West End Jungle

West End Jungle is a 1961 British film directed by Arnold Louis Miller and starring Andria Lawrence and Vicki Woolf. It focuses on the issue of prostitution.[1]

West End Jungle
Directed byArnold Louis Miller
Produced byStanley Long
Arnold Louis Miller
StarringAndria Lawrence
Vicki Woolf
Narrated byDavid Gell
Music byDe Wolfe
CinematographyStanley Long
Production
company
Searchlight
Distributed byMiracle Films
Release date
1961
Running time
55 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Context

West End Jungle examined the consequences of the introduction of the Street Offences Act 1959. Until then, as many as 10,000 prostitutes lined the streets and alleys of Soho, facing a deterrent of only a small fine. The film explains what happened when the streets were cleaned up, and it looks at what became of the so-called oldest profession as it continued to operate in Britain.[2]

The film claims that: “The streets of London have been swept, apparently, clean, but the dirt still remains out of sight. It's still there in the West End Jungle”; Labour peer Lord Morrison, in his position as president of the British Board of Film Censors, had West End Jungle banned, declaring that the film would bring London into disrepute.[3]

Content

The scenarios and narration of West End Jungle are sensational, evoking the lurid pulp fiction of the time. The film warns, for example: “by getting in that car she is taking the irrevocable step to degradation and eventual self-disgust”. But the casualties are more often men. Either senior ones taken in by young women who secretly regard them with contempt, or gullible businessmen lured into clubs where hostesses working on commission cajole them into paying for overpriced drinks.[3]

Cast
  • David Gell: Narrator
  • Andria Lawrence as Andrea Lawrence
  • Vicki Woolf as Vicky Woolf
  • Tom Macaulay as Tom Macauley
  • Nat Mills as Nat Mills
  • Heather Russell as Heather Russell
  • Tom Bowman as Tom Bowman
  • Terry James as Terry James
  • Peter Baker as Peter Baker
  • Denis Cleary as Dennis Cleary
  • David Grey as David Grey
  • Marcel de Villiers as Marcel DeVillier
  • Margaret Trace as Margaret Trace
  • George McGrath as George McGrath
  • Mavis Hoffman as Mavis Hoffman
  • Pamela Rees as Pamela Rees
  • Roy Denton as Roy Denton
  • Laurence Hepworth as Lawrence Hepworth
  • Marilyn Ridge as Marilyn Ridge
  • Janette Rowsell as Jannette Rousell
  • Laura Thurlow as Laura Thurlow
  • Desmond Newling as Desmond Newley
  • Valerie Drew as Valerie Drew
  • Nicholas Tannar as Nicholas Tannar
  • Jan Williams as Jan Williams
  • Minush Fabinah as Minoosh Fabinah
  • Kathleen Grace as Kathleen Grace
  • Roy Stephens as Roy Stephens
  • Michael Lee as Michael Lee

Production

The cast included a number of friends and family of the crew; among them, director Miller's uncle, Nat Mills, one half of the “Nat Mills and Bobby” comedy team of the 1940s. Much of the filming was done at night, making the film seem like a time capsule, with the smoky nightclubs, seedy back alleys, and neon signs of 1960s Soho.[3]

References
  1. Simon Sheridan, Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema, Titan Books 2011. pp. 45–46.
  2. "West End Jungle". BBC Four. 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  3. "West End Jungle (Arnold Louis Miller, 1961)". Cult Movie Forums. 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2018.


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