The Flesh Is Weak

1957 British film by Don Chaffey

John Derek
Milly Vitale

CinematographyStephen DadeMusic byTristram Cary

Production
company

Raymond Stross Productions

Distributed byEros Films
Distributors Corporation of America (US)

Release date

6 August 1957 (1957-08-06)

Running time

88 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglish

The Flesh Is Weak is a 1957 British film directed by Don Chaffey and starring John Derek and Milly Vitale.^[1] Distributors Corporation of America released the film in the USA as a double feature with Blonde in Bondage (1957).

Plot

Tony Giani is a Soho pimp who preys on young provincial women who come to London seeking work. Marissa Cooper, one such girl, has just arrived in London. Giani spots her and offers her a job in the Golden Bucket, a nightclub. In her innocence, she does not realize the club is a front for prostitution. When she tries to escape from the pimp's control, she is set up by Giani and his brother Angelo and arrested by the police. Investigative journalist Lloyd Buxton persuades her to give evidence against the brothers leading to their imprisonment and her freedom.

Cast

John Derek as Tony Giani
Milly Vitale as Marissa Cooper
William Franklyn as Lloyd Buxton
Martin Benson as Angelo Giani
Freda Jackson as Trixie
Norman Wooland as Inspector Kingcombe
Harold Lang as Henry
Patricia Jessel as Millie
John Paul as Sergeant Franks
Denis Shaw as Saradine
Joe Robinson as Lofty
Roger Snowden as Benny
Patricia Plunkett as Doris Newman
Shirley Anne Field as Susan

Production

The film was based on the Messina vice gang who operated in the West End of London.^[2] Its original title was Women of Night, then Not for Love, before becoming The Flesh is Weak.^[3]^[4] The success of the film enabled the producer and director to raise finance for A Question of Adultery (1958).^[5]

Reception

Box office

The film was a box office success – according to Variety it was the fourth highest grossing film in England.^[5]

It is not listed in Kinematograph Weekly as one of the most popular British films of 1957 but the magazine said the movie was "enjoying a triumphant West End run".^[6]

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "A crudely melodramatic film dealing with, but not one feels very gravely concerned about, the real life problem of organised prostitution. There is some rather loose and high flown talk regarding a change in the law and licences for the streetwalkers, but in the main the film has to do with the downfall of a Graham Greene-style boy gangster, played with appropriate menace by John Derek. The direction is brisk and there are some lively impersonations by Vera Day, Shirley Ann Field and Patricia Jessel among les girls. Also to be enjoyed is Harold Lang's droll performance as a jaundiced gang-member"^[7]

References

^ "The Flesh Is Weak". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
^ ""The Flesh is Weak"". Variety. 14 August 1957. p. 20.
^ "London". Variety. 15 May 1957. p. 74.
^ "London". Variety. 10 April 1957. p. 86.
^ ^a ^b Hollinger, Hy (14 May 1958). "Screen's new Boldness Marked by Film About Artificial Insemination". Variety. p. 54.
^ Billings, Josh (12 December 1957). "Hardly Vintage, But a Great Year for British Films". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 7.
^ "The Flesh Is Weak". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 24 (276): 114. 1 January 1957 – via ProQuest.