Sky West and Crooked

Sky West and Crooked - The Number One magazine feat. news, reviews, movie trailers, cinema, DVDs, interviews + film & movie gossip UK & worldwide.

Sky West and Crooked

If proof were needed that pure nepotism doesn’t just exist in the Houses of Parliament then look no further than at SKY WEST AND CROOKED – a romantic drama from 1965 which not only stars a young Hayley Mills in the title role but was directed by her daddy John Mills (the only film he ever directed), and with a script co-written by her mum, Mary Hayley Bell.
This family affair (additionally co-written by historical writer John Prebble) sees a then nineteen year-old Hayley as Brydie White who, after a tragic incident which occurred in her childhood, isn’t ‘quite right in the head’… in other words, she’s ‘sky west and crooked’ (a West Country term) – hence the film’s rather odd title. At the very beginning of the film we see Brydie as a child (Mandy Woollen) playing in a countryside field with a young boy called Julian (Andrew Wicks), a friend of hers who has somehow got hold of his father’s loaded rifle. It’s only too obvious from the opening shot that there is going to be a nasty accident. There is indeed when a shot can be heard in the nearby tiny village: unaware that the rifle was loaded, Julian fooled around with it when it accidentally went off, resulting in his tragic death and Brydie suffering brain damage. We then jump some years into the future where the story continues. Brydie (now played by Hayley Mills) is on the cusp of womanhood and as ever, laments at Julian’s grave although she has no recollection whatsoever of the accident which happened years ago and in fact isn’t even sure why she visits Julian’s grave on a regular basis – not remembering who he was either. One day, a young gypsy called Roibin (Ian McShane) observes her placing flowers on Julian’s grave and quickly develops somewhat of a crush on her.
Brydie spends most of her time with the village children who are much younger than herself and is still blamed by some of the locals for Julian’s death – in particular the dead boy’s father, Edwin Dacres (Laurence Naismith) is certain the tragedy was her fault. As for poor Brydie, her own father has long passed on and with no siblings she lives with her dysfunctional and alcoholic mother (Annette Crosbie) who doesn’t come across as being very understanding regarding her daughter’s needs. Consequently, Brydie’s only friend seems to be her loyal dog Hamlet and to make matters worse, she has just lost her two pet hamsters though as her mum points out, that’s due to her neglect of providing drinking water for the rodents. After shoving each of them in an envelope, Brydie then buries the pets in consecrated ground in the local churchyard. This soon leads to much bigger trouble when she encourages the other kids to bury their dead pets (and those which they find) in the churchyard too – complete with makeshift wooden crosses. When the kindly Vicar Philip Moss (Geoffrey Bayldon) stumbles across a number of these little crosses placed there, he knows that it is a well-meaning and kindly gesture by the children but of course the kids cannot continue burying dead animals in a churchyard… and so he comes up with a compromise. Meanwhile, the local villagers continue to discuss the bad influence Brydie has on their children.
After yet another argument with her usually intoxicated mother (one villager remarks that it would be close to a miracle to encounter Mrs. White in a “vertical” position come evening) the already confused Brydie becomes even more terrified after an eventual confrontation with Dacres who chases her and by doing so, trips over his own feet and bangs his head against a gravestone. Soon Brydie finds herself chased by a number of locals and runs away, only to end up in a river where she almost drowns. Fear not, she is saved by Roibin who was alarmed by her screams. He takes her back to his encampment to recuperate – much to the chagrin of the other Romany gypsies who don’t really want the ‘outsider’ among them, as no doubt it will spell trouble. Of course, Roibin does not wish her to leave and a tender romance begins to blossom though more problems ensue when people start looking for Brydie and a guilt-ridden Mrs. White happens to die in the meantime. Roibin, realising that he and his fellow gypsies might fall foul of the authorities for having ‘kidnapped’ the youngster, does not want her to return (thinking they won’t let her come back to him) but realises his hands are bound. Unexpected help, however, is at hand from the understanding Reverend Moss…
The film exudes a certain charm and Mills and McShane are fine in the leads. It’s nice to see Geoffrey (‘Catweazle’) Bayldon in larger part. The Gypsies too are seen from an understanding perspective (which makes a nice change) although Jacqueline Pearce’s ‘Camellia’ is far to well spoken to convince anyone that her character is a ‘gyppo’. Speaking of accents: the story was initially set in Wales until the producers came to realise that there are no gypsies in Wales, only tinkers… duh! As a consequence, the accents had to be changed again and quite what accent Hayley Mills utters is anyone’s guess (good luck with the flimsily printed subtitles)!
As a feature film it does come over as a little ‘padded out’ at times but in its favour, the entire film was made on location in the idyllic Gloucestershire village of Little Badminton. It is nice to look upon and beautifully shot by Arthur Ibbetson, with a telling score by top classical composer Malcolm Arnold.
SKY WEST AND CROOKED is presented in a brand-new HD remaster on Blu-ray and DVD format. Special Features include brand-new interviews with Irene Bradshaw and Stephen Salt (two of the kids in the film) plus interviews with the 1st and 2nd assistant, Theatrical trailer, US titles, Image gallery and Limited Edition booklet.

Tags: Film-News.co.uk