dougdoepke Passed over by men, a dowdy girl in 60's London manages a fairy tale ending with little help from her friends. Looks like this 50-year old ditzy flick has lost its cutting edge, and in the process, now looks plain silly. A frumpy lead, swinging London, and loosening morals may have set a chic tone then, but not now. Now there's nothing to smooth over the annoying Jos, the witchy Meredith, or the implausible James. Georgy's plain-girl plight is sympathetic and trans-generational, but not enough to compensate. Instead, the overdone antics are just too many. Note too, rather surprisingly, that it's ultimately the British establishment that's affirmed and not the swingers. It's businessman James's & his care of the baby that projects the future.Anyway, there are scattered good moments as when Georgy's natural innocence cavorts freely with the kids. Also, given the temptations, expert actress Redgrave refuses to milk her sympathetic part. But overall, the movie resembles a spicy cookie that's since crumbled into too many unsavory bits. But at least the delightful title tune survives.

SnoopyStyle Georgina Parkin (Lynn Redgrave) is a chubby frumpy well-educated outgoing talented young lady. Her parents are live-in servants to rich businessman James Leamington (James Mason) who starts to have romantic feelings for her who he had known as a child. He's in a loveless marriage and wants Georgy to sign a contract as his mistress. She lives with beautiful flirtatious Meredith (Charlotte Rampling) who's dismissive of Georgy. Meredith finds that she's pregnant and figures marrying her boyfriend Jos Jones (Alan Bates) as something different. He moves in with Meredith and Georgy. James' wife dies.Lynn Redgrave is adorably engaging as the chubby girl of the two. She is hilarious and perfectly reasonable why everybody loves her. Also she's so wacky as a character. It's a slice of swinging 60s London and the changing of the times. The rest of the characters are pretty horrible people which does tend to make the tone uneven. The performances are great. It's not all a light frolic. However there is nothing funnier than when James shows Georgy the contract for the first time.

Syl I do have complaints about the film but Lynn Redgrave's portrayal of outcast, Georgina better known as Georgy to her friends and family is absolutely wonderful. Lynn was truly a wonderful actress in film, stage, and television. In this film, she actually steals the spotlight from everybody else. Charlotte Rampling is also wonderful as her sister, Meredith. Bill Owen is great in his role as Georgy's father. We see little of Rachel Kempson, the lady of the house. Sir Alan Bates and James Mason play the men who entice Georgy's affections. The film is a British cinema classic of it's time and era. The cast is first rate but the writing could have been better as well. I kind of feel like the ending was a bit vague regarding her future and happiness. This film was really Lynn's best performance. She shattered the myth about the shy girl by making her multi-dimensional and alive. She is missed today and will always be.

moonspinner55 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 ****