Gypsy Girl

I did not much care for this film the first time I saw it, but a second viewing created a more favorable impression. The acting is very good all around, particularly from the talented Hayley Mills, who holds my attention at every moment that she is on screen. Ian McShane, too, is quite convincing as the young Gypsy man, Roibin. Also deserving of special praise is Geoffrey Bayldon as the vicar. For a change, it is nice to see a church pastor portrayed in a positive light. The direction (John Mills) is always acceptable and at times much more than that. The fleeing of Brydie White is nicely handled with swiftly moving camera and quick cuts. Close-ups are very effective indeed, especially of Brydie, Roibin, and Rev. Moss. I love the way Hayley Mills invests her character with tiny facial mannerisms that almost certainly were not in the script. For example, watch her while Brydie is recuperating in the wagon's bed. Her look of confusion when she wakes up, views her surroundings, and later tastes the hedgehog soup is so real and convincing! She is just a brilliant and captivating actress who is able to make her roles come to life in a believable way. Hayley is, of course, utterly beautiful throughout every frame of the film, and it is no wonder why the Gypsy would be so smitten by Brydie's charms. The acting of village children is rather a hit and miss proposition, sometimes quite good and often impossibly amateurish. Plaudits, too, for Brydie's lovable canine companion, "Dog," whose real name is "Hamlet." Be sure to see the image gallery, which is one of the DVD's bonus extras. It contains lots of black-and-white shots from behind the scenes. Several show Hayley Mills's father (director John Mills) and mother (writer Mary Hayley Bell) during the days of production. Not a perfect film, by any means, but if you liked the far superior "Whistle Down the Wind," you will probably find something to enjoy here as well.

I love this film. It is very much a movie about a wild child. Haley acts very well and she truly becomes the character. This movie reminds me a lot of the 60s spirit of hippies, flower child and all that. It's about love and child-like spirit. Very sweet. The plot has issues, but I can overlook it because the movie is so sweet in a natural way. Like others have said, it is much better than her Disney movies.

To those who think the movie is rambling...it is, but I think it totally fits with the mood and theme of the movie. It is about a free spirit.

The English countryside is beautiful. Like someone else said, it makes me want to jump in the movie and run with her. It's a good advertisement for UK tourism.

Thanks TCM for showing this rare film.

It starts with the accidental death of a village boy who has been fooling around with a shotgun. Several years later, and the girl he was playing with has grown into Hayley Mills and is a semi-pariah in the village, being blamed by some for the boy's death. She is also 'not all there', but whether this was from birth or the accident is not clear. Hayley is more popular with the village youngsters, and her burial of her pet hamsters in the churchyard, starts off a trend which spreads to the interment of a few Sunday dinners!

This business, reminiscent of FORBIDDEN GAMES was to me the better part of the film, and is helped by the performances of Annette Crosbie (Victor Meldrew's long-suffering wife in 'One Foot in the Grave') as Hayley's alcoholic mother and Geoffrey Bayldon and the bewildered vicar trying to bring peace to the village.

Where the film lost it for me was in the other plot involving Ian MacShane as a Gypsy who takes a shine to Hayley and is subsequently unpopular with his fellows. That side of it was not so bad, but the romantic business with MacShane and Mills becomes very tedious indeed. Very much a family affair, this was directed by John Mills, and co-written by his wife Mary Hayley Bell, from her novel.

The British title comes from an expression meaning to be a bit cracked, and there was even talk of using 'Bats With Baby Faces', which would have upset nearly everybody. In America it was called GYPSY GIRL.

This charming and unusual film was written by Mary Hayley Bell (with inspiration from DH Lawrence's story 'The Virgin and the Gypsy'), directed by John Mills, and starred their daughter Hayley as disturbed teenager Brydie.

The basic premise - that the girl is 'sky west and crooked' because of something that happened in her childhood that she can't remember - soon switches into a 'growing-up' kind of tale as Brydie meets gypsy boy Roibin (Ian McShane). The people in the village are equally well-drawn (Brydie's mother, played by Annette Crosbie; the vicar, played by Geoffrey Bayldon; the grudge-bearing Mr Dacres, played by Laurence Naismith; and the gypsy grandma played by Rachel Thomas).

From encouraging the children around her to bury dead animals in the consecration of the churchyard, to her love match amongst the caravans and the Romany customs, Hayley Mills makes Brydie a delight, although she acts and looks much younger than the character's age of seventeen. As Roibin, Ian McShane is very much in 'glamour' mode, perhaps photographed too sympathetically to make the character believable.

Still, 'Sky West and Crooked' is a well-written and directed piece, a lovely fairytale in which the idealism of first love is well presented and where the surroundings, whether a church or an open road, marry to the action perfectly.

An emotionally backward girl falls for a local gypsy. Coming-of-age film relies on setting (1960s British countryside) and strong character development for charm. Sure direction steers away from sappiness and holds interest despite the thin plot. A fine companion to "Railway Children". (Rating: A-minus)