Cosh Boy, AKA The Slasher

INDEPENDENT FILM PRODUCERS PRESENTS

A ROMULAS PRODUCTION

From Lippert Pictures

COSH BOY (a.k.a. The Slasher)

Starring Joan Collins as Rene Collins. James Kenney as Roy Walsh. Robert Ayres as Bob Stevens. Betty Ann Davies as Elsie Walsh. Hermione Baddeley as Mrs Collins. Hermione Gingold as Queenie. Nancy Roberts as Gran Walsh. Laurence Naismith as Inspector Donaldson. Johnny Briggs as Skinny. Ian Whittaker as Alfie. Sidney James as Police

Sergeant.

Director of Photography - Jack Asher. Art Director- Bernard Robinson. Music Composed by Lambert Williamson. Edited by Charles Hasse. Screenplay by Lewis Gilbert & Vernon Harris from the stage play “Master Crook” by Bruce Walker. Assistant Dir- John Bremer. Production Supervisor- Anthony Nelson Keys. Produced by Daniel M. Angel. Directed by Lewis Gilbert.

A series of attacks on women of a certain age, are all masterminded by a troublesome teen by the name of Roy Walsh. Roy can't keep out of trouble and sets his eyes on Rene, a young virgin. Soon after a forced liaison, Rene becomes pregnant, Roy rejects her pleas for help and she attempts suicide! Roy’s mother remarries and his new step dad is determined to teach him a lesson he will never forget. That’s if Rene’s battle-axe of a mother doesn’t get her hands on him first! Cosh Boy, the first British X Certificate movie!!

© 1953 ROMULUS 73 Mins B/W

Made in 1953, Cosh Boy was adapted from the play “Master Crook “ by Bruce Walker, which also starred James Kenney who plays the main villian in the film. The film was released around the same time as the notorious court case of Derek Bentley, the young backward boy hanged for the murder of a policeman, partly because his accomplice Christopher Craig, was too young to hang. Cosh Boy has similarities in that the character of Alfie is simple and takes the blame for the crimes committed by main thug, Roy. The similarities were picked up on by the film censors of the time as they awarded the film the first of the new X Certificate. They also softened some of the coshing scenes as they were strong content for its time.

The Sunday Graphic commented: I don’t remember such an outcry when it was played on the London stage. I suppose they assume that theatre-goers are far steadier fellows than the film public!

The film was shot at Riverside Studios and Hammersmith, and Joan played another of her teen- gone-bad roles, although the character of Rene is more virginal than in other of her Coffee Bar Jezebel roles. Rene although fond of a good time, either at the local dance club or a day out on the river, still manages to convey an innocence which is apparent when she is ambushed into a sexual situation with the ruffian Roy. Joan looks stunning in the film and brings a touch of youthful glamour to a drab looking London! Incidentally Hermione Baddeley plays Joan’s mother in the film, a real battle-axe, who Joan herself had a run in with. Hermione who lived with Joan’s old RADA mate Laurence Harvey, didn’t take kindly to young attractive actresses and told Joan to her face “ So! This is the new Jean Simmons! Let me tell you, my dear, Jean has nothing to worry about! You don’t have her looks! You don’t have her talent! And you certainly don’t have half the things the papers have been saying about you!” Hermione obviously typecast as she plays a ferocious old harridan in this film.

Hermione Gingold also appears as the dotty Hooker Queenie, and she also appears in Joan’s later film “Our Girl Friday.” James Kenney later turns up in “The Good Die Young,” while Laurence Naismith appears with Joan in later productions, “Quest for Love,” “The Persuaders” and he also appeared in “I Believe In You” as did Sidney James, who also turns up here. More recently the British Film Institute put Cosh Boy on the shortlist for it’s 100 Greatest Films of All Time. Cosh Boy is influenced by Italian neo-realist films such as “Bicycle Thieves." It also has the distinction of been banned in Sweden and Birmingham! While not as shocking today as it seemed in the fifties, it still was a film ahead of its time and deserves it place in British film history.

© 2009 Mark Mc Morrow