MisterGrey

Hello all, new to these parts. I'm going to be honest first off and say that I haven't seen many British films. However, one British film I saw stuck with me hard: Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny, and Girly. I found a VHS copy of it going through an independent video store $5 bin four years ago, where they were selling the movies that hadn't been rented in over two years, in order to clear out stock for more popular titles. I saw Girly, but from the cover art, thought that it might be just some low-rent 1990s straight-to-video slasher flick. I came home and looked it up on the net, then rushed back the next day. Thankfully, it was still there, and it has been one of my most beloved movies ever since. I was saddened to find that I was one of about 200 people who even knew it existed, so last year I tried to get it out into the public eye by giving away copies of it (I did my homework first and couldn't find anything to indicate that anyone still owned the rights, or was profiting from the film). Unfortunately, a public domain horror film site wanted to help "bring back its popularity" by offering it as a DVD on their page, and, thinking that it would be for the greater good, I sent my original VHS so they wouldn't have to work off of a copy. Haven't seen my original since. Thankfully, I kept a copy.

But this is all just introductory rambling. What I really came here to post is, what's the story? I mean, I can find virtually zero information on the making of this film. I've tried my damndest to find the play it was supposedly based on, but all of my trolling used bookstores and Amazon has turned me up empty. All I've been able to find out is that Ursula Howells and Michael Bryant have both died, which I thought was a real shame, and that Vanessa Howard married a producer in the 70s and moved to America. Other than that... It seems like there's so much to tell. What went into the writing process? Was that a real house, or was it specially built for the film? What do some of the subtexts of the film really mean? And what really happened to the actors? I briefly considered starting up a webpage in hopes that someone linked to the movie might stumble across it, but I wouldn't really know where to start. Then I found this page and figured, a group of British film fans, (I'm assuming) many of them in the UK, might have access to a bit more information than me. So, anyone know anything?

Fellwanderer

Welcome Monsieur Eddie Gray [English joke - sorry about that. Well, not really sorry

Have you seen this:

http://www.eofftv.com/m/mum/mumsy_nanny_so..._girly_main.htm

FELL

All the best
FELL

A signature is no substitute for a life

smudge

Hello and welcome MisterGrey -

IIRC the house in question was Oakley Court, next to Hammer Films' old HQ at Bray Studios, nr. Windsor. In the mid 60s to mid 70s it was often exploited by film-makers, rather obviously, given that it was next door to the studios. It turns up in stuff like ROCKY HORROR and THE ROAD BUILDER around the same time.

There's a bit of info in Jonathan Rigby's ENGLISH GOTHIC, which is a good source for info on British horro films (ISBN 1-903111-01-3 available via REYNOLDS AND HEARN publishers Reynolds & Hearn Limited)

The director, Freddie Francis is still around and very fan-friendly. You might put his name into Google to see if you can find any interviews, or if you want to try to contact him, you could go via the British Film Institute - again, contactable via the web.

SMUDGE

Welcome to my house. Enter freely, and of your own will...

DB7

Don't read to much into the story, Francis intended it as a comedy/satire but from what I've read was unimpressed when he had to introduce the film to the crew of a latter film 'as a comedy.'

A darn shame that the lovely Imogen Hassall was bumped off so quickly.

JamesM

For some time now, 'Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly' has been due for release in the US and Europe on DVD by Salvation / Redemption Films.

I understand it is a personal favourite of Freddie Francis's. I have been in contact with the film's screenwriter, Brian Comport, with the view of recording an audio commentary for the film. He would be keen and if I succeed in persuading Salvation to engage in such an activity, we hope involving Freddie Francis will be a mere formality. So far Salvation have informed me they only produce any additional material in-house themselves so hopefully they will undertake my suggestion, which I had offered to do for them. So far, however, none of their older licensed titles have ever featured audio commentaries, or much in the way of additional material.

MarcMorris

A DVD is in the works as Redemption have picked up the rights. I have the tie-in paperback here:

Nucleus Films:
DVD Releasing + Extras Production

MisterGrey

Thanks for the quick replies!

