Lady Godiva Rides Again

Lady Godiva Rides Again
Bikini Baby
Directed by Frank Launder
Produced by Sidney Gilliat
Written by John Dighton
Val Valentine
Starring Pauline Stroud
Dennis Price
Diana Dors
Music by William Alwyn
Cinematography Wilkie Cooper
Edited by Thelma Connell
Production
company
Distributed by Rank Organisation
Release date
 25 October 1951
Running time
 90 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Box office £117,891 (UK)[1]

Lady Godiva Rides Again, released in the United States as Bikini Baby, is a 1951 British comedy film starring Pauline Stroud, about a small-town English girl who wins a beauty contest and heads for greater fame after appearing as Lady Godiva in a pageant.

The film is most notable for the presence of actresses who were later to become famous. Diana Dors, who appears as a beauty queen, was later marketed as the film's star. It also features Joan Collins in her film debut as an uncredited beauty contestant. Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in England, also appears as an uncredited beauty queen. Ruth, who was four months pregnant at the time, had dyed her hair black and had styled it into a bob.

Other young starlets in the film included Diana Russell, Dana Wynter, Anne Heywood (billed as Violet Pretty), Yvonne Brooks, Simone Silva, and Pat Marlowe. It also featured Sid James in one of his first film roles.

The film was inspired by the Miss Kent 1950 beauty competition held at Leas Cliff Hall in Kent. Frank Launder, joint producer of the film with Leslie Gilliatt, was one of the judges in the competition. Trevor Howard has an uncredited cameo as a cinema patron.

Cast

Locations

The production filmed on location in Folkestone, Kent. The Leas Cliff Hall was used as the location for the beauty competition and The Metropole, was the setting for the seaside hotel hosting the Fascination Soap Pageant. Folkestone West station features in the film for the railway scenes where Marjorie Clark (Pauline Stroud), arrives and meets Dolores August (Diana Dors). The now closed Rotunda Amusement Park was also used for the scenes where Larry (John McCallum) and Marjorie visit and go on rides.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p495
  2. ↑ Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office Lady Godiva Rides Again Article".


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