Simon and Laura

) Actors Simon (Peter Finch) and Laura Foster (Kay Kendall) have been married for 20 years and are considered the ideal couple—but in reality, their relationship is characterized by fierce arguments, and there is talk of divorce. When they are offered a daily soap opera that depicts their idyllic family life and is filmed in their own home, they cannot afford to turn down the lucrative. Box, a screenwriter, author and the only female director to make more than a dozen films in post-war Britain between 1949 and 1964, shot this adaptation of a play in VistaVision widescreen and Technicolor. SIMON AND LAURA is a fireworks display of verbal sparring reminiscent of the 1930s screwball comedies but which also pokes fun at later reality TV in visionary fashion. Box keeps the plot moving at a breakneck pace.

Supporting short: TO BE A WOMAN Equal pay for equal work is the motto of this feminist short, which was commissioned by the Equal Pay Campaign Committee (EPCC). Craigie, a feminist and activist who started working as a director in the 1940s, wanted it to ask: “Are we fully able to develop our personalities to the full? Are we playing our proper role in the community? How far have we progressed from the state of subjection in which John Stuart Mill found us back in the 1880s?" She had already reached the conclusion that "we haven't progressed far enough, [and] the film will show how and why."

Showing first: To Be a Woman Jill Craigie UK 1951 Digital file engl. OV 18 min.