User Reviews

Let's give this one a 7 just because this is so far removed from Swiss Family Robinson. I haven't seen too many films with Janet Munro. I always remember her as the tomboy castaway from Swiss Family Robinson. I saw Darby O'Gill as a child. I don't remember too much about it except that it scared me to death, but it seems like she was a naive village girl in that one. She does a 180 in this one; a young woman from a small village in Wales that's dying because the pit has been closed and most everyone has moved elsewhere. So her dad tries to ship her off to her elderly aunts' house. She decides she wants something better so she picks up a customer from her father's shop and ends up in bed with him. When she's late for an appointment to meet up with him the next day, she meets a truly kind but poor barman who takes an instant interest in her (she's quite beautiful in this film.) The young barman offers her security when she needs it the most, at least the way he sees it. She gets tired of him and when the opportunity comes along to meet more glamorous folks, she seizes it. It becomes the beginning of the end for her.

Needless to say, I was surprised by the ending--nothing happy happens for poor Jenny. Munro was quite good as the small town girl gone bad and John Stride as Bob was effective as her knight in shining armor who realizes, almost too late, that she's just no good. I'd never heard of this film before but Encore shows it occasionally so I decided to watch today. The viewer is required to put 2 & 2 together to figure out what happens at the end so I guess it could be helped by a little more exposition. But for a B movie, it's pretty good and the acting was very good.

Shocking to see a young girl using her assets (see "Darling") to rise from humble beginnings. "Bitter Harvest" lacks Miss J.Christie's modishness and Mr D.Bogarde's gravitas.It can only manage Miss Munro and several rent -a cad types who ill use her. To be fair to them Miss Munro plays a character who,contrrary to modern political thought,is permitted to be shown as - at the least - contributing to her own downfall. The phrase "she was asking for it" would have come to mind back in the dark ages before all men were potential rapists. She treads a familiar path from dead - end town to Big City,failng to pass go but managing to collect a few hundred quid as compensation. The film is well enough acted and has some "Room at the top" moments that fail to develop.Admirers of the late Miss Munro have little enough to remember her by so I suppose we should be grateful but she is better served elsewhere.

There is no new ground broken here and it's shot in color when it's really a black and white subject but it's pleasant enough and virtually all the cast do a nice job. It's our old friend the morality play with Janet Munro playing the almost too naive Jenny Jones facing late teens trapped in 'the valleys' with a tyrannical widowed father and nothing to look forward to except the ads in the Women's magazines pushing scented soap via unrealistic promises. Almost inevitably she gets picked up and deflowered by a stereotypical cad who dumps her in London where she is 'rescued' albeit temporarily by a decent bartender but just as inevitably she is seduced far too easily by the bright lights and sleaze masquerading as glamour. Following its initial release it disappeared without trace until new channel Talking Pictures dusted it down and showed in on national television. Well done.

This drama film is about a poor Welsh girl who moves to London, becomes well-off and kills herself.

Hot redhead Jennie is picked up by a man in Cardiff. She gets drunk, has sex with him and wakes up in his flat in London.

She meets a barman, Bob - who's a boring nice guy. She moves in with him in his rented studio flat, displeasing plain barmaid Ella - who wants him.

Jennie leaves Bob when she meets a rich man, Karl. She moves into her own flat, where she destroys some of her expensive possessions and kills herself with an overdose of pills. Her body is driven away in an ambulance, narrowly avoiding colliding with Bob and Ella - who are now a couple.

The acting - especially by Janet Munro who plays Jennie - is very good. The main fault is that it looks like at least twenty minutes of the film is missing after she leaves Bob as it goes straight to her being well-off and killing herself. She's become well-off, so what made her suicidal? Did she become Karl's lover? Did she have a string of affairs? Did she become a prostitute? Did she become an actress and/or model?

BITTER HARVEST is a dark and downbeat British 'kitchen sink' drama, one of many made during the 1960s. Former Disney actress Janet Munro does a very good job playing a small-time Welsh girl with big ambitions who travels to London only to discover that her dream of making it big as a model is just that. The film is slow paced but well shot throughout, and the attempts at deep characterisation pay off. Munro's character is totally unlikeable and self-centred throughout but the actress does convince in the part. The likes of Francis Matthews, Allan Cuthbertson, and Terence Alexander all pop up to play delightful cads, but the most interesting performance comes from the likable and downtrodden John Stride as the barman love interest.

