vanishing Point (1971) (Deleted Scene)

• Stardust Memories (1980)

• Angel Heart (1987)

• “Meredith was so unlikeable that people said I wouldn't work any more -- they
thought I must be like her because I played her so convincingly.” (Rampling)

James Mason: James Leamington

• The Wicked Lady (1945)

• Julius Caesar (1953)

• A Star Is Born (1954)

• North By Northwest (1959)

 • Lolita (1962)

• The Boys From Brazil (1978)

Alan Bates: Jos

• A Kind Of Loving (1962)

• The Running Man (1963)

• Far From The Madding Crowd (1967)

• The Fixer (1968)

Awards

• Four Academy Award nominations

o Best Actress in a leading role

o Bes Actor in a supporting role

o Best cinematography, Black and White film

o Best Music, Original Song

• Four BAFTA Award nominations

• Lynn Redgrave won a golden globe for best actress in a comedy or musical

Themes

• Femininity

• Marriage

• Sexuality
• Courtship

• Free Love

• ‘Swinging London’

• Fashion/Image

Reviews/Commentary

• Out of England, that tortured kingdom, has come a film funnier, free-er,
more playful and imaginative than anything Hollywood has produced
within memory. The trials, turmoils, and final triumph of a girl who looks
like the back of a lorry, loping and clowning in a belted Mac, flat shoes,
and a hose’s tail of stringy hair, ferociously hiding a heart and soul of
immense tenderness and vulnerability-this female played brilliantly by yet
another Redgrave, Lynn, you are never likely to forget, or fail to cherish.’
(Mannes) Vouge

• The strongest support for the structure is the character Miss Redgrave
gives to this deeply dimensioned young woman, a feminine antithesis to
Alfie, you might say. It is her exceeding sensitivity to the nuances of this
girl and her dexterity in expressing these nuances that are the core of the
film. (Crowther) New York Times

• Georgy doesn’t want Meredith’s life; nor does she want to live up to her
father’s social ambitions for her. She is more or less happy loosely
presiding over an anarchic dance class for children, using her own
musique concrète compositions. The ending the film has in store for
Georgy is not conventionally inspiring, but is in line with the film’s
ultimate rejection of all 1960s London was meant to stand for. That
rejection, meanwhile, simply bounces off the indomitable Meredith.
Georgy Girl is less moralistic and less dated than its reputation as the
female Alfie might suggest. (Miller)

• Films aimed to capitalize on the densely intermedial phenomenon of

‘swinging London’ of which fashion was such an important component.
Numerous films featured the paradigmatic sixties retail environment
(Williams)

• By 1968 that domination was starkly apparent with Hollywood supporting

88 percent of all British first features and providing 90 percent of the total
investment in production.(Petrie)
• Georgy’s choices in the film are limited by her homely appearance as
much as by her humble background. She does not meet the physical
requirements of the period — she is not slim, nor pretty. Consequently,
although she does experiment with the new sexuality, she has to settle for
marriage to a man for whom she has no feelings other than gratitude.
Meredith, who does indeed fit the physical template of the desirable
‘dolly bird’ of the period, and who is casually promiscuous, is
depicted as unkind, even cruel. And although she may seem to escape in a
sports car, it is important to note that she is the passenger, not the driver.
(Gisbson)
 Questions

• From the advertising and reviews above, how was Georgy Girl promoted

and how does it compare with how the previous films were publicized?

• Does the title song suit the film and the ‘swinging London’ vibe?

• What are some similarities and differences between Georgy Girl and the

films we’ve previously discussed?

• What makes Georgy stand out from the other characters?

• How does the way James and Jos view Georgy affect her relationship with

each of them?

• What comedic elements stood out?

 • In what ways, if any, do Georgy/Meredith portray the attitude/style of the

swinging 60s?

• Does Meredith’s decision to marry Jos and have his baby fit her character?

• Does Georgy’s decision to marry James fall in line with her character?

• Does the final scene suggest the kind of wife Georgy will be?

Works Cited

“Charlotte Rampling: ‘I’m Not Interested in Easy Parts’; Charlotte Rampling Remembers
Her First Major Film Role in Georgy Girl, 1966, and Explains to Jessica Salter
Why Her New Film, I, Anna, about a Woman at the Most Vulnerable Point in Her
Life, Provides Her with the Exact Challenge She so Relishes.” The Telegraph
Online,2012. EBSCOhost,search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgi
n&AN =edsgcl.310420054&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Crowther, Bosley. "'Georgy Girl' is Puddin' and Pie: That 'Georgy Girl'." New York Times
(1923-Current file), Nov 06, 1966, pp. 137. ProQuest

"GeoRGY GiRL is BIG." Variety (Archive: 1905-2000), vol. 244, no. 10, Oct 26, 1966,
pp. 10-11. ProQuest

Gibson, Pamela Church. “From Up North to Up West? London on Screen 1965-

1967.” London Journal, vol. 31, no. 1, July 2006, p. 85. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edo&AN=22632112&site=eds-
live&scope=site.\

Mannes, M. (1966, Oct 15). Movies: "georgy girl"/"the pad (and how to use
it)". Vogue, 148, 79.

Miller, Henry K. “Georgy Girl.” Sight & Sound, vol. 29, no. 1/2, Jan. 2019, p.
131. EBSCOhost,

Petrie, Duncan “AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT IN UK FILM

PRODUCTION.” Transformation and Tradition in 1960s British Cinema,
Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2019, pp. 63–94. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctvnjbg46.7.

Williams, Melanie “COSTUME DESIGN.” Transformation and Tradition in 1960s

British Cinema, by, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2019, pp. 222–
240. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctvnjbg46.14.