On The Road to Stardom (via Silent Witness)

This year's Silent Witness series (shown in January) has turned out to be a bit of a springboard for actresses who did their rites of passage as topless bodies on the postmortem slab.

Firstly there was Irish actress Jane McGrath in Story 4: "Undertone" who now has a role in this year's Game of Thrones.

And just announced yesterday in the cast of the new Star Wars film is Daisy Ridley who was in Story 5: "Fraternity"

Both of them had big speaking roles in the stories before their characters died.

 

Jane McGrath

  

Daisy Ridley

For that close overhead shot of Daisy Ridley the images of her face and her body are non-continuous and are not seen together, but the make up wounds on her neck and shoulder match exactly as do the curls of her hair.

UPDATE: Here is a seamless join done by Remlap which replaces the less-than-seamless one I originally posted.

* * *

Despite this boon, Silent Witness has been pretty much it as far as female nudity goes on any of the main terrestrial channels so far this year which is by far the scantest showing of any year in recent memory.  See the main site Archive Page for a record of all years since 2000.

Unknown Actress in A Killing on the Exchange (ITV/1987)

From another unidentified collector's clip from 1980s television, here is an actress that still needs to be identified.

The clip features actors Tim Woodward and Gavan O'Herlihy which have enabled the programme to be pinpointed as being A Killing On The Exchange which was a 6-part ITV drama serial from 1987.  There is also a snippet from another scene featured in the clip in which Tim Woodward is seen arguing with his wife whom credits show was played by Charlie Dore and pictures of her match the actress seen in the clip which further helps verify it.

The clip in question features an unknown young woman with very short dark hair topless in bed beside Dan Maitland (played by Gavan O'Herlihy) when his angry colleague John Field (played by Tim Woodward) comes in demanding a report - Dan introduces her incorrectly as "Phyllis Davenport-Rice" and she corrects him and says it is actually "Rice-Davenport" speaking with a cultured English accent.  Then Dan goes off to get the report leaving her in the room with John and she sticks her tongue out at him in a knowingly insolent manner (almost as if she knows him).

Unfortunately none of the credit sources available list anyone called "Phyllis". Although there are some names listed without character names shown. 

The other possibility is that she was knowingly giving a made-up name to Dan and John knew that but for plot-reasons but wasn't letting on - although that is just a speculative guess and such a relationship can't really be determined from what is seen in the clip.

Other actors seen in the clip

The programme's entry in the Kaleidoscope Guide has a per episode cast and the following are the female names who are not well known actresses who can be immediately ruled out (character names shown if listed).

Laura Venn ("Evey Field")  [eps 1, 2, 4, 6]
Not on IMDB and no pictures can be found.
However given that her character has the same surname as John Field (Tim Woodward), it can perhaps be surmised she is a daughter or mother and therefore unlikely to have been her.  His wife is Grace Field played by Charlie Dore.

Lorraine Brunning ("???")  [ep 2]
From a 2005-ish photo of her in Spotlight, it does not appear to be her.

Anne-Marie Marriott ("Lady Bee")  [eps 3, 4, 5]
I couldn't find any pictures of her online.  The only one that comes up is actually a misidentification of her from the Michael Palin film "The Missionary" attributing her to a topless scene that is actually Valerie Whittington.  I'll have to wait for a showing of The Missionary to try and spot her actual appearance in that.  Other things on her credits are very obscure.

Mary Clare Nash ("???")  [ep 3]
She is listed on IMDB (although "A Killing On The Exchange" is missing from her credits) - her only credits are for two very obscure TV things from 1976 and 1985 - neither of which seem particularly likely to ever be available to make a comparison.

Lesa Lockford ("Millicent Thorne")  [eps: all]
She had the same surname as the star John Duttine (Detective Superintendent Thorne) so may have been his wife.

Worthy Site Footnotes #5

Continuing with the occasional theme of site footnotes which are scenes that are of interest but do not "qualify" for a main site entry.

 

Firstly Claire Goose getting out of a pool in Gifted which was a 2003 ITV drama about a talented footballer.

And Ophelia Lovibond in the 2012 ITV drama The Poison Tree.  In the last picture of the middle row (and magnified at the start of the bottom row) it looks as though her bra was close to slipping off upwards as she is hastily undressing outdoors.  Unfortunately this was the final frame before the picture cuts away and when the camera next returns to her the bra has been properly readjusted.

Unknown Programme #7

Here is another clip from an 1980s TV production which has yet to be identified. 

In the clip a woman is seen fully naked walking around a house and then into a bedroom and getting into bed.  The sound on the clip is just the noise of a howling wind - there is no speech or narration heard.

The clip collector on the forum it was posted had kept no information on who it was or what it was from.  A subsequent responder recognised it as being from a 1980s TV documentary and identified the woman as being Erica Creer.