I personally see it as a comedy/satire, myself. I've always figured that one of the reasons it failed commercially was that every bit of press I've turned up on it, from posters to adverts, is trying to push it as a horror film (most of the stuff I've found shows Vanessa Howard with an axe, or some scantily clad, faceless model holding a blood-drenched axe). I accept that it's supposed to be funny, and embrace it as such; but the filmed play aspect of it, and some other elements of the film, tell me that it's supposed to be an allegory of sorts. What, though, I can't figure out. I've thought perhaps that it's about the dissolution of the family in the age of hippes, but then I remember that this is a thoroughly British film, and I'm applying US events and mores to it. I figure that the naming of the characters by their identities, "the game," nailing shut the doors, and the centrality of the organ are all pieces of a bigger puzzle.

I was also completely ecstatic to see that a distributor has picked up DVD rights to the film, and plans to let US audiences in on "the game." I've been e-mailing indy horror distributors, including Anchor Bay, to try and get this released for the past year, but never got a response. When I heard that Subversive Cinema was releasing "The Candy Snatchers" I thought that I'd found a sympathetic ear at last, and fired off a passionate e-mail to them, but they didn't respond either. I wonder how this distributor got their hands on "Girly," and came to the decision to comercially release it at last? My only regret is that, from what I hear, there will be no special features. Still, it's better than no movie at all.

Edited to add:

Heh, I've got the paperback, too! Though I couldn't find any copies stateside, so I had to dish out $15 to get it shipped overseas. My copy is a bit different, a very cool illustration that I've never seen anywhere else, of a toy chest with the arms and legs of a corpse hanging over the sides, and the wooden placard propped against the side reading "RULE NUMBER ONE: PLAY THE GAME."

And James M, that's awesome that you've been talking to Mr. Comport. Let him know that people still appreciate his work!

Marky B

Welcome Mr Grey.
The lovely Imogen Hassal - did she not commit suicide in real life?
Ta Ta
Marky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

Fellwanderer

Overdose of sleeping pills according to IMDb - I hadn't realised it was so long ago.

FELL

All the best
FELL

A signature is no substitute for a life

DB7

Rather than society it tends to satirize the upper classes in particular - maybe even with a hint incest. (Goodbye Gemini could almost be a sequel were it not for Sonny getting bumped off). But like Loot the film's stage background can't be disguised despite Freddie's best attempt to open the story up and it remains fairly stagebound in the faux-chataeu.

MisterGrey

Well, what I meant by the filmed play aspect of it is that usually plays of the art-house nature, which it seems "Happy Family" was, usually have some sort of underlying message or moral to them (a'la "The House of Yes," which rang to me like a somewhat less entertaining, Americanized version of MNSG).

Please excuse me for being a babbler and ask ask asking, but I'm not too familiar with the workings of the British upper classes. What are some of the ways in which MNSG satirizes them? (I picked up the incest parts off the bat).

DB7

Primarily the presence and authority of Nanny and aspects like the garden party. Of course the one puzzle is where is Daddy? Unless I missed it his absence is never touched upon.

(and for Mr Crook it should be noted there's a touch of Peeping Tom's fatal voyeurism)

Steve Crook

I have a vague memory of either reading the book or seeing the film when it first came out.
But it's only a very vague memory.

Steve

MisterGrey

SPOILER

Near the very beginning of the film, two characters, Mumsy and Nanny, watch an unseen film reel, which they react to with near orgasmic fixation. Later on there is a scene where one of the characters, "Friend in Five," is made to "play the game," which entails him being stalked around the courtyard of the manor by another character, Sonny, with a bow and arrow. When Sonny corners Friend in Five with the bow and arrow, he uses a primitive 8mm camera to film himself shooting Friend in Five to death. After this, we see all of the characters sitting in a makeshift "theatre" watching the film of Sonny shooting Friend in Five. When the film ends, they re-wind the film reel so that they can watch it again.

Carmel

An uncle of mine sent me a dvd called Girly its directed by Freddie Francis and i think from 1969, what i wanted to know has anyone heard of it and is it worth the watch?i know its British but i have never heard of it before he said it was not a bad film if i like Brit movies (which i do) but if its rubbish i dont want to waste my time watching it, he also said it had been thought to have been long lost until early 2000 when copies poped up.