Carnival

Jenny Pearl, poor but pretty, joins the corps de ballet of the local music hall and has a romance with a posh young sculptor. But he's too weak for her and she marries a chapel-obsessed farmer. It all ends badly, with gunplay on the Cornish sands. This was the third adaptation of Compton Mackenzie's 1912 novel. It's upbeat as regards the lively setting (Edwardian London), but exudes post-war malaise in its view of life as a series of traps - class, religion, marriage. Sally Gray has striking looks, an interesting voice and a presence suggesting brisk common sense - a quality, unfortunately, not much relevant to the character of Jenny Pearl.