Erica Creer was a Page 3 glamour model from the 1970s and comparing modelling pictures of her it seems like the identification could be correct.

The clip does not have any typical hallmarks of a documentary and it would be easier to assume it was a scene from a drama.  However it could perhaps be a dramatised scene of some sort.  The clip contain no clues to what is going on.

Any further information would be appreciated that might help identify it.

British Films With Alternate Versions (Part 2)

Concluding a run down of films with alternate scenes which began in the previous post ...



Witchfinder General (1968)
Starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy and Hilary Dwyer
This film had two versions with the export version containing more violent scenes and some nudity.  In both versions there is a scene in a tavern in which the Witchfinder's henchman is seen frolicking with two inn wenches.  In the domestic version they remain clothed but in the export version the wenches are played by two different actresses who are topless.  However the end credits remain unaltered and both versions credit Sally Douglas and Donna Reading for those roles.  Checking against those actresses appearances in other films these names would appear to refer to the clothed version actresses.  In a reference book about horror films two uncredited actresses were mentioned as playing inn wenches: Tasma Bereton and Sandy Seagar.  The dark haired topless girl in the export version looks reasonably like a known image of Tasma Bereton from the film "Curse of the Crimson Altar" from the same year.  Therefore the red-haired girl seems likely to be Sandy Seagar who has no other credits to check against.

Witchfinder General

School for Sex (1968)

Starring: Derek Aylward and the students (Amber Dean Smith, Françoise Pascal, Cathy Howard and Sylvia Barlow)
There is known to have been an American version of this film with additional nudity not present in the UK version.  Although it is somewhat strange because the UK version does have its fair share of nudity in the opening preamble scenes, but it all but disappears when the main part of the film begins.  Once the four main female students come into the story and enrol at the "school" to learn how to manipulate men to their own ends, there are no scenes with any of them topless.  However in a different version, prepared for American audiences, some of the same scenes were done topless or maybe fully naked. 

Indications of this can be seen from magazine scans of the time which show the four students naked in scenes that in the UK version were done in their undergarments.  And in a vintage trailer that still exists for the American version, parts of two scenes can seen that contrast markedly with the same scene from the UK version.  The UK version is the only one that is currently commercially available and it is not clear if the other version still even exists, other than the elements from it seen in the trailer.

School For Sex

For Men Only (1968)
Starring David Kernan, Andrea Allan and Derek Aylward
The UK version had little or no nudity.  However extra scenes with nudity (as opposed to alternate versions of the same scenes), were filmed for the American version which is approximately 15 minutes longer than the UK one.  The extra scenes feature a completely different set of characters involved in a peripheral plot concerning a rival magazine publisher whom we initially see auditioning a reluctant model and then later he sends some private detectives to investigate the country mansion (the location where the main story takes place).  Also there are scenes with a young couple who sneak into the mansion to use one of the bedrooms and who, together with a group of naked girls who were playing in a barn, are kidnapped by the private eyes.  However none of these characters ever interact with the film's main cast.  Despite some of the roles in these extra scenes being extensive and having named speaking characters none of them are shown in the credits.  In this case it is the longer version that seems to have survived.  I've not actually seen the shorter version although it could well be exactly the same just with the extra scenes missing.

The Big Switch (1969)

Starring: Sebastian Breaks, Virginia Wetherell and Derek Aylward
The UK version of this film does include nudity, but there would appear to be another version in which some of the scenes are done topless instead of clothed.  The UK version was recently released on a BFI DVD which included as an extra the film's trailer. However, this trailer contained unclothed versions of two scenes seen in the main movie and a fragment of an additional topless scene not in the film at all.  All of these involved Gilly Grant who is not actually seen topless at all in the UK version.

Scene 1

• Trailer: Almost topless sitting around a table as she takes off her bra as a stake in the Strip Poker game - one nipple is glimpsed but the scene cuts off before she has lowered her arms out of the way - but one assumes that in the full version she would be seen topless mere moments later
• UK Version: She bets and loses her necklace as being "worth a tenner" - whereas in trailer version it is her bra she bets while delivering the same line.

Scene 2

• Trailer: Topless on a bed as she presses a lit cigarette butt against John Carter's (Sebastian Breaks) chest while he is being held down by her three male cohorts as they torture Carter to pay a debt.
• UK Version: There is no equivalent torture scene either dressed or undressed - and there is even a line in the movie saying her character has no stomach for violence

Scene 3

• Trailer: Topless standing as her boyfriend Mike (Brian Weske) gropes her breasts from behind while Mike's heavies continue to beat John up in the other room.
• UK Version: She has her bra on to start with and is putting on her top while Mike is standing behind her groping her

Given these differences there could have potentially been other additional or alternate scenes in this other version that were not featured in the trailer, Apparently, the full export version is available on the BFI's Blu-Ray version of the same release, but I've not seen this to be able to compare any other differences.

