Sky West and Crooked – 1965 | 102 mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Slow-moving love story directed with a sure hand by John Mills, adapted from a book by his novelist wife Mary Hayley Bell, and starring his daughter Hayley Mills – who gives a wonderful emotive performance here. Ian McShane, Laurence Naismith and Annette Crosbie also appear. The English countryside is beautifully photographed in Eastman Colour by Arthur Ibbetson.

This is the story of a fey 17-year-old girl, Brydie (Hayley Mills), who struggles to overcome the trauma of witnessing an accidental death, her subsequent regression into childhood and a romance with a gypsy boy. Ostracised by her fellow West Country villagers, she is blamed for the shooting accident in which her friend was killed. But after years of resentment and neglect, the traumatized teenager has her first taste of romance when a handsome young gypsy boy Roibin (Ian McShane) falls for her, oblivious to her problems. The mismatched couple are soon the focus of abuse as deep-seated prejudices bubble to the surface.

When Brydie encounters the dead boy’s father (Laurence Naismith) late one evening in the graveyard he pressurises her into recalling suppressed memories of the fateful day his son was killed. Unable to comprehend such an intense subject, Brydie runs away and keeps on running until falling into a nearby river, as she flails her arms helplessly in the water memories of the past come flooding back. Fortuitously, Roibin is nearby and wades into the water and rescues her.