Lady Godiva Rides Again
{{Short description|1951 British film by Frank Launder}}
{{for|other films titled Lady Godiva|Godiva (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Lady Godiva Rides Again
| caption = retitled reissue pressbook cover
| image = Lady Godiva Rides Again FilmPoster.jpeg
| director = Frank Launder
| producer = Sidney Gilliat
| writer = Frank Launder
Val Valentine
| starring = Pauline Stroud
Dennis Price
Diana Dors
Stanley Holloway
| music = William Alwyn
| cinematography = Wilkie Cooper
| editing = Thelma Connell
| studio = London Films
| distributor = British Lion Films
| released = {{film date|1951|10|25|df=yes}}
| runtime = 90 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
| gross = £117,891 (UK)Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p495
}}
Lady Godiva Rides Again (U.S. title: Bikini Baby) is a 1951 British comedy film starring Pauline Stroud, George Cole and Bernadette O'Farrell, with British stars in supporting roles or making cameo appearances. It concerns a small-town English girl who wins a local beauty contest by appearing as Lady Godiva, then decides to pursue a higher profile in a national beauty pageant and as an actress.
The film was released in the United States under its original title in 1953 by Carroll Pictures, then was re-released in the United States as Bikini Baby, to capitalize on the profile of supporting player Diana Dors, who was given star billing with the new title.
It also features Joan Collins in her film debut as an uncredited beauty contestant. Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom, also appears as an uncredited beauty queen. Ellis, who was four months pregnant at the time, had dyed her hair black and had styled it into a bob. Other young starlets in the film included Diana Russell, Dana Wynter (billed as Dagmar Wynter), Anne Heywood (billed as Violet Pretty), Yvonne Brooks, Simone Silva, Jean Marsh and Pat Marlowe. It also featured Sid James in one of his first film roles. Trevor Howard has an uncredited cameo as a cinema patron.
Plot
On a rainy Sunday afternoon in Coventry Johnny takes his girlfriend to the cinema. In the intermission between films, as Johnny gets an ice-cream, she sees an advertisement on-screen asking for girls to compete for the position of Lady Godiva in the annual street festival. She decides she will enter.
Cast
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
- Pauline Stroud as Marjorie Clark
- Bernadette O'Farrell as Janie
- George Cole as Johnny
- Stanley Holloway as Mr. Clark
- Gladys Henson as Mrs. Clark
- John McCallum as Larry Burns
- Dennis Price as Simon Abott
- Diana Dors as Dolores August
- Eddie Byrne as Eddie Mooney
- Kay Kendall as Sylvia Clark
- Cyril Chamberlain as Harry
- Lyn Evans as Vic
- Dora Bryan as Publicity Woman
- Sid James as Lew Beeson
- Richard Wattis as Casting Director
- Renée Houston as Beattie
- Arthur Howard as Soap Publicity Man
- Michael Ripper as Joe - Stage Manager
- Dana Wynter as Myrtle Shaw
- Leslie Mitchell as TV interviewer
- Tommy Duggan as a Compere
- Felix Felton as a Councillor
- Anne Heywood as Dorothy Marlowe, beauty pageant contestant
- Alastair Sim as Hawtrey Murington (uncredited)
- Googie Withers as Susan Foster (uncredited)
- Trevor Howard as a cinema patron extra (uncredited)
- Joan Collins as beauty pageant contestant (uncredited)
- Ruth Ellis as beauty pageant contestant (uncredited)
- Jean Marsh as beauty pageant contestant (uncredited)
{{div col end}}
Production
The film was originally to be called Beauty Queen.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
It was inspired by the Miss Kent 1950 beauty competition held at Leas Cliff Hall in Kent. Frank Launder, joint producer of the film with Leslie Gilliatt, was one of the judges in the competition. The filmmakers reportedly tested over 500 women to play the lead role including Joan Collins and Audrey Hepburn, who was judged too thin.{{cite book |last=Paris |first=Barry |title=Audrey Hepburn |publisher=Penguin |date=1 September 2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1STPjX_1UmcC&pg=PT75 |isbn=978-0425182123}}
The actor chosen was Pauline Stroud.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50108387 |title=No title |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |issue=4491 |location=Brisbane |date=20 April 1951 |access-date=20 July 2020 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} Her only previous film experience was as Vera-Ellen's stand-in in Happy Go Lovely (1951). Collins was given a bit part. The movie was the film debut of Anne Heywood, then known as Violet Pretty, who had won a number of beauty contests.{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=4 May 2025|access-date=4 May 2025|title=Not Quite Movie Stars: Anne Heywood|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/not-quite-movie-stars-anne-heywood}}
It was the first time John McCallum, who was Australian, played an Australian in a British film.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230067408 |title=McCallum will play Australian in movie |newspaper=The Sun |issue=12,867 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=26 April 1951 |access-date=20 July 2020 |page=38|edition=LATE FINAL EXTRA |via=National Library of Australia}} Kay Kendall was cast as Stroud's sister after Launder saw her in a BBC play; the film helped revive Kendall's career after London Town.{{cite news|title=THE GIRL THEY ALL FORGOT: Meet Kay Kendall|author=Samson, Leonard|work=Answers|location=London|volume=121|issue=3138|date=Jun 21, 1952|pages=1–2 }}{{cite news|title=GENEVIEVE'S' KAY KENDALL CLICKS|author=MORGAN HUDGINS|work=New York Times|date=31 July 1955|page=X5}}
Filming took place in June–July 1951. The production filmed on location in Folkestone, Kent. The Leas Cliff Hall was used as the location for the beauty competition, and The Metropole was the setting for the seaside hotel hosting the Fascination Soap Pageant. Folkestone West station features in the film for the railway scenes where Marjorie Clark (Pauline Stroud) arrives and meets Dolores August (Diana Dors) and her consorts, Larry and Vic. The now closed Rotunda Amusement Park was also used for the scenes where Larry (John McCallum) and Marjorie visit and go on rides.{{cite web|author=Kent Film Office|url=http://kentfilmoffice.co.uk/1951/09/lady-godiva-rides-again-1951/|title=Kent Film Office Lady Godiva Rides Again Article|date=25 October 1951 }}
Diana Dors appeared in a swimsuit in one scene. She shot two versions – one in a bikini for release in Europe, another in a more conservative swimsuit for release in America.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246262061 |title=Fixing Macbeth's Accent for U.S. |newspaper=The Herald |issue=23,112 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 June 1951 |access-date=20 July 2020 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} American censors objected to the content of the film, including the revealing nature of outfits worn by Dors.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248725782 |title=Film that shocked US |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |volume=XVII |issue=49 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=19 May 1952 |access-date=20 July 2020 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Reception
Filmink said Dors "livens up every scene she appears in and her part is too small (she disappears in the second half); once again, the movie would have been better had Dors played the lead."{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|title=A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee|date=September 7, 2020|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/a-tale-of-two-blondes-diana-dors-and-belinda-lee/}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0043719|title=Lady Godiva Rides Again}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20160310130656/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ae6a19c Lady Godiva Rides Again] at the British Film Institute{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}}
- {{TCMDb title|80644}}
- [https://letterboxd.com/film/lady-godiva-rides-again/ Lady Godiva Rides Again] at Letterbox DVD
{{Launder and Gilliat}}
{{Lady Godiva}}
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Category:1950s English-language films
Category:British black-and-white films
Category:British Lion Films films
Category:Cultural depictions of Lady Godiva
Category:English-language comedy films
Category:Films about beauty pageants
Category:Films directed by Frank Launder
Category:Films scored by William Alwyn