Rag Doll (film)
| Rag Doll | |
|---|---|
 US film poster | |
| Directed by | Lance Comfort |
| Produced by | Tom Blakeley |
| Written by |
Derry Quinn Brock Williams |
| Starring |
Jess Conrad Hermione Baddeley Kenneth Griffith Christina Gregg |
| Music by | Martin Slavin |
| Cinematography | Basil Emmott |
| Distributed by | Butcher's Film Service |
Release date | 1961 |
Running time | 67 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Rag Doll, released in the US as Young, Willing and Eager, is a 1961 British B-movie crime film, directed by Lance Comfort and starring actor and singer Jess Conrad. The film gained a new audience in the 2000s in response to Conrad's elevation to cult status as a purveyor of late-1950s and early-1960s pre-Beatles British kitsch, and received a Region 2 DVD release in 2009 in a double bill with Comfort's 1962 film The Painted Smile.
Plot
Seventeen-year-old Carol (Christina Gregg) flees her small-town home to escape from her alcoholic stepfather, and heads off to London to live with her aunt. Once in London she is drawn to the sleazy excitement of Soho and finds work in a coffee bar. She falls in love with handsome young nightclub singer Joe Shane (Conrad) and soon they are a couple. She then discovers that Joe is a small-time crook on the side, with a gang background and a line in petty burglary.
At work, Carol finds herself on the receiving end of advances from all manner of men, including her boss, Mort Wilson (Kenneth Griffith), who, though older, professes to be in love with her. When Carol becomes pregnant, Joe decides to do "one last job" to make the money to take them to a fresh start in Canada. He burgles Mort's house, but Mort catches him. After shooting Mort dead, Joe, himself severely wounded, goes on the lam with Caro.
Cast
- Jess Conrad as Joe Shane
- Hermione Baddeley as Auntie
- Kenneth Griffith as Wilson
- Christina Gregg as Carol
- Patrick Magee as Flynn
- Patrick Jordan as Wills
- Michael Wynne as Bellamy
- Frank Forsyth as Superintendent