The opening credit sequence with the beautiful theme playing is enough to get anyone hooked. It shows Jennie arriving home late and drunk, struggling to open her door before going inside. It's all filmed with such class and style. From then on it's a long flashback. A much better (and darker) film than we see at the beginning, it starts with poor young Jennie longing to escape from the dismal family shop in Wales and make her name in the go-getting world of London. By sheer chance she gets her opportunity when a customer drops in and tells her he can help her to realise her dreams. He's a cad, interested in only what he can get, but despite her clean-living, fresh-faced image, Jennie is just as bad. After Mr Cad (played with a certain oiliness by Terence Alexander) has got what he wants, she moves on to the attractive young barman Bob at the local pub. He's a nice bloke but he doesn't like Jennie's constant roaming and searching for the high life. Jennie crawls over anyone to reach her goal, but all she gets is more seediness as she is used by those who could help her. At every turn, we see more of Jennie's ruthlessness and the film gets darker. (SPOILER ALERT)The end of the film has a certain moment as Bob (who has now been cast aside by Jennie) comes out of the pub with Ellie, the much more dependable and down-to-earth barmaid, and is almost run down by a passing ambulance.... A word about the music. The theme is played by Mr Acker Bilk, instantly recognisable by his breathy use of the clarinet. It's a great tune, wonderfully arranged and played and suits the mood of the film perfectly.

This review does contains spoilers about the end of the movie so don't read if you don't want to know the ending.

This film was shown on British TV in April 2017 on a channel called Talking Pictures (available on Sky as well as other TV platforms). Talking Pictures shows many old movies and is worth hunting out for fans of long lost or hard to find movies.

I wont cover the story of the movie as it has been covered by other reviewers, so my main comments are about the seemingly "lost" 20 or 30 minutes or so at the end.

SPOILER. The bulk of the film is about the girl leaving Wales, coming to London, being "used" by a couple of men, then living for a while with a fine young man who works in a local pub. This takes up about 85% or 90% of the film

But then she begins to go down the path of becoming a prostitute / call girl and then the film suddenly ends. We have no real evidence for her strange behaviour at the end. It is almost as though there is a "lost"20 or 30 minutes or so showing her descent into this sordid world.

This film was made in 1963 so maybe the "lost" 20 or 30 minutes was too graphic or sexual to be included in the film so it was totally removed.

Other reviewers above have also commented about the sudden ending so it seems to be a common view.

I assume this 20 / 30 minutes WAS filmed (but have no evidence of it) but I have to say it is one of the worst examples of poor editing I have ever seen in any film.

Overall though a reasonable film (though a little predictable) and similar to other "gritty" films made in the early 1960s. Contains a number of well known British actors who will be familiar to anyone living in the UK who has watched many British films and TV programs.

'Bitter Harvest' belongs in that category of forgotten British movies which rarely, if ever, play on television and, in some cases, are not available to buy, yet are every bit as good as the better-known classics. You may have seen 'The Full Monty', but how many of you have seen 'I'll Never Forget Whatsisname' starring Oliver Reed? You may have 'Four Weddings & A Funeral' in your D.V.D. collection, but what about 'Rattle Of A Simple Man' with Harry H.Corbett and Diane Cilento? You might have enjoyed 'Lock, Stock & Three Smoking Barrels', but did you do as much with 'The Criminal' with the great Stanley Baker? I suspect the answer to be no to all three questions. Other obscure gems include Michael Winner's 'The System', Lewis Gilbert's 'Light Up The Sky', 'The Quare Fellow' starring Patrick McGoohan, and 'Sebastian' starring Dirk Bogarde and Susannah York.

Made in 1963, this film stars the late Janet Munro as 'Jennie Jones', a young Welsh girl trapped in the valleys, with a father who treats her like a slave, and who dreams of a better life. She gets her chance when she meets an older man ( Terence Alexander ) who not only takes away her virginity ( the cad! ) but whisks her off to London. Frightened and confused, she throws in her lot with Bob Williams ( the underrated John Stride ), a barman with a heart of gold. He falls in love with her, and asks her to marry him. But the lure of the city's bright lights proves too strong, and like a moth she is drawn to the flame...

