British Lion PresentsA London Films Release
Directed by Frank Launder; Photographed by Wilkie Cooper Music by William Alwyn; Written by Frank Launder & Val Valentine.
Introducing: Joan Collins as Beauty Contestant
Small town girl makes good! When Marjorie Clarke, a small town waitress, enters a contest to find Lady Godiva for a town festival, little does she know the fate that awaits her! After winning the title and representing her town in the festival of Britain, she is soon spotted by a rep from Fascination soap. She is persuaded to enter the Miss Fascination beauty contest. After winning, she enters the world of films, but all is not as glamorous as it appears. After a series of mishaps, Margorie falls on hard times and has to resort to stripping in a theatre revue. Will Marjorie be rescued in time to redeem her modesty? Laughter and tears, and an early glimpse of Joan Collins, are all uncovered in Lady Godiva Rides Again!
Made in 1951 and produced by the legendary British duo of Sydney Gilliat and Frank Launder, “Lady Godiva Rides Again” is classic British movie making in the Ealing tradition. It was also directed by Frank Launder and features many familiar faces including Dora Bryan and Sidney James alongside future stars Jean Marsh Dana Wynter and, of course, Joan Collins! Even though the film’s leading lady Pauline Strouds career in movies sank into oblivion, its lesser featured lady Joan Collins went on to a lengthy career and an entertainment legend!
© 2009 Mark McMorrow
Made in 1951 and produced by the legendary British duo of Sydney Gilliat and Frank Launder, “Lady Godiva Rides Again” is classic British movie making in the Ealing tradition. It was also directed by Frank Launder and features many familiar faces including Dora Bryan and Sidney James alongside future stars Jean Marsh Dana Wynter and, of course, Joan Collins! Even though the film’s leading lady Pauline Strouds career in movies sank into oblivion, its lesser featured lady Joan Collins went on to a lengthy career and an entertainment legend!
Joan Collins plays the small role of a beauty contest finalist.
Her one line seen but not heard as she waits in the lobby
of the hotel with other contestants. Joan's work schedule for
the film was all but three days spent freezing in a bathing suit at Leas Cliff town hall in Folkestone by the sea. Four hundred of the local townspeople were recruited as extras in the Beauty Contest scenes.
The film also features another British movie legend Diana Dors as Dolores August who has a string of beauty titles and by hook or by crook, plans to land the title of Miss Fascination (usually by crook). In the film Diana has to wear some revealing bikinis, which would have been too racy for the American film censors at the time. For the export prints of the film, they had to shoot extras shots with Diana and the other girls in less revealing outfits. The film’s star Pauline Stroud was not too keen on her costumes and commented to the press: “I shall be glad when this is over! I dislike parading in a swimsuit!” The beauty parade scenes took six hours to shoot with Diana along with Jean Marsh, Simone Silva and Joan Collins, parading up and down the studio pre-fabricated stairs. The tabloid newspapers of the time likened the casting of the female lead as similar to the hunt for Scarlet O’Hara! No wonder Pauline Strouds career was Gone With The Wind!
© 2009 Mark McMorrow
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