This 1960 film by Edmond T Greville is one of the earlier attempts at portraying the emerging concept of teenage rebellion as well as the London beatnik culture.
Gillian Hills stars as the she-devil protagonist Beat Girl, who spends most of her time hanging out in cave-like underground clubs and coffee shops. Her father marries a French woman, who he later finds out to be an ex-stripper. Meanwhile, Beat Girl allows herself to be seduced by a sleazy strip-joint owner played by Christopher Lee.
Full of kitsch and 60’s cool, it is especially worth noting for its enchanting soundtrack of dark jazzy 60’s rock composed by John Barry (it is actually his first movie score). Despite being a rather monotonous affair, the title track has a fascinatingly haunting feel to it and has been covered by many bands like The Damned, ska band The Kingpins, Brian Setzer Orchestra and surf band Satan’s Pilgrims
Check out the title track and opening scene (look out for the John Barry Seven on stage) of this social commentary here
1 comment:
Very good Nik.
Still waiting for more of your brixton histories.
:)
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