''A Nice Girl Like Me'' is a 1969 British comedy film directed by

Desmond Davis Desmond Stanley Tracey Davis (24 May 1926 – 3 July 2021) was a British film and television director, best known for his 1981 version of '' Clash of the Titans''. Early life and career Desmond Davis joined the British Army film unit serving a ...

Plot

The plot revolves around a girl who lives with her shrewd aunts, goes on a trip, gets pregnant, and must lie to her aunts that the baby is not hers.

Cast

* Barbara Ferris as Candida *

Harry Andrews Harry Stewart Fleetwood Andrews, CBE (10 November 1911 – 6 March 1989) was an English actor known for his film portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Regimental Sergeant Major Wilson in ''The Hill'' (1965) alongside Sean ...

as Savage, Caretaker * Gladys Cooper as Aunt Mary * William Hinnant as Ed *

James Villiers James Michael Hyde Villiers (29 September 1933 – 18 January 1998) was an English character actor. He was particularly known for his plummy voice and ripe articulation. He was a great-grandson of the 4th Earl of Clarendon. Early life Villie ...

as Freddie * Joyce Carey as Aunt Celia * Christopher Guinee as Pierre * Fabia Drake as Miss Grimsby *

Irene Prador Irene Prador (née Peiser; 16 July 1911, in Vienna – 8 July 1996, in Berlin) was an Austrian-born actress and writer. Biography Prador was born as Irene Peiser, the daughter of Dr. Alfred Peiser and actress Rose Lissmann, and sister of actres ...

as Mme. Dupont *

Erik Chitty Erik Chitty (8 July 1907 in Dover, Kent – 22 July 1977 Brent, Middlesex), was an English stage, film and television actor. Early life Chitty was the son of a flour miller, Frederick Walter Chitty and his wife Ethel Elsie Assistance née Fra ...

as Vicar *

Totti Truman Taylor Totti Truman Taylor, born Dorothy Leah Truman (7 September 1915 – 5 March 1981), was a British actress. Her mother’s 2nd husband’s surname was Taylor, and this is where her stage name came from. In 1953, she played Aunt Sally in the BBC tele ...

as Miss Charter * John Serret as Museum Attendant *

John Clive John Clive (6 January 1933 – 14 October 2012) was an English actor and author, known internationally for his historical and social fiction, such as ''KG200'' and ''Barossa''. Clive was also an established British television and film actor. ...

as Supermarket Shopper *

Ann Lancaster Ann A Lancaster (5 May 1920 – 31 October 1970) was a well-known character actress who appeared in many British films, television shows and in theatre. Lancaster specialised in comic roles and had a talent for voices which she often used on ra ...

as Miss Garland * Shelagh Wilcocks as Labour Ward Sister * Susan Whitman as Labour Ward Nurse * Douglas Wilmer as Postnatal Clinic Doctor * Jane Kenealy as baby

Production

In May 1967 Stanley Baker said he was going to produce and star in the movie alongside Hayley Mills. Filming was to begin in August. By May 1968 the film was going to star Barbara Ferris and be directed by Desmond Davis. Ferris had enjoyed a hit on Broadway in ''There's a Girl in My Soup''.Filming began July 1968. It was shot on location in Paris,

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

and London around Chiswick and Hammersmith riverside. The film was originally meant to star

Stanley Baker Sir William Stanley Baker (28 February 192828 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer. Known for his rugged appearance and intense, grounded screen persona, he was one of the top British male film stars of the late 1950s, and later a pro ...

. In July 1968 it was going to star Michael J Pollard and Barbara Ferris.

Critical reception

''The Spinning Image'' wrote, "it was regarded at the time as a glossy exercise in marrying cinema advert visuals to a would-be daring plot about unmarried motherhood, some way away from the nineteen-sixties "issue" films and TV plays that offered audiences and commentators alike something to get their teeth into. '' Cathy Come Home'' or ''

Up the Junction ''Up the Junction'' is a 1963 collection of short stories by Nell Dunn that depicts contemporary life in the industrial slums of Battersea and Clapham Junction. The book uses colloquial speech, and its portrayal of petty thieving, sexual encoun ...

'' this was not. All that said, and those naysayers did have a point, funnily enough this has aged rather better than might have been expected since it conforms to the Swinging Sixties stereotype fairly comfortably; though it remained a shade artificial as an experience as a nostalgia piece it came across very well, and much of that was down to the central relationship."

References

External links

* 1969 films 1969 comedy films British comedy films Films scored by Patrick Williams Films directed by Desmond Davis British pregnancy films Films based on British novels Films set in London Films set in Paris Films shot in London Embassy Pictures films 1960s English-language films 1960s British films {{1960s-UK-comedy-film-stub