The Flesh Is Weak

THE FLESH IS WEAK is a low budget British crime film that goes for censor-baiting action throughout. Sadly it's quite a dated movie when watched with a modern mindset, although it has much in common with the American 'sensation' movies doing the rounds which typically showed young women being lured into a life of prostitution and/or drugs.

What I like about these 1950s films is that they often have fairly strong themes without ever being explicit about them. It's pretty obvious that this is a film about prostitution and pimping but you'll never hear it mentioned. There's a turf war of sorts between criminal gangs, and lots of familiar supporting faces like Martin Benson, Freda Jackson, and Shirley Ann Field.

Imported American actor John Derek is pretty weak and out of place, but the black and white photography is crisp throughout and the knife crime stuff is pretty good. Hard-working director Don Chaffey would also helm the likes of PETE'S DRAGON, PERSECUTION, and JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS during a long career.

It's interesting that the British film "The Flesh is Weak" never uses the word prostitute...or any other euphemism for that line of work. It reminds me of a lot of Pre-Code films in Hollywood that dealt with abortion, prostitution, adultery and the like. The adult audience members knew what was going on...but the film never directly used these terms...perhaps so if there were kids in the audience they'd be oblivious to the subtext.

When the story begins, Marissa is new to London and is in need of work. Considering she's from Italy, has no family in the UK and is a bit dim, she's a perfect recruit for Toni Giani (John Derek). But he's clever and subtle. He doesn't approach her and say "how about becoming a ho?" but instead befriends her and she falls in love with him. Only then does he trap her into turning her first trick for him, as he tells her he's in financial trouble and will go to jail unless he can quickly raise some money! The rest of the film is about Marissa's time working for Tony as well as after she leaves him, as Tony's not about to allow any of his 'property' to get away scot free!

This is a very good film though I really wish Marissa had been a smarter and more likable character. As it is, you may find yourself annoyed with her, as I did. Still, it's a good film about a man who would do anything...even ask his beloved to morally debase herself for him.

Milly Vitale comes to London to see what she can make of herself. She meets John Derek and it's love, love love..... until one evening, she realizes he's a pimp who's been grooming her as a streetwalker.

It's a rough film to sit through. Can anyone be that naive? Can anyone be that coldly manipulative? Derek plays it like Dirk Bogarde; there's something soft about him, compared with his hard, mobster brother, Martin Benson, that makes the whole thing make sense of sorts.

The movie takes its time, but I find the conclusion, with its statement that there are some things you can come back from, that society will forgive, to be unbelievable; or perhaps it's a wish that the world will forgive.

One or two performances in this story of prostitution and the pimps behind it made this an interesting film. The United States hadn't seen such a blatant tale with such a good cast before; this is why this film caught the attention of the viewers. The writing was terse and pointed; the black-and-white cinematography made the picture riveting in much of its running time. The direction of the film is excellent and always tasteful.

Certainly, nothing in John Derek's film history gave a hint that he even knew what a pimp was, nor had he played a villain before. His performance was slick and believable. Milly Vitale had played completely sympathetic roles in the films for which U.S. audience knew her -- "War and Peace" and "The Seven Little Foys" -- but roles that amounted to nothing, so her performance in this small, dark film was a welcome surprise.

The remainder of the company -- Martin Benson, Freda Jackson, Patricia Jessel, Shirley Ann Field, and others -- were slightly known here at this time, later to make their superior talents known both on stage and screen; in this film, their contributions are very welcome!

A good British film and a better use of these actors' talents than American cinema gave them!

When this film was released Soho was dominated by violent gangs.One of the tools of their trade was the flick knife which is shown in the film and which was shortly to be banned by act of parliament.One of the basic problems are the leads.Martin Benson is fine but the parachuted in American star John Derek is woefully miscast,pretty he is menacing he isn't.By the way why does he and Benson have different accents?Monica |Vitale plays an innocent Italian girl picked up by a pimp.There seems to be a gang war of sorts and there is an investigating writer,not reporter,played by William Franklyn.Much of this film is muddled and not helped by the small studios at Walton.It has to be said that this film clearly earned its X certificate on its release.