Girl of the Night *** (1960, Anne Francis, Lloyd Nolan, Kay Medford, John Kerr) – Classic Movie Review 7246

Get ready for ‘An Exciting Step Forward Into a New Realm of Adult Motion Pictures!’ Director Joseph Cates’s interesting 1960 black and white Warner Bros call girl drama Girl of the Night stars Anne Francis, who is charismatic as Bobbie, an unusually sensitive, high-rent prostitute, who is manipulated and used by her madame, Rowena Claiborne (Kay Medford).

Medford also impresses, but Lloyd Nolan is glum as Dr Mitchell, a psychiatrist who sorts her out in therapy, and John Kerr is none too believable as a pimp, Larry Taylor. The movie’s realist tone and two main female performances are its main assets. But it tells an untidy tale, marred by flashbacks when straightforward telling would be far preferable. The screenplay by Ted Berkman and Raphael Blau, which is effective apart from the flashbacks, with decent, thoughtful dialogue, is based on Dr Harold Greenwald’s book The Call Girl: A Social and Psychoanalytic Study.

Also in the cast are Arthur Storch, James Broderick, Lauren Gilbert, Eileen Fulton, Julius Monk, Judy Tucker, Noah Keen, René Enríquez and Patricia Basch.

Girl of the Night is directed by Joseph Cates, runs 95 minutes, is made by Vanguard, is released by Warner Bros, is shot by Joseph C Brun, is written by Ted Berkman and Raphael Blau, based on Dr Harold Greenwald’s book The Call Girl, produced by Max J Rosenberg, scored by Sol Kaplan, with Art Direction by Charles Bailey.

Ted Berkman wrote the book of Cast a Giant Shadow.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7246

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