By Erin Free
In this regular column, we drag forgotten made-for-TV movies out of the vault and into the light. This week: the 1973 backstage drama The Third Girl From The Left, starring Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, Michael Brandon, Barbi Benton and Larry Bishop.
In our review of the 1981 Natalie Wood starrer The Cracker Factory, we discussed the vintage telemovie as a safe, supportive home for well-established, older movie stars not exactly at the height of their fame. Sure, these stars – many of them women – were still loved, recognised and fawned over, but they were undeniably no longer major box office draws. A large part of the vintage telemovie audience was made up of women, which made it just the right fit for actresses like the aforementioned Natalie Wood, along with others like Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis and so on, who found not only strong material with good roles for them, but also a large number of people very happy to stay at home and watch them on the box.
A perfect example of this telemovie mini-phenomenon is 1973’s The Third Girl From The Left, which features not only a leading role for the divine Kim Novak (the legendary star of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 classic Vertigo, and a featured player in other major works like 1955’s The Man With The Golden Arm and Picnic, 1957’s Pal Joey and 1964’s Kiss Me, Stupid), but also a major supporting part for (cue wacky telemovie billing) “special guest star” and Hollywood legend Tony Curtis, who eventually did a fair bit of small screen work, including a flashy role in the previously reviewed Inmates: A Love Story (1981).
As well as its big-name players upfront, The Third Girl From The Left also boasts major talent behind the camera. The director is Hungarian-born Brit Peter Medak, who helmed well-loved bizarro cult faves like The Ruling Class (1972) and A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg (1972) before moving into television and then sidelining his prolific small screen episodic work with disparate but always interesting features like The Changeling (1980), Zorro: The Gay Blade (1981), The Krays (1990), Let Him Have It (1991), Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) and Species II (1998). The screenwriter, meanwhile, is the fascinating Dory Previn, an Oscar winning songwriter of note and acclaimed poet who dabbled in screenwriting, with this being her major credit. Previn also wrote and performed the film’s impressive, showstopping songs.
A spiritual cousin and perhaps influence on later films like 1982’s Portrait Of A Showgirl (a telemovie also featuring Tony Curtis, along with Lesley Ann Warren, Rita Moreno and Dianne Kay) and 2024’s feature The Last Showgirl (starring a superb Pamela Anderson), 1973’s The Third Girl From The Left stars Kim Novak as Gloria Joyce, a veteran showgirl on New York’s fading vaudeville music scene. Surrounded by younger women, and dealing with an entertainment industry seemingly passing her by, Gloria also has little luck with men. Her longtime beau is Joey Jordan (Tony Curtis), an arrogant, self-serving, utterly unfaithful lounge singer, while her current fling is much younger delivery boy David (Michael Brandon), whose romantic motivations remain elusively uncertain. Uncertain and unsure, Gloria Joyce’s whole world seems to teeter on a proverbial knife’s edge.
Opening with an extreme close-up on Kim Novak’s beautiful, make-up free face, The Third Girl From The Left makes its thematic intentions abundantly clear right from the kick-off. This is a telemovie that scrapes back the glitter and artifice to reveal the spiritual pain often experienced by women who make their home in the entertainment industry. Novak was forty-years-old at the time, and she gives a compelling, heartbreaking performance as a sweet-natured woman skidding dangerously close to the end of the line. The venue where’s she’s danced for years is changing with the times, she’s been put in the back of the dance line because of her “advanced years”, and the chance of married life with the mercurial Joey Jordan has likely gone by the wayside.
Director Peter Medak nicely captures the dog-eared, slightly tawdry world of 1970s New York’s vaudeville scene, while Dory Previn’s unusual script abounds with quirky moments, profound insight, and rich characterisations. The performers are all excitingly on-point, with Novak an emotionally bruised, magnetic delight at the film’s centre. Tony Curtis effectively utilises his famed braggart’s swagger with aplomb (though he can’t really sing), while long-haired Michael Brandon is enjoyably diffident as Gloria’s cocky young suitor. There’s also nice supporting work from character actors George Furth and Michael Conrad, and an eye-catching turn from famed Playboy centrefold Barbi Benton, then-girlfriend of the magazine’s head honcho Hugh M. Hefner. Uncoincidentally, The Third Girl From The Left was made under the auspices of Mr. Hefner’s Playboy Productions shingle.
First broadcast on major US network ABC on October 16, 1973, The Third Girl From The Left is an evocative, artfully tailored, deeply moving look not just at the fading world of the 1970s showgirl, but also into the wounded heart of a beautiful woman cruelly jostled by life’s often unfair forces.
Availability: The Third Girl From The Left is available to buy second-hand on DVD, but is a little difficult to watch online in decent form if you don’t want to part with too much of your hard-earned. Keep looking though…it is there.
If you enjoyed this review, check out our other vintage telemovies Snowbeast, Stagecoach, Terror On The Beach, Strange Homecoming, The Possessed, Memorial Day, That Certain Summer, Elvis And The Beauty Queen, Scandal In A Small Town, Victims For Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story, The Seduction Of Gina, Blue Murder, The Brotherhood Of Justice, The Wave, The California Kid, The Cracker Factory, Night Terror, Inmates: A Love Story, The Shadow Riders, CHiPs: Roller Disco, Dawn: Portrait Of A Teenage Runaway, Young Love, First Love, Escape From Bogen County, The Death Squad, Hit Lady, Brian’s Song, The Defiant Ones, A Cry For Help, Trilogy Of Terror, Policewoman Centerfold, Smash-Up On Interstate 5, Something Evil, Savage, A Step Out Of Line, The Boy In The Plastic Bubble, The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission, A Very Brady Christmas, The Gladiator, Elvis, The Rat Pack, Silent Victory: The Kitty O’Neil Story, Terror Among Us, The Hanged Man, Hardcase, Charlie’s Angels: Angels In Vegas, Vanishing Point, To Heal A Nation, Fugitive Among Us, To Kill A Cop, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Police Story: A Chance To Live, Murder On Flight 502, Moon Of The Wolf, The Secret Night Caller, Cotton Candy, And The Band Played On, Gargoyles, Death Car On The Freeway, Short Walk To Daylight, Trapped, Hotline, Killdozer, The Jericho Mile, Mongo’s Back In Town and Tribes.
