Film
The Gentle Sex + intro
- Director
- Leslie Howard
- Certificate
- U
- Running Time
- 92 mins
Seven ‘gentle’ British girls (including the young Joan Greenwood) set out to ‘do their bit’ for the war effort in this jolly, patriotic wartime propaganda flick, which was intended to persuade a sceptical public that the ATS was not merely a hotbed of sexual promiscuity.
It’s all rather patronising by today’s standards, but does at least go some way towards acknowledging the sexism of the times and was a big, morale-boosting box office hit back in 1943. The Gentle Sex was also director Leslie Howard‘s final film. He perished when his plane was shot down during a secret mission to Portugal later that year. This Cinema Rediscovered screening is part of the Girls Like Us strand inspired by Their Finest. It’ll be introduced by South West Silents curator Rosie Taylor.
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