A Girl Alone in a Man's World: Ice Cold in Alex (1958) and the place of women in the 1950s British war film cycle

Williams, Melanie (2009) A Girl Alone in a Man's World: Ice Cold in Alex (1958) and the place of women in the 1950s British war film cycle. Feminist Media Studies, 9 (1). pp. 95-108. ISSN 1471-5902

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Abstract

War films were one of British cinema's mainstays throughout the 1950s, and one of the most iconic of the cycle is Ice Cold in Alex (1958). This particular film overturned some of the already familiar conventions of the genre, not least by allowing a female character, the nursing sister Diana Murdoch (played by Sylvia Syms), to play a more important role than women were usually granted. This article deploys close textual analysis to examine the representation of Diana, and suggests how this character not only reflects various competing and often self-contradictory discourses of 1950s femininity but also offers a rare depiction of women's contribution to the war effort from the decade following it.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Film and Television Studies (former - to 2012) Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies (former - to 2024)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Film, Television and Media Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > British Cinema & Television
Depositing User:	Vishal Gautam
Date Deposited:	09 Feb 2011 12:28
Last Modified:	28 Mar 2025 03:27
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/21187
DOI:	10.1080/14680770802619524

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