The first thing to be said for this is that it anticipates John Schlesinger's 'Darling' by about two years. But where that Frederick Raphael-scripted movie basked in acclaim ( and bagged Julie Christie an Oscar ), 'Bitter Harvest' was generally written off as a seedy melodrama. I agree with the reviewer who said another twenty or so minutes were needed to turn this good film into a great one. Jennie's downfall happens much too quickly. Alan Badel is hardly on screen despite his third billing, and given a chance could have turned in a fine performance. John Stride is excellent as 'Bob', the only man in Jennie's life who loves her. An uncredited Thora Hird plays Bob's dotty landlady. But towering over the film is Munro herself; her transformation from innocent young thing to cynical good-time girl is remarkable. Again a longer running time would have given her a chance to develop her character, maybe even netted her an Oscar too. We shall never know.

Lovely scene in the grounds of Cardiff Castle. As someone who has visited it many times, I was pleased to see it looked the same then as it does now! Ted Willis, creator of 'Dixon Of Dock Green', adapted the novel 'Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky' by Patrick Hamilton. He also wrote 'Flame In The Streets' starring John Mills which explored racial prejudice. The producers were Leslie Parkyn and Julian Wintle, who also made one of my favourite British comedies - 'The Fast Lady' ( what a good alternative title that would have made for 'Bitter Harvest'! ) starring Stanley Baxter. Wintle later produced 'The Avengers' television series.

If you get a chance to see this, do so ( it came out on D.V.D. a few years ago but was deleted ). It may be forgotten but certainly does not deserve to be. Watch it if only for the performance of the beautiful and tragically short-lived Janet Munro.

Janet Munro was the first actress to be placed under Walt Disney contract. In 1958 she was "Miss Television of 1958" and also a Golden Globe winner in 1960 as the most promising newcomer. The other nominees were Tuesday Weld, Angie Dickinson and Stella Stevens. Her last Disney film was "The Horsemasters" (1960) - at that time she was the highest paid actress in Britain.

After that she tried to change her image and it all went wrong. Potboilers like "Bitter Harvest" didn't help - especially coming after the outstanding "Life for Ruth".

I like "Bitter Harvest" - it is a moral tale of a young (almost innocent) girl in the big city. It is in colour - but black and white would have suited the mood more.

It tells the story of Jenny Jones, a young girl fed up with her drab existence. Babysitting for a wealthy couple makes her envious of all the luxuries they have. Ending up in London after being seduced by a "pick up" she pursues her dream of becoming a model. She meets a nice guy (John Stride) who works in a pub but she soon tires of his "niceness" and all too quickly the film is over. You are left thinking "where's the rest". Third billed Alan Badel (as the man who makes Jenny a call girl) has three scenes.

Janet Munroe character is supposed to come from Wales but neither she nor anyone in her village appear to have either been born there or attempted an accent..This film has largely been forgotten.Probably not surprising when you consider how many better films and actresses were around at the same time.Munroe is unable to bring much credibility to the role.Furthermore in some scenes and at some angles her face appears to be puffy,which hints at the drink problem which brought an early conclusion to a promising career.Other reviews point out the fact that it looks like there appears to be a missing part to the plot,as there is not a lot to suggest why she commits suicide.Incidentally I believe that the bowling alley sequence was filmed at the former Regal Finchley Road.

A Julian Wintle-Leslie Parkyn Production. An Independent Artists Film. Made on locations in London and Wales and at Pinewood Studios. (Available on an excellent Granada DVD).

Copyright 1963 by Independent Artists Productions Limited. Never theatrically released in the United States or Australia. Released in the U.K. by J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors: 10 November 1963. 8,640 feet. 96 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Pretty Welsh girl comes to London, hoping to become a fashion model.

VIEWER'S GUIDE: I agree with the British censor's "X" certificate.

