Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly (1970)

Waste of time

For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I can't believe I have never heard of this until today when I accidentally came across it on YouTube. A true British 'oddity' which is a term mainly used for much more well known films such as The Wicker Man. However no mistaking, this is simply nuts. In fact, despite the fact that you spend the whole time thinking how much better this could be, you end up loving it and I don't think it will leave my mind for some time. Whilst this is far from a great film, it is the actual premise that carries so much dramatic weight. This is the Texas Chainsaw family transported to gentile post-war Britain. Tea cups, tea cakes and knitting are the British version of dead chicken heads and bones. Far more civilised and polite and yet this family are just as deranged and deadly. The decaying mansion could contain Miss Havisham and indeed Mumsy quotes Dickens from her bed - a wonderful set-up with Nanny sleeping at the foot of her bed as a satirical comment on the desperation experienced by the wealthy holding on to their servants as the class system started to disintegrate. Indeed the mansion itself probably represents what happened to so many of England's great 'homes' as the Gentry suddenly found themselves having to pay their way.Girly herself, drawn up as the ultimate hetero male fantasy, is a startling mix of Alice in Wonderland, a St Trinian pupil and an axe-wielding maniac. It is perhaps surprising that she hasn't become more iconic but perhaps as it quite spectacularly goes against the aims of the women's Lib movement that was rising at the time, she would have been considered unfashionable.Whilst Sonny is less of a character, he is still enthusiastically and athletically played by the actor and Ursula Howells is regal enough to convince. Altogether, unforgettable.

If you like your comedy with a decidedly quirky bent, then this is a film for you.Vanessa Howard is splendid as Girly, an obvious twenty-something that dresses and acts like a twelve year old schoolgirl.She lives with her brother, and mother, and nanny, and they are all certifiably bat-shite crazy.They two "children" lure homeless and hippies to the old crumbling mansion where they play "games." They must unquestionably participate or they are "sent to the angels," if you get my drift.The new friend (Michael Bryant) plots to turn the four of them against each other until he can find a way to escape.Director Freddie Francis won two Oscars for cinematography (Glory, Sons and Lovers) after directing many horror movies.

This little seen but uniquely original horror/black comedy effort has one of the most delightfully demented basic premises I've ever encountered. It's about a household of four completely bonkers people that live together in a large country estate without a fatherly figure. It's just Mumsy, the loyal nanny and the two adolescent children Sonny and Girly. They love each other very much and live their exemplar happy family role from early in the morning till late at night. The children occasionally lure "friends", who're actually complete strangers they picked up in the nearby park, back to the house. These people are initially treated as welcome guests, albeit so exaggeratedly hospitable that it becomes creepy, but in fact they're slowly being terrorized to death. The guests have to obey certain house rules, otherwise they are harshly punished. The new friend in room number two, however, is clever and manages to manipulate both Mumsy and Girly. "Girly" is a strange and unusual film for people with a strange and unusual sense of humor. I particularly found the conversations between Mumsy and nanny to be hilarious. They always knit when discussing the dear sweethearts of children and also always talk about themselves in the 3rd person, like "Mumsy thinks it is best you go to your room now". The most fantastic character of the bunch is obviously Girly, of course, as she a naughty 16-year-old who still sleeps in a cradle but doesn't feel to shy to cut off someone's head and boil it in a kettle. It's cute and crazy, but in a strange way also disturbing because these people definitely comes across as murderous, mad-raving maniacs at first sight. There don't seem to exist any taboos in this cinematic household; there's murder committed by children, sex with minors, etc… Moments after killing a human being with a bow and arrows, Sonny and Girly go back to playing with dolls and hobbling horses. "Girly" is adapted from a stage play, which is noticeable through the limited number of set pieces and characters. The emphasis here lies on the terrific acting performances and, of course, the multiple highlights of exquisite black comedy. The dialogs, grotesque situations and witty one-liners are unique, creative and almost impossible to describe. Take Girly's ingenious gag, for instance. She asks: "Do you know that boy Tony Chesnut?" and before the other person can reply, she stamps on his TOE, kicks him in the KNEE, hits him on the CHEST and smacks him in the NUTS. TO-NY-CHES-NUT; get it? Awesome! Freddie Francis directs with a lot more style and visual flair than you would expect in a raunchy and low- budgeted early 70's British exploitation flick. But then again, Francis was a talented director and an even more genius cinematographer. And finally, as some sort of epilogue, behold one last piece of terrific Girly poetry: Nasty Nanny ain't no goodChop her up for firewood When she's dead, boil her head Make it into Gingerbread!

"Mumsy,Nanny,Sonny and Girly" is a dark 1969 British horror-comedy which is based on a stage play by Maisie Mosco entitled "Happy Family".The main characters of the film are the members of a wealthy British family whose names are synonymous with their roles within the family:the mother called Mumsy,the maid called Nanny,the son called Sonny and the daughter called Girly.Despite being in their twenties Sonny and Girly act like prepubescent children,dressing in British school uniforms and sleeping in giant cribs in a room full of toys.Sonny and Girly regularly seek out male loners,hobos and hippies to lure back to their house,where they are then forced to play "The Game".When the "new friends" refuse to participate they are murdered or "sent to the angels".Freddie Francis's "Girly" is a fantastic film which faded into obscurity too quickly.During a 2004 Freddie Francis film festival in England, the organizers struggled to find a VHS copy of the film to screen, but couldn't come up with one and it was briefly thought to be lost to the public,until copies began to surface on the internet in 2004.The acting is solid and there is enough creepy moments to satisfy any self-respecting horror fan.8 out of 10.