The film's direction is also notable, with Gordon Parry using a combination of close-ups and wider shots to capture the emotions of the characters. The setting of the hostel is portrayed in a realistic and gritty manner, with the bleakness of their living conditions and the rundown neighbourhood serving as a stark contrast to the glamourous nightclub scenes. An adaptation of the 1951 play by Sylvia Rayman that enjoyed an extended run in the West End, this newly restored version of WOMEN OF TWILIGHT comes complete with a host of new special features and is a welcome addition to the ever-expanding Vintage Classics collection.

Joshua Rich (2009-02-20). " 'Twilight': Third film in series, 'Eclipse,' set for June 2010". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2009-02-23 . Retrieved 2009-02-20. Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p 498As one of the characters points out, the public doesn't want to know or hear what happens to the young women who are dismissed as shameless and who in the mid-20th century were still being treated like the "fallen" women of Victorian novels. With her silky tones, middle-class vowels and air of authority, Helen's word holds more sway than that of the young women unfortunate enough to enter her domain like flies entering a spider's web. No wonder she gets away with larceny, child neglect and worse. Some of her victims also have interesting catastrophes to deal with, but for all that, the first act consists of encounters between them and Helen, which Helen inevitably wins. She is the boss. Her victims have nowhere else to hide. Another screen version of Rayman's play, Mulheres do crepúsculo, was broadcast as part of the Brazilian TV series Grande Teatro Tupi on 13 January 1963. [28] Film criticism [ edit ] Embassy Theatre, London, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Vaudeville Theatre, (Strand) London, and other locations 15 th October 1951 – 10 th May 1952. Daily Telegraph, October 1951: "Unrelieved femininity is popularly supposed to breed neurosis, and certainly this is the most hysterical play I have met for many years." [17]

Tony Aldgate, 'Women of Twilight, Cosh Boy and the advent of the 'X' certificate', Journal of Popular British Cinema March 2000 a b c d e f g h i j k "Summit Entertainment Starts Production on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" (Press release). Summit Entertainment. 2009-08-18 . Retrieved 2009-08-20. Daily Telegraph, January 1953: "I missed Women of Twilight as a play because I chose to; I saw the film because I must. This study of the conditions in which unmarried mothers live and have their children, and not uncommonly watch them die, is powerful, sordid, disturbing and perhaps not so overdrawn as some good easy people think. If it helps to awaken the public conscience and sharpen official vigilance it will be justified." [31]

The film stays true to the central premise of Sylvia Rayman’s drama which was to draw attention to the stigma of, and wider prejudice against unmarried mothers living in postwar Britain, issues that had not previously been highlighted by British cinema. Not only does the choice of subject matter make this film groundbreaking but the fact that it features an almost all-female cast and is based upon a play written by a then 28 year old woman also places it years ahead of its time. Of further significant note is that due to its then controversial storyline and the language that was originally used in the play – words like “bastards”, “brats”, and “bitch” – Women of Twilightwas the first British film to be given an X-certificate meaning that it could only be seen by anyone who was 16 years and over. Taylor Lautner with Kristen Stewart in The Twilight Saga – New Moon, 2009. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar Broadly, the cast is divided into three elements. One is the unfortunate mothers. The second is the put-upon staff of the hostel, to an extent divided in their response to the morality of what they are helping to do. The third is the single figure of the proprietor, Helen, a twisted, contemptuous and unhappy woman who takes out her various malaises on her victims. Sally Mortemore seizes her chances in this almost larger than life role with understandable energy.