Goodbye Gemini (1970, Judy Geeson, Martin Potter, Michael Redgrave) – Classic Movie Review 8178

Goodbye Gemini (1970) ended up listed as a video nasty. Judy Geeson and Martin Potter play Chelsea teenage sister and brother twins up to their pretty necks in a pretty offensive plot.

Director Alan Gibson’s British 1970 swinging London horror thriller Goodbye Gemini is a late-entry Swinging Sixties farrago (it was shot in December 1969) in which Judy Geeson and Martin Potter play Jacki and Julian, Chelsea teenage sister and brother twins up to their pretty necks in a plot that spans incest, homosexuality, blackmail and murder.

The swinging London siblings befriend broke gambler Clive (Alexis Kanner), who sets up Julian (Potter) for blackmail and gets interested in Jacki (Geeson), and then a jealous Julian takes him off to a gay orgy.

These roles were not good career moves for beautiful people Geeson and Potter. And what on earth is Sir Michael Redgrave doing here as James Harrington-Smith, or come to that Freddie Jones as David Curry and Peter Jeffrey as Detective Inspector Kingsley?

Based on Jenni Hall’s novel Ask Agamemnon, Edmund Ward’s dire screenplay hardly makes sense, but what messages seem to come across from it are pretty offensive.

Also in the cast are Mike Pratt, Marian Diamond, Terry Scully, Daphne Heard, Laurence Hardy, Joseph Furst, Brian Wilde, Ricky Renée, Barry Scott and Hilda Barry.

The film’s soundtrack, with music and songs by Christopher Gunning, is a fine example of its time, with songs by The Peddlers, Jackie Lee and Peter Lee Stirling (aka Daniel Boone). The film was shot on location in London, providing a now fascinating snapshot of the London club scene.

Martin Potter was born on October 4, 1944 in Nottingham.

It would make a good bad double bill with Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly [Girly] (1970), also released by Cinerama Releasing in 1970. Both films deal with an unusual sibling relationship and contain a scene implying consensual brother-sister incest.

Goodbye Gemini and Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly were attacked by the conservative British press of the day as examples of what they hated about contemporary British culture, resulting in protests and cinemas refusing to show the films. The two movies were eventually banned in the UK, with Goodbye Gemini ending up listed as a video nasty. However, Scorpion Releasing released the DVD in January 2010, with an audio commentary by producer Peter Snell and star Judy Geeson. This first ever DVD release of the film is a brand new 16 x 9 anamorphic transfer from the camera negatives with restored original mono audio.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8178

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