Film 39/52: Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly (1970)


Vonna and I have gotten in the habit of listening to podcasts when we go on road trips, with some favorites being Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary's Video Archives podcast and the Pure Cinema Podcast. Recently, Last Night in Soho director Edgar Wright was on Pure Cinema to discuss overlooked British horror films, and one he discussed was the Freddie Francis film Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly, or as it was more commonly known in the states, Girly. When I told Vonna I had Girly on DVD, she suggested that we watch it for our 'M' movie, since it wouldn't be the first time we went with an alternate title to meet our 52 Pick-Up alphabet requirements. 

Imagine my surprise when watching the 'alternate title sequence' on the disc before watching the feature, it showed the onscreen title Girly. Turns out that the main feature does include the full British title, Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly. So no excuses required!

MNS&G falls somewhere between The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Spider Baby as far as bizarre family stories go. While not a classic on par with either of those two, in my opinion, it's still a uniquely wild ride. The four main characters from the title make-up the 'family' who collects playmates in the form of men, who are older than the youngest (Girly), yet younger than the matriarch (Mumsy), to 'Play the Game' in their palatial estate. If they refuse, or break the rules, the men are "sent to the Angels," which means exactly what you think. When Sonny and Girly bring home their latest plaything, a drunk male prostitute along with his client, they quickly off her in an accident, and blackmail the man into doing as they require. The man plays along, as it were, and finds a way to get the family members to start playing off one another.

Vanessa Howard as Girly and Michael Bryant as the New Friend are the standout performances in the film. It plays as a black comedy, but is still occasionally creepy. I appreciate how they don't go to great lengths to explain everything that's going on (i.e. how this all got started, etc.), but it's nowhere near as much fun as the somewhat similar Spider Baby. That said, I'm glad we finally watched it on the big screen, and we certainly enjoyed listening to Edgar Wright talk in up on the podcast!


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