So here (finally) is The Blue Parrot in full. I’m sorry that it isn’t a better copy.
(An archive.org link that wasn't in the original post)
Since watching the film for the first (and only) time a few weeks ago, and posting about it here, I've settled into a slightly more considered opinion of it than I initially had.
While the film does, as I mentioned earlier, have an unexpectedly positive and proactive female character in Jacqueline Hill's Maureen, and while this does make it more fun to watch than I'd feared, it is still a product of its time, and it would be misleading to suggest that it's a triumph of proto-feminist ideals. For instance, the fact that Maureen is a policewoman is, of course, presented as comically incredible from the leading man's point of view – how can this pretty little thing work at Scotland Yard?!, etc. – and the entire final sequence involves her being captured, tied up and rescued by her male colleagues. None of this is surprising, but nor is it clear from my earlier post. That said, I was more irked by the misogyny of the recent Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011) than I can imagine anyone being by The Blue Parrot. Relative to the standards of its time, The Blue Parrot is far more woman-friendly.* The roles played by June Ashley (Gloria) and Valerie White (Mrs West) may be stereotypes, but they're not nearly as disturbingly reductive, in my opinion, as the female roles in TTSS, and they both have some decent characterful moments (Mrs West in particular). And there's a minor character [ETA: Carla, played by Diane Watts] who, distracting "foreign" accent aside, is quite cool: she's a variety performer with a shooting act, and we see her at home casually firing off shots and making everyone jump.
When I posted caps originally, I decided against including any of the tied-up-and-gagged scene because it bothered me (for feminist reasons rather than prudish ones) to make those images available in isolation; which is all very well, but does make me wonder whether it's then possible to put up the film in its entirety without hypocrisy. Then again, posting a complete film is not the same thing as isolating images from that film; so on that basis I suppose it’s OK. It's likely I'm overthinking this, but there you are.
I'd encourage anyone who's interested in Jacqueline Hill's career to watch The Blue Parrot. For what it's worth, I think my favourite scene is the one where Jackie and Dermot Walsh drink tea at an outside table on a windy day while discussing their investigation.
*I mention TTSS as a