The Boy Friend

The Boy Friend is a 1971 British-American musical comedy film directed by Ken Russell and starring Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Tommy Tune, and Max Adrian with an uncredited appearance by Glenda Jackson. It is an adaptation of the 1953 musical The Boy Friend by Sandy Wilson. It was released on DVD on 12 April 2011.
The movie involves plots existing on three levels.
First there is the frame story, where, in the south of England in the 1920s, a struggling theatrical troupe is performing a musical about romantic intrigues at a finishing school for young women in the south of France. As well as weathering ongoing backstage dramas, and audiences that are smaller in number than the cast, two extra stressors arrive: a famous Hollywood film producer turns up to see the show, and Polly, the mousy assistant stage manager, is forced to go on when the leading lady breaks a leg. As Polly struggles to keep her cool while acting opposite the male lead whom she secretly loves, the rest of the company backstab each other as they try to impress the impresario.
Next there is the musical itself. Four of the girls at the school are very forward and acquire boy friends, but Polly is shy and has nobody to take her to the carnival masked ball that night. Tony, a messenger boy from a dress shop, brings her a costume and the two young people are struck with each other. They meet again in the afternoon and reach an understanding, she pretending to be only a secretary, so as not to seem above him socially. He comes to the ball and, when unmasked, is recognised as a peer's son. So Tony and Polly are both rich and can marry openly.
Thirdly, there are extensive fantasy sequences in the film, during which the characters' dreams and hopes are enacted in music and dance without words.
==Links to Peel==
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Peel mentioned seeing the movie with The Pig, John Walters and his lady, Helen, where he gave a description of his review of the film on Disc & Music Echo, published on 29th January 1972:
"This past week has been packed with incident, drama, song, laughter, tears and foot- ball. After Friday's programme, which a sixth sense tells me you must have heard, I fled from Broadcasting House to the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square to see about two-thirds of "The Boy Friend." Now the only reason I went was that the Pig was already there and the only reason she'd gone was because John Walters and his dangerously lovely lady were there and we were booked to return to their palatial Purley flat - styled flat with them when the cinematographic entertainment ended. Both the Pig and I were loth to go to the film because we felt that Twiggy represented everything that we find dreadful about the "groovy London scene" and that the whole concept of "The Boy Friend" was, in a word, muck. We came away deeply ashamed of our preconceived notions having thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing and having been most impressed with Twiggy. Obviously there will be those among you who will say "Oh man, how uncool" and turn on to the stiffling drivel of the letters page and if that's so then be off with you before I set the dogs on, you." 
==External Links==
*Wikipedia
*IMDb
Category:Films