''Secrets of a Windmill Girl'' is a 1966 British

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

directed by

Arnold L. Miller Arnold Book Company (ABC) was a British publisher of comic books that operated in the late 1940s and 1950s, most actively from 1950 to 1954. ABC published original titles like the war comic ''Ace Malloy of the Special Squadron'' and the science ...

and starring

Pauline Collins Pauline Collins (born 3 September 1940) is a British actress who first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1971–1973) and its spin-off '' Thomas & Sarah'' (1979). In 1992, she published her autobiography ' ...

, April WIlding and

Renée Houston Renée Houston (born Katherina Rita Murphy Gribbin; 24 July 1902 – 9 February 1980) was a Scottish comedy actress and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles. Biography Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, into a theatrical family ...

. It recounts the road to ruin of a young woman who becomes involved with the striptease scene after becoming a dancer at the

Windmill Theatre The Windmill Theatre in Great Windmill Street, London, was a variety and revue theatre best known for its nude ''tableaux vivants'', which began in 1932 and lasted until its reversion to a cinema in 1964. Many prominent British comedians of t ...

in London.John Hamilton, ''Beasts in the Cellar: The Exploitation Film Career of Tony Tenser'', Fab Press, 2005 p 82-83Simon Sheridan, ''Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema'', Titan Books 2011 p 53-54 The film features

fan dance In the West, a fan dance (i.e., a dance performed with fans) may be an erotic dance performance, traditionally by a woman, but not exclusively. Beyond eroticism it is a form of musical interpretation. The performer, sometimes entirely nude ...

s by former Windmill Theatre Company performers. It was originally released in Britain as part of a double bill with '' Naked as Nature Intended'' (1961).

Plot

The story is told in flashback, as sometime nightclub singer Linda Gray recounts the story of her doomed ex-best friend Pat.

Cast

as Pat Lord * April Wilding as Linda Grey *

as Molly, dresser *

Derek Bond Derek William Douglas Bond MC (26 January 1920 – 15 October 2006) was a British actor. He was President of the trade union Equity from 1984 to 1986. Life and career Bond was born on 26 January 1920 in Glasgow, Scotland. He attended Haberd ...

as Inspector Thomas *

Harry Fowler Henry James Fowler (10 December 1926 – 4 January 2012) was an English character actor in film and television. Over a career lasting more than six decades, he made nearly 200 appearances on screen. Personal life Fowler was born in Lambeth, so ...

as Harry *

Howard Marion-Crawford Howard Marion-Crawford (17 January 1914 – 24 November 1969), was an English People, English character actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes (1954 TV series), 1954 television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes ...

as Richard, producer *

Peter Gordeno Peter Gordeno (20 June 1939 – 18 October 2008) was a British dancer, recording artist, cabaret singer, choreographer, and occasional actor. Biography Born as Peter Godenho in Rangoon, Burma, to an Italian American father and Scottish/ Bu ...

as Peter *

Peter Swanwick Walter Peter Swanwick (29 September 1922 – 14 November 1968) was a British actor best remembered as the "Supervisor" (sometimes called the Controller) in the 1967 TV series, ''The Prisoner''. Swanwick's film career began with bit parts in fi ...

as Len Mason * Martin Jarvis as Mike, Windmill stage manager * Leon Cortez as Uncle Marty

Music

Malcolm Lockyer Malcolm Neville Lockyer (5 October 1923 – 28 June 1976) was a British film composer and conductor. Biography Lockyer was born in Greenwich, London, England. In his early years he developed an interest in dance and from here gathered an interest ...

composed the score, from which a suite was extracted. Valerie Mitchell's single "The Windmill Girls", composed by Sidney Gilbert, was used as the theme tune for the film. Mitchell was a singer and cabaret dancer, the sister of former Windmill girl

Janie Jones Marion Mitchell (born 1941 in Seaham, County Durham), better known by her stage name Janie Jones, is a former English singer. She became renowned for holding sex parties at her home during the 1970s, and was jailed for her involvement in prostit ...

Dana Gillespie Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie (born 30 March 1949), known professionally as Dana Gillespie, is an English actress, singer and songwriter. Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved ...

, aged 17 in only her second film appearance, sings and plays guitar in several brief extracts.

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "There is virtually nothing one can say about this film except that one has seen it all before. Ethically it is as dubious and naive as most; the hygienic, hard-working happiness of the average Windmill girl is one of the film's more tiresome propositions; the direction is non-existent. Pauline Collins is an attractive, spirited Pat." ''

Kine Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. Etymology The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to ...

'' wrote: "The chief ingredient of this effort is a stage show of underclad cuties. Most of the stage ensembles are picturesque and colourful, but one fan-dance is very like another and here there certainly is more than ample sufficiency. Occasionally the camera leaves the stage to visit a party where the girls are ogled by designing young men, but it is on stage where the real interest lies. The two leading parts are well played by April Wilding, as the narrator, and Pauline Collins, who meets such an early death. Acting is not the film's strong point, undressing is the main concern of the girls, but guest stars Derek Bond, Renée Houston, Howard Marion Crawford and Harry Fowler pull their weight. With the Windmill tag it should intrigue the masses, who are promised a good leg-show for their money." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' wrote that "the premise of this film is compelling, but the treatment is empty-headed". ''The Spinning Image'' asked, "and those hoping for titillation? As with so much of the sexually-themed cinema of this (British) nation, they were offered it with a moralistic angle, as if telling the audience off for their prurience."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0196079
screen caps of Pauline Collins and April Wilding
from the Upstairs Downstairs webpage "Before Updown" section 1966 films British drama films 1960s exploitation films 1966 drama films Films scored by Malcolm Lockyer 1960s English-language films 1960s British films