cult film freak: VAL GUEST DIRECTS 'CONTEST GIRL' JANETTE SCOTT & IAN HENDRY

Title: THE BEAUTY JUNGLE aka CONTEST GIRL Year: 1964 Rating: ****

After nearly a decade of Hammer science-fiction, war and film noir... from QUATERMASS to HELL IS A CITY... director Val Guest returns to his comedy roots for THE BEAUTY JUNGLE aka CONTEST GIRL...

But that's only the breezy first-act when handsome journalist Ian Hendry meets the girl of his dreams in London typist Janette Scott, initially building her up as an underdog against experienced (and jaded) pros...

Janette Scott in CONTEST GIRL aka THE BEAUTY JUNGLE

By the time this girl-next-door gets experience on the beauty contest circuit, the edgy drama that Guest had been adapted to really kicks in... as does palpable suspense, like each time the announcer reads off the losers before the winner, which happens throughout various lowbrow to regular contests leading a high-stakes worldwide competition...

Although a bit too old, Ian Hendry possesses the right amount of charisma as a wheeler-dealer predictably (and logically) smitten with Scott, whose beauty fluctuates from down-home to bombshell given the scene, while the overall transition from an oblivious working girl to cunning beauty contestant underlines what's really an expose on what it takes to survive this kind of lifestyle... that only seems easy from the sidelines.