The Big Switch

What's Good for the Goose (1969)

Starring Norman Wisdom and Sally Geeson

The UK version of this film is fairly tame on the nudity front.  There is a minor bit of rear nudity on a beach and a momentary glimpse of Sally Geeson's nipple while she's in a bath.  But in the hotel bedroom scenes Sally Geeson keeps her bra on throughout.  However there is a German version of the film in which Sally Geeson plays those same scenes topless.

The German version is actually 27 minutes shorter than the UK version running to 75 minutes instead of 102 minutes.  The most significant difference to the story created by the cut material is that at the end middle-aged Timothy (Norman Wisdom) is not seen repeating all the same fun activities with his wife that he enjoyed the previous day with youthful Nikki (sally Geeson).  It ends with Timothy looking dismayed to see his wife wearing a face pack.  This removes the well-rounded sweetness of the original film by making it seem as if Timothy is disheartened to be with his wife again when in fact in the UK version he finds out that he can do all the same fun things with his wife that he did with Nikki and is content with that discovery.

The opening credits are completely re-done in German over the same original speeded-up film sequence as in the UK version - so it is was clearly prepared at the same time with access to the same unfettered footage.  The German title is "Öfter Mal Was Junges!!"

What's Good For The Goose

Cry of the Banshee (1970)

Starring: Vincent Price, Essy Persson, Hilary Dwyer and Patrick Mower

There is a re-worked version of this film that removes all its nudity.  It is not only shorter by about 8 minutes but it also reorders some of the scenes including creating a pre-credits sequence of an attack on a coven of witches which has been transplanted from a point much later on in the film.  It also has a different opening credits sequence.  All the nudity was removed using editing techniques rather than through having alternate versions of the same scenes.

Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974)
Starring: Peter Sellers, Lila Kedrova and Béatrice Romand
This film originally had a longer running time before being cut by 10 minutes for general release.  The DVD release includes the material removed in the form of "deleted and extended scenes" rather than presenting the entire longer version in full.  The additional scenes include a new topless scene featuring Gabriella Licudi.  

This is the text from the DVD that introduces the additional material: "Soft Beds, Hard Battles opened at the Carlton Haymarket in the West End on 24th January 1974 with a running time of 107 minutes and was subsequently re-cut to 97 minutes before going on general release.  The following deleted or extended scenes (together with original Peter Sellers narration) have been taken from the only surviving long version print and have not been seen since the initial London release.". 

Soft Beds, Hard Battles

Carry On England (1976)
Starring: Kenneth Connor Windsor Davies, Patrick Mower
There were two versions of this film prepared to obtain different certifications.  The main difference concerns the scene in which the ATS girls come onto the inspection parade topless.  The edited version of this scene is much shorter with the girls only seen topless momentarily.

***

Finally, I'm aware there is a longer director's cut version of The Wicker Man (1973) but the extra scenes do not add any additional nudity to the film with the exception of Britt Ekland's naked dance scene lasting a little bit longer.

If you can think of any others I've missed then let me know.

  

British Films With Alternate Versions

The Ubiquitous Marianne Stone - An Unexpected Discovery
If, like me, you have watched a lot of British films from the 1960s and 1970s you may have noticed the name of Marianne Stone cropping up in the credits in a huge number of them, nearly always playing a small supporting role or bit-part.  A count of her IMDB credits shows she appeared in over 200 films.  Her earlier films were done before nudity became more common and by the time the seventies came around she was already into her late 40s/early 50s.  So even though she appeared in her share of the saucy ones from that later era, her roles never required any nudity.  Thus it seemed, despite her prolific appearance count, she had managed to miss becoming a member of the proverbial "nudity club".

But a recent discovery has changed that because it has emerged that she did in fact appear topless in a 1959 UK film called Jack The Ripper.  Or more specifically in the alternative scenes filmed for the foreign market version of that film.

Whilst British censorship rules didn't allow nudity to appear in mainstream films until well into the 1960s, other countries in Europe were more relaxed about it and so sometimes certain scenes would be shot twice, the second time with less clothes.  One such film is the aforementioned black and white horror movie Jack The Ripper (1959) starring Eddie Byrne as a London detective and Lee Patterson as a New York detective come to help him.  Alternative scenes were filmed featuring nudity and more violence for continental audiences.  In one such scene set in a music hall chorus girls' dressing room, a fight breaks out between two of the dancers.  One of them is Marianne Stone who is playing an alcoholic dancer asking around for gin and she is seen topless as she stands up after the music hall manager breaks up the fight.  A number of uncredited chorus girls are also seen topless as they get changed and later as they watch the fight.  In another scene actress Dorinda Stevens has her left breast briefly exposed when a licentious lord pulls down her top after pouring champagne on her, and in another scene unlucky new dancer Jane Taylor is seen with one breast exposed from a torn dress after meeting an untimely end when she runs into Jack the Ripper in a dark alley.

These alternative scenes exist with French dubbed dialogue, which in the version I have seen have been incorporated into the UK print to replace the original scenes (with subtitles used to translate them back to English).  So at various times in the film everyone suddenly starts talking in French whenever there is going to be nudity or additional violence involved.

Marianne Stone

This has inspired me to put together a list of the other films I know of with alternate scenes or versions that involve additional nudity.

In Chronological Order.

The Flesh and the Fiends (1959)
Starring Peter Cushing, June Laverick and Donald Pleasence
This film tells the Burke and Hare story and has two versions featuring a couple of alternate clothed and unclothed scenes.  One scene is set in a tavern with some inn girls and a barmaid seen topless; and another has some topless girls in a brothel scene.  All are uncredited.  The only credited actress seen topless in the continental version is June Powell.

An example of the version differences featuring uncredited extras

Beat Girl (1960)
Starring David Farrar, Noëlle Adam, Gillian Hills, Christopher Lee
Two versions exist - the full 88-minute version and an edited 78-minute version.  In the full version a couple of topless striptease dancers appear.  The shorter version cuts out the nudity scenes and some racy dialogue rather than having alternate versions of scenes.



The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
Starring Janet Munro and Leo McKern
There are two versions of this film.  In the UK version Janet Munro is seen fleetingly topless in a bathroom mirror reflection while drying her hair in her room.  In the version of the scene done for the USA she is covered up.

It is sometimes thought there is a version of the film in which she is seen much more openly topless while leaning over a washbasin washing her hair because there are apparent screenshots showing this.  However what these appear to be are on-set stills and I don't think there is a version of the film that actually includes those shots.

Janet Munro

During One Night (1961)
Starring Don Borisenko and Susan Hampshire
When this was shown on late night BBC2 in 2003 it quite surprisingly, for such an early 1960s film, had an openly topless scene in a bedroom featuring Joy Webster as a prostitute entertaining a shy WW2 American airman stationed in Britain, and later on a rear nude scene with Susan Hampshire.  Although I don't know for sure, it seems likely that there must have been clothed alternatives of these scenes filmed for a UK release version.  But if so then it seems, in this instance, it is the racier version that prevails.

Joy Webster



Susan Hampshire


Devil Doll (1964)
Starring Bryant Haliday, William Sylvester, Yvonne Romain and Sandra Dorne
The international version of this film has additional and alternate scenes with nudity.  Sandra Dorne is briefly seen topless in bed in an extended version of a scene in the UK version.  There is an alternate topless version of a scene involving Pamela Law who is wearing lingerie in the UK version of the same scene.  And there is an extra scene involving a woman (Trixie Dallas) whom a stage hypnotist mesmerises into doing a striptease.

Pamela Law

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1967)
Starring Barry Evans and Judy Geeson
This film has a scene in which Judy Geeson is lying topless with Barry Evans as they kiss on a riverbank after going skinny-dipping and they are bothered by an inquisitive dog.  An alternate version of this film uses a different take of this same scene in which she is wearing a shirt when the dog bothers them.



Corruption (1967)
Starring Peter Cushing and Sue Lloyd
The UK version has no nudity.  There is a scene where Peter Cushing visits a Soho prostitute whom he kills for her glands which he needs to restore the looks of his wife.  The prostitute is played by Jan Waters and she remains clothed.  There is however another version of the film entitled "Laser Killer" in which the prostitute that Peter Cushing visits is played by a different actress called Marianne Collins, who appears topless.

Corruption vs Laser Killer

Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)
Starring Mark Eden, Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff and Virginia Wetherell
It seems likely that there would have been a racier version of this film.  Some of the scenes at a raucous house party seem made for nudity and yet the girls unaccountably keep their bras on.  And earlier on a girl is wearing a strange body stocking suit while participating in an outdoor chase game with some men in the grounds of their house.  When Mark Eden arrives they explain what they are up to and she is referred to as being "naked" when clearly she isn’t - so probably another version was filmed but the dialogue wasn't adjusted to fit.

A photo still possibly shows that a racier version of the sacrifice scene was filmed - it shows three of the actresses topless whereas in the film they remain covered in some way.  The existing version retains a small bit of nudity but it seems likely there was much more filmed.  However, if a racier version was ever fully assembled then it seems to have been lost.

Curse of the Crimson Altar



This run down continues in the following post ...

Change to Blog

You'll have noticed I've activated the 'Adult Content' entry screen for this blog.

In order to avoid doing that up until now I've stuck to using nudity-free images to illustrate posts, but for the article that follows about alternate scenes, it would be hard to avoid clear nudity if I was going to attempt to illustrate it at all, hence the change.