The Party's Over (1963)

“The history of 1960s British filmmaking is littered with countless films wounded by the industry’s strict censorship… The Party’s Over [is a] a still-shocking social drama held up for two years over intense content issues.” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital, 2010 Written by Marc Behm, who had penned the Beatles film Help! (1965), The Party’s Over was directed by Guy Hamilton, the man responsible for the James Bond extravaganza Goldfinger (1964). When enigmatic young Melina falls in with a group of Chelsea beatniks, she catches the eye of the gang’s defiant leader, Moise (Oliver Reed), but invites scorn and jealousy from the group’s other members, including Moise’s lover Libby. After her disappearance, Melina’s fiancée begins investigating the events of one of the gang’s spirited parties, and uncovers the shocking truth. With its fine performances, time capsule location work, and bold subject matter, The Party’s Over is a work of great daring and ambition from a director who would ultimately remove his name from the credits. The theme of innocents drawn to the wilder side of London recurs throughout British cinema, from the fun-seeking heroines of The Pleasure Girls (1965) to Rita Tushingham’s tragic waif in the Hammer horror Straight on till Morning (1972).