COMMENT: Hard to believe this one is based on a novel by Patrick Hamilton. True, it's depressing enough, but Hamilton usually leavens the gloom with intriguing mystery and/or the tightest of taut suspense. None of these elements are present here. Instead the conclusion is presented first and then the whole story is told in flashback. And what a familiar, if depressingly sordid tale it is too! The producers have tried to dress it up with color and an attractive heroine in Janet Munro, but even these ploys are undermined by Peter Graham Scott's relentlessly unimaginative direction with its tilted camera angles for the introductory conclusion and its monotonous succession of TV- style close-ups for the body of the film.

The support players are not much help either. Alan Badel, admittedly in a small, late-entering role, makes little impression. The fault is not so much with the players as with the humdrum, kitchen-sink script with its mercilessly slow-paced parade of uninteresting and almost totally unsympathetic characters, its well-worn but tedious plotting, its verbose but unrelievedly banal dialogue. And worst of all, is the insistently all-pervading atmosphere of doom-laden squalor of body and soul.

A morality play that will please no-one. Neither picture-goers seeking an escapist night out, nor the bell-ringing Bowdlers in our midst.

Jennie Jones is the daughter of a small shopkeeper in a rundown Welsh mining village. Her relationship with her father is not a close one, and he wants her to live with two elderly aunts in Cardiff, a prospect which appals her. After a couple of adventures, Jennie ends up in London, where she is befriended by a kind-hearted barman named Bob Williams. The two begin a romantic relationship, and Jennie moves into his flat. Bob plans to marry her, but the attractive Jennie feels that she could do better than become the wife of a barman. She hopes to get work as a model or actress, and leaves Bob for Karl Denny, a leading film producer.

This is an example of the social realist kitchen sink dramas that were popular in the British cinema during the late fifties and sixties. The phrase "kitchen sink" originated in the visual arts, where it was used to describe the work of painters such as John Bratby, but it was quickly taken up by critics to describe the novels and plays of writers such as John Osborne, John Braine, Alan Sillitoe and Stan Barstow, works which were frequently turned into films. "Bitter Harvest" also has a literary source, although in this case one written more than thirty years before the film was made, Patrick Hamilton's novel "The Siege of Pleasure". Most kitchen sink films had a young man at their centre, but this one, unusually, has a female protagonist. ("A Taste of Honey", based on the play by Shelagh Delaney, is another example).

Some kitchen sink films- "A Taste of Honey", "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", "A Kind of Loving", "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner", "Alfie"- have become classics of the British cinema. "Bitter Harvest" has not and remains little known today, and I think that there are reasons for this. The main one has been mentioned by other reviewers, namely that part of the film seems to be missing. As soon as Jennie has left Bob for Denny, the film abruptly ends with a scene in which her body is found in her flat after she has committed suicide. We can infer that her relationship with Denny went badly wrong and that it was this which led her to kill herself, but this is not shown, only implied. The film would have been a lot better if the progress of the Jennie/Denny relationship had actually been shown on screen. These scenes could have acted as an exposé of the dark side of the "Swinging London" of the sixties and made it easier for us to understand Jennie's suicide. I have o idea why the film-makers chose to end the film in the way they did. Perhaps they ran out of money. (Don't laugh. It is said that the previous year another film, the American war movie "Hell Is for Heroes", had been released in an incomplete form for precisely this reason).

None of the cast are particularly well-known today, although Janet Munro probably counted as a star in 1963, having made several films for Disney. (She was to die tragically young at only 38, which may explain why she has largely been forgotten). She is reasonably good in the early scenes in which Jennie is portrayed as a naive and innocent young girl, but is not really convincing in the later scenes when Jennie suddenly becomes hard, brassy and materialistic. She knows that, unlike Bob, Denny does not love her and is only using her for sex, but she is happy to accept this because she thinks that she can use him to realise her ambitions. There is, however, a decent performance from John Stride as the sincere and kindly Bob, and an amusing one from Thora Hird as his old battle-axe of a landlady.

The film was directed by Peter Graham Scott, who on this showing was not in the same class as other kitchen sink directors such as Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson. At times the action seems to drag, whereas at others the camera-work seems unduly hectic. "Bitter Harvest" still occasionally turns up on television, but when it does it reminds us that not every kitchen sink film was a masterpiece. 5/10.