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Beat Girl comes to BFI Flipside dual format in April

31 March 2016

BFI Flipside is back! Three British cult classics that deserve to be seen again have had the full-on Flipside treatment – lovingly curated into top quality editions and packed with extras – and will be released on 25th April 2016.

The first of these is Edmond T Gréville’s legendary 1950s juvenile delinquency flick Beat Girl, with stars including Christopher Lee, Oliver Reed, Adam Faith and Shirley Anne Field. The film introduced Gillian Hills who was the singer of the original version of Zou Bisou Bisou, made famous again by Megan Draper (Jessica Paré) on Mad Men.

Remastered from original negatives, Beat Girl is presented in Dual Format Edition (DVD and Blu-ray discs) and packed with extras including three versions of the film, a new interview with the film’s star, Gillian Hills, three short films and an illustrated booklet.

Restless teen Jennifer (Gillian Hills – Blow-up, A Clockwork Orange) escapes her square papa (David Farrar – Black Narcissus) at Soho’s Off Beat coffee bar, rocking it with beatnik Dave (a super-cool Adam Faith), sensual singer Dodo (Shirley Anne Field) and icy-eyed Plaid Shirt (Oliver Reed). But a secret from Jennifer’s French stepmother’s past leads to the Les Girls strip joint, run by the sleazy Kenny King (Christopher Lee).

Beat Girl, which features John Barry’s fantastic first soundtrack, will be released alongside two more new Flipside titles – Expresso Bongo (Val Guest, 1959) and Symptoms (José Ramón Larraz, 1974).

Beat Girl will be released on UK dual format (Blu-ray and DVD) by the BFI as part of their Flipside strand on 25th April 2016 at the RRP of £19.99.

Special features:

  • Newly remastered in 2K and presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition

  • Original theatrical version (87 mins): from the negatives, preserved by the BFI National Archive

  • Alternative version (92 mins, Blu-ray only)

  • Alternative sequences (3 mins, DVD only)

  • Extended version (92 mins): featuring additional sequences with David Farrar and Noëlle Adam

  • An Interview with Gillian Hills (2016, 25 mins): the film’s star recalls her experience of working on Beat Girl

  • Cross-Roads (John Fitchen, 1955, 25 mins): supernatural short, starring the legendary Christopher Lee

  • Beauty in Brief (c.1955, 4 mins): forgotten saucy 1950s pin-up short which recalls the milieu of Beat Girl

  • Goodnight with Sabrina (c.1958, 3 mins): glamour short starring 1950s TV bombshell Sabrina, aka Norma Sykes

  • Illustrated booklet with new writing by Gillian Hills, Vic Pratt, Jonny Trunk and Jo Botting, and full film credits

A special screening of Beat Girl takes place at the Regent Street Cinema, London, W1 on Wednesday 20 April at 6.30pm followed by a Q&A with Gillian Hills, hosted by BFI National Archive Fiction Curator, Vic Pratt. Tickets are available now: https://www.regentstreetcinema.com/programme/beat-girl/