Based on David Percival’s acclaimed play Girlfriend, Girl Stroke Boy is a one-of-a-kind comedy which tells of two everyday, middle-class parents who are confounded when their son brings home his new partner: an elegant, confusingly androgynous West Indian (actor and pop star Peter Straker in a pioneering performance).
Directed with an affectionate, light touch by Bob Kellet (Up Pompeii, Space: 1999) and featuring a superb cast, including Joan Greenwood (Mysterious Island, Kind Hearts and Coronets), Michael Hordern (The Missionary, Barry Lyndon), Patricia Routledge (To Sir, with Love), and Clive Francis (A Clockwork Orange), Girl Stroke Boy still packs a punch today thanks to Straker’s flamboyant performance (British cinema’s first gay leading role to be played by a Black actor) and the prescient subject matter. Long out of circulation, this new, restored edition marks the film’s worldwide Blu-ray premiere.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New restoration from a 4K scan of rare surviving film elements by Powerhouse Films
- Original mono audio
- The BEHP Interview with John Scott (2018): far-reaching discussion of the composer’s work, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project
- New interview with the film’s star Peter Straker (2022)
- New appreciation by film historian and curator Alex Davidson (2022)
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- A Couple of Beauties (Francis Searle, 1972): innuendo-laden comedy short starring Manchester-based female impersonator Bunny Lewis
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Limited edition exclusive booklet with new essay by Jane Giles, archival interview with Peter Straker, a look at the reception of the source play Girlfriend, an overview of contemporary critical responses, new writing on A Couple of Beauties, and film credits
- World premiere on Blu-ray
- Limited edition
- All extras subject to change
