GIRL OF THE NIGHT is probably not easy to locate, but for fans of the period, the cast and the psychodrama genre, it's worth searching for.
Probably considered very daring in 1960, this film offers a prostitute as the main character and it really does not judge her. In the very capable hands of Anne Francis, Bobbie becomes a multi-faceted and sympathetic subject for psychiatrist Lloyd Nolan. Their analysis scenes are quite convincing because the dialog is always plausible and unhackneyed. We come to understand Bobbie as a victim, who understands why her life has gone on this route. As the film proceeds, we meet Bobbie's pimp Larry (handsome John Kerr), with whom she believes she is in love, and her madame played with chilling realism by Kay Medford. The one unconvincing thing in the movie is the character of Lisa, played by Eileen Fulton. Would such a young woman really resort to prostitution, for any reason? We think not. She seems not to understand what she is getting into, until it's "too late" for her.
This movie draws upon Film Noir for much of its atmosphere, and it has a strong feeling of fatalism about it, until psychotherapy intervenes and helps Bobbie see the light (partly in the person of Dan (James Broderick). Sol Kaplan's musical score often overwhelms a scene, but the shadowy cinematography of Joseph Brun gives the film a memorable look.
Probably considered very daring in 1960, this film offers a prostitute as the main character and it really does not judge her. In the very capable hands of Anne Francis, Bobbie becomes a multi-faceted and sympathetic subject for psychiatrist Lloyd Nolan. Their analysis scenes are quite convincing because the dialog is always plausible and unhackneyed. We come to understand Bobbie as a victim, who understands why her life has gone on this route. As the film proceeds, we meet Bobbie's pimp Larry (handsome John Kerr), with whom she believes she is in love, and her madame played with chilling realism by Kay Medford. The one unconvincing thing in the movie is the character of Lisa, played by Eileen Fulton. Would such a young woman really resort to prostitution, for any reason? We think not. She seems not to understand what she is getting into, until it's "too late" for her.
This movie draws upon Film Noir for much of its atmosphere, and it has a strong feeling of fatalism about it, until psychotherapy intervenes and helps Bobbie see the light (partly in the person of Dan (James Broderick). Sol Kaplan's musical score often overwhelms a scene, but the shadowy cinematography of Joseph Brun gives the film a memorable look.