Kent Noir.
Good-Time Girl is a post war UK film noir with three main locations – Lambeth, Soho and “Soho-On-Sea” (AKA Brighton). James Harrison of South West Silents & Film Noir UK joins Dom to talk about the film and about Film Noir UK.
The star of Good-Time Girl is Jean Kent, known throughout the 1940s and beyond as UK film’s “bad girl”. To talk about Jean’s life and career, we drop in to the BFI to meet up with curator, Josephine Botting.
For a few years before she became famous, Jean Kent worked as a Windmill girl. This scan is from the autobiography of Vivian Van Damm, the long term producer at the Windmill, who sacked Jean for being “immature” and “lacking personality”. He later realised he had made a mistake!
Our guest, Jo Botting, met Jean Kent in 2011 for a special screening of Jean’s 1946 romantic drama Caravan. Here’s the photographic proof of that meeting….
In 2011, not long before she died, Jean’s 90th birthday was celebrated on local TV.
In this clip from Good-Time Girl, Gwen meets Rosso for the first time – a meeting that ultimately has unfortunate consequences for Gwen.
Good-Time Girl was based on a novel by Arthur La Bern called, “Night Darkens the Streets”. La Bern also wrote, “It Always Rains on Sunday” which was adapted for the screen and “Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square” upon which, Alfred Hitchcock’s “Frenzy” was based. Night Darkens the Streets is now out of print and the cheapest available copy online was £47 when last checked, so here’s a picture of the cover for free.
Interesting article by Josephine Botting & Sarah Castagnetti about the co-writer of Good Time Girl, Muriel Box
Good-Time Girl is available to view for free on the brillant BFI Player
Although not always in perfect quality, there are several Jean Kent films available on the Interent Archive including The Browning Version and Caravan. Find more HERE
You can follow both Josephine Botting and the BFI on Twitter
James Harrison is also on Twitter and so are South West Silents and Film Noir UK You can also find both organisations on the same website
Have a look at some of the locations in Good-Time Girl, courtesy of our friends at Reelstreets.
Since publishing the episode, Caroline Champion got in touch pointing out that Jean was in an episode of Steptoe & Son in 1970. She plays Daphne who finds herself at the centre of an unlikely love triangle. Thanks to the wonder of the internet, the whole episode is HERE.
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Soho Bites 28: Value for Money (1955)
Soho Bites 27: Saturday Night Revue (1937)
Soho Bites 26: Too Hot to Handle (1960)
Soho Bites 25: The Golden Disc (1958)
Soho Bites 24: Something in the City (1950)
Soho Bites 23: The Boys (1962)
Soho Bites 22: A Touch of Class (1973)
Soho Bites 21: The Night Caller (1965)
Soho Bites 20: The Shakedown (1960)
Soho Bites 19: Smashing Time (1967)
Soho Bites 18: Peeping Tom (1960)
Soho Bites 17: Cover Girl Killer (1959)
Soho Bites 16: Soho Conspiracy (1950)
Soho Bites 15: Tonight & Every Night (1945)
Soho Bites 14: Murder at the Windmill (1949)
Soho Bites 13: Mrs Henderson Presents (2005)
Soho Bites 12: Das Phantom von Soho (1964)
Soho Bites 11: Where Has Poor Mickey Gone? (1964)
Soho Bites 10: Cocaine (1922)
Soho Bites 9: Night & The City (1950)
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