Diana Dors is at her Marilyn Monroe-esque voluptuous peak in this 1958 film drama about prostitution in London. Poured into bum-hugging skirts and Frederick’s of Soho lingerie she plays Vicki, a tart with a heart and a score to settle.
Herbert Lom is London’s supreme pimp, Nick Biaggi. He’s also the reason Vicki is (reluctantly) on the game – she’s trying to earn enough money for plastic surgery for her younger sister’s face which was damaged in a previous acid attack by Nick when her sister had refused to become one of his prostitutes.
Meanwhile, Nick tricks naive French waif Marie Louise ‘Malou’ Beaucaire (Odile Versois) into a life of shame with the aid of his mistress and #1 tart procurer, Aggie (Brenda De Banzie).
Affable tough-guy black cab driver Johnny McVey (Eddie Constantine as the world’s least likely Canadian) appears on the scene – with all his loyal cabbie mates – to do battle with Biaggi and save the day.
A wacky weed-induced dream scene must be seen to be disbelieved, and keep an eye out for a young (and uncredited) Michael Caine as the new groom at a wedding party.
Released in the USA as Room 43.
Vicki
Diana Dors Nick Biaggi
Herbert Lom Johnny McVey
Eddie Constantine Marie Louise ‘Malou’ Beaucaire
Odile Versois Aggie
Brenda de Banzie Mike
Robert Brown Heath
Elwyn Brook-Jones
Director
Alvin Rakoff
Related Posts
Love Specialist, The (1957) This wholesome, disarmingly ingenuous Franco-Italian comedy-drama with English dialogue is superbly photographed in Technirama and Technicolor and tells of a…
Night and the City (1950) This classic example of film noir revolves around Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark), a sneering, sulking, small-time American grifter with delusions…
Small Town Story (1953) Known during production as Between Two Goals, this was a kind of 1950s Escape To Victory which tells the story…
First Man into Space (1958) In this briskly efficient B-movie from the golden era of British science fiction, brash US Navy test pilot Dan Prescott…
Tiger by the Tail (1954) This tale of lone American newspaperman John Desmond (Larry Parks) taking on a gang of international thieves in London begins…
Tread Softly Stranger (1958) Handsome drifter Johnny Mansell (George Baker) flees London to avoid some villains who are looking to collect on a large…
Out of the Clouds (1955) Directed by Basil Dearden, and taking place over the course of twenty-four hours, Out of the Clouds is an ensemble…
Bus Stop (1956) This was the film that proved Marilyn Monroe was a considerable screen actress, and capable of much, much more than…
Vicki
