Marjorie Clark is a very pretty girl from a hard working family, she doesn't ask for much in life. Yet after what seemed to be a pointless beauty pageant she is transported into the realm of stardom, a sequence of events that brings wealth, respect, and the unwritten pitfalls of fame............
If i'm totally honest here, then the only reason i came across this film was because at this moment in time i'm on a mission to see any film that has the names of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat attached to it. I saw that Dennis Price, Sid James, George Cole, Diana Dors, Stanley Holloway and Alistair Sim were in the cast list, British institutions one and all, yet still i had low expectations with it. I had never heard of it before, my parents are both staunch British cinema fans, they have surely never put this one my way, it's rated just above five right here on IMDb, yep, i certainly wasn't expecting much.
Perhaps that is why i enjoyed it so much?, i mean don't get me wrong here, it's not one i will go back and revisit, but the performance of Pauline Stroud as Marjorie Clark and the dark undertones of the plot make this something of a must see piece. The perils and the highs and lows of a pretty girl with stars in her eyes, has rarely been so poignant as it is here, the film has some splendid comedy moments, and also has a lovely little romantic core, but chiefly it's the downturn of events that is the scripts crowning moment. I would wager that IMDb tagging this as a genre comedy only is a big error, but cest la vie, they own the site, and i'm but a mere user!. Fans of Alistair Sim and Sid James should note that their parts in the film are pretty thin, so seeking this out for those actors will leave you feeling pretty flat, but hopefully, there may be something i have written that will pique your interest when you are stuck for an intelligent comedy/drama from the Great part of Britain. 7/10
Footnote:There is some wonderful, and quite creepy trivia attached to the film, if that has you intrigued then i point you to the user comment for this film written by Jeremy Beadle!!!, it's not hard to find since at this moment in time there be only four of us who have bothered to write a comment for the film!!.
