The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Christopher Miles

Writer:

Alan Plater (screenplay)

Release Date:

June 1970 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Film adaptation from the novel by D.H. Lawrence, discovered after the celebrated author's death in 1930...

Plot Keywords:

Gypsy | Female Nudity | Sex | Independent Film | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Joanna Shimkus	...	Yvette
Franco Nero	...	The Gypsy
Honor Blackman	...	Mrs. Fawcett
Mark Burns	...	Major Eastwood
Fay Compton	...	Grandma
Maurice Denham	...	The Rector
Kay Walsh	...	Aunt Cissie
Imogen Hassall	...	The Gypsy's Wife
Harriet Harper	...	Lucille
Norman Bird	...	Uncle Fred
Jeremy Bulloch	...	Leo
Ray Holder	...	Bob
Margo Andrew	...	Ella
Jan Chappell	...	Mary (as Janet Chappell)
Helen Booth	...	Cook

Also Known As:

D.H. Lawrence's The Virgin and the Gypsy (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:AA | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Beeley Moor, Derbyshire, England, UK

Company:

Kenwood Productions

Trivia:

Fay Compton was cast as Grandma at short notice after the original choice became unwell.

Soundtrack:

My Latest Millionaire

A quiet, classic, literary adaptation

The Virgin and the Gypsy was a novella by D. H. Lawrence that contrasted the suffocating closeness and inhibited atmosphere of an English cleric and his extended family with the awakening sexuality of his eldest daughter and the free spirited influence of a gypsy whom she meets.

The excellent screenplay by Alan Plater who also did the screenplay for "The Priest of Love", a biography of D. H. Lawrence, complements the direction by Christopher Miles. Their efforts helped create a film that matches if it does not surpass, the prose of D. H. Lawrence. A few scenes still stand out; the hysteria of Aunt Cissie who screams insults through the door at Yvette., the comedy of the church social evening when Uncle Fred sings a bawdy, music-hall song and the scene in which the Gypsy confronts and stares down several English youths.

I saw Franco Nero earlier in the film "Camelot." He plays the Gypsy in this film with quiet, machismo, atitude. Joanna Shimkus also played with quiet, understated style that plays well with that of Nero.

I saw this film during its initial release in 1970. I hope television networks may eventually air this film again or that it finds its way into a video or DVD.