Known as Girly outside of the UK, this movie was the dream project of cinematographer-turned-director (turned cinematographer) Freddie Francis. He wanted a movie that he had complete creative control over, so he worked with writer Brian Comport to build the movie around Oakley Court. The film is based on the two-act play Happy Family by Maisie Mosco, which Comport had novelized as Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny, and Girly.
Mumsy (Ursula Howells), Nanny (Pat Heywood), Sonny (Howard Trevor) and Girly (Vanessa Howard) have turned their lives into an elaborate role-playing game they call The Game. The rules aren't really clear, been if the first one is to play the game. They live in a secluded house in the countryside and Girly lures in men who are dressed as schoolboys and forced to play as New Friends. If they refuse, they are sent to the angels in playground games that are turned into killing rituals and captured by Sonny on camera so that the family can enjoy the snuff films that result.
Girly and Sonny attend a party in London where a prostitute (Michael Bryant) is attracted to her. He talks his client (Imogen Hassall) into following them to a playground. He's so drunk he thinks that he's killed the woman when it was really Girly and Sonny. They make him play The Game and keep her body, using it to remind him that they could get him arrested at any moment.
Mumsy makes it known that she wants to have sex with the New Friend, as he is now known, so he turns the family against itself by sleeping with both her and Girly. Sonny tries to kill the New Friend before Girly kills him. Now, New Friend must bury Sonny under a fountain where he sees just how many New Friends have been killed. Nanny tries to kill Mumsy, only for Girly to kill her as well and use her head for cooking stock.
Mumsy and Girly decide to share New Friend, setting a schedule for days of the week that they can sleep with him. However, they will surely get bored of him. He already has a plan for that.
Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly was released as Britain had a backlash against indecency and sexuality in movies. There's a moment where Girly sucks Sonny's finger that really upset censors. If they'd only seen the play, where the incest isn't suggested but shown, they would have freaked. That's the scene, however, that everyone talked about. It didn't help that this played double features with Goodbye Gemini, another movie about murderous siblings, but one that has even more brother obsessing over sister sexual content.
The film disappeared after its failure and as a result, Vanessa Howard retired. She didn't know for a long time that the film did much better in the U. S. where it was retitled Girly. It came out on VHS in the U. S. but UK fans couldn't even find a copy for a Freddie Francis festival in 2004. It took until 2010 for Salvation Films to release it there on DVD.
I love that in 2015, an event was held at Oakley Court to pay tribute to Vanessa Howard and Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly. There was the dedication of a memorial bench in Howard's memory, a trip to some of the film's shooting locations,and a dinner themed around the Family's meal with New Friend.
This remained one of Francis' favorite movies.
Mumsy (Ursula Howells), Nanny (Pat Heywood), Sonny (Howard Trevor) and Girly (Vanessa Howard) have turned their lives into an elaborate role-playing game they call The Game. The rules aren't really clear, been if the first one is to play the game. They live in a secluded house in the countryside and Girly lures in men who are dressed as schoolboys and forced to play as New Friends. If they refuse, they are sent to the angels in playground games that are turned into killing rituals and captured by Sonny on camera so that the family can enjoy the snuff films that result.
Girly and Sonny attend a party in London where a prostitute (Michael Bryant) is attracted to her. He talks his client (Imogen Hassall) into following them to a playground. He's so drunk he thinks that he's killed the woman when it was really Girly and Sonny. They make him play The Game and keep her body, using it to remind him that they could get him arrested at any moment.
Mumsy makes it known that she wants to have sex with the New Friend, as he is now known, so he turns the family against itself by sleeping with both her and Girly. Sonny tries to kill the New Friend before Girly kills him. Now, New Friend must bury Sonny under a fountain where he sees just how many New Friends have been killed. Nanny tries to kill Mumsy, only for Girly to kill her as well and use her head for cooking stock.
Mumsy and Girly decide to share New Friend, setting a schedule for days of the week that they can sleep with him. However, they will surely get bored of him. He already has a plan for that.
Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly was released as Britain had a backlash against indecency and sexuality in movies. There's a moment where Girly sucks Sonny's finger that really upset censors. If they'd only seen the play, where the incest isn't suggested but shown, they would have freaked. That's the scene, however, that everyone talked about. It didn't help that this played double features with Goodbye Gemini, another movie about murderous siblings, but one that has even more brother obsessing over sister sexual content.
The film disappeared after its failure and as a result, Vanessa Howard retired. She didn't know for a long time that the film did much better in the U. S. where it was retitled Girly. It came out on VHS in the U. S. but UK fans couldn't even find a copy for a Freddie Francis festival in 2004. It took until 2010 for Salvation Films to release it there on DVD.
I love that in 2015, an event was held at Oakley Court to pay tribute to Vanessa Howard and Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly. There was the dedication of a memorial bench in Howard's memory, a trip to some of the film's shooting locations,and a dinner themed around the Family's meal with New Friend.
This remained one of Francis' favorite movies.