This film is part of Free
A Couple of Beauties
Innuendo-laden crime caper, a star vehicle for Manchester-based drag queen Bunny Lewis
Overview
An innuendo-laden star vehicle for Manchester-based female impersonator Bunny Lewis, this fascinatingly slapdash quickie got lost among a raft of bigger-budget drag features like Dick Emery’s Ooh... You Are Awful (1972). Lewis plays nightclub barman Bernie Lewisham, who flees up north after witnessing an underworld hit on his boss. He's no actor, but once he drags up to ‘hide’ from the mob he’s on safer - and very entertaining - ground.
Despite limited resources, the film benefited from Lewis's showbiz contacts, with appearances from Pat Coombs and Bernard Manning, while Kenny Lynch wrote a song for the film’s hilariously lethargic girl group. Lewis previously appeared in the 1969 LWT documentary What’s a Girl Like You..., alongside other characters from the Manchester drag scene. Although A Couple of Beauties failed to bring him wider fame, it’s left us with a valuable snapshot of Mancunian nightlife in the early 1970s. Lewis continued to perform on the variety circuit and ran his own club for many years until his death in 2008.
Related
What's a Girl Like You ... What's a Girl Like You ...
Documentary 1969 52 mins Location: Vauxhall
Scintillating look at the 1960s drag renaissance, with a visit to London's Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
Miss Norah Blaney Miss Norah Blaney
Musical 1932 9 mins
A risqué music hall ditty uncovers the pioneering gender-bending ways of 1930s young things
How Percy Won the Beauty Competition How Percy Won the Beauty Competition
Comedy 1909 7 mins Silent
Percy drags up to scoop the top prize in this Edwardian short - but will he be found out?
What Am I? What Am I?
Current affairs 1980 26 mins Location: Hay-on-Wye/Y Gelli Gandryll
Transgender pioneer April Ashley appears in this moving look at the challenges faced by the trans community in 1980s Britain
David Is Homosexual David Is Homosexual
Amateur film 1978 38 mins Location: Lewisham
A lonely gay man discovers friends, love and activism in this rediscovered educational film made by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality
The Trial of Oscar Wilde The Trial of Oscar Wilde
Drama-documentary 1960 51 mins
Gripping TV recreation of Wilde's 1895 trial for gross indecency, starring Micheál MacLiammóir.
We Who Have Friends We Who Have Friends
Documentary 1969 49 mins Location: London
A fascinating and important film on attitudes towards homosexuality, and what it was like to be gay, shortly after it was partially legalised.
Aids: The Victims Aids: The Victims
Factual TV 1985 27 mins
Two AIDS sufferers recount their experiences battling the disease and society's misconceptions.
Miss Norah Blaney Miss Norah Blaney
Musical 1932 9 mins
A risqué music hall ditty uncovers the pioneering gender-bending ways of 1930s young things
China O'Brien: The Reunion China O'Brien: The Reunion
Documentary 2024 60 mins
Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke reunite three decades on from the groundbreaking martial arts classic.
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.
Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 24 mins
Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 30 mins
Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.
Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell
Documentary 2024 42 mins
Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.
Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels
Short documentary 2024 12 mins
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.