GEORGY GIRL: it's the heart not the looks that really count

It's got the catchiest theme song ever to adorn the opening titles of a 60s movie. "Hey there Georgy Girl" by The Seekers will stick in your head for days afterwards. 
But not only is it infectious it also sets out in plain unambiguous English the premise for the story about to unfold. And just in case you are having trouble understanding the lyrics director Silvio Narizzano helpful matches up the words with images of Georgy "swinging down the (high) street (in London) so fancy free."
"You're always window shopping but never stopping to buy" warble The Seekers at the exact moment that Georgy pauses to look at the clothes in a shop window. 
GEORGY GIRL is not a subtle film. There's nothing here to interpret or decode. What you see is what you get. 

And what you get is a fascinating time capsule - a window on the working class end of the swinging 60s as they probably never existed but were purveyed by British movies of the time. Lynn Redgrave is Georgy, overweight, fat faced and ugly (her words) and longing for a boyfriend, a love life and a future not spent on her own. James Mason plays Mr Leamington,  a wealthy dirty old man who lusts after Georgy, and Alan Bates is Jos, the hedonistic, immature and dashingly handsome boyfriend of Georgy's beautiful flatmate Meredith, played by Charlotte Rampling.
Georgy is out of place not only because of her appearance but also because she doesn't subscribe to the live for today ethos which has infected everyone around her. She's an old fashioned girl with a heart of gold  looking for someone worthy of sharing her love with. 
GEORGY GIRL is not quite the story of the ugly duckling who blossoms into a gorgeous swan; it's more of a voyage of self-discovery filled with bittersweet moments on the way to a surprising conclusion.
Redgrave is magnificent as Georgy. Self deprecating and brutally honest about her shortcomings, there's not a trace of ego in her performance. Mason is superb as her oily benefactor while Bates is just about bearable in his hyper-exuberant interpretation of the swinging 60s made flesh.
Had Bates dialed down his performance a couple of notches and  events unfolded at a slightly less frantic pace it's possible that a more serious and meaningful film would have emerged. As it is the moral of the story gets buried under the film's brash, slick exterior and its focus on playing almost everything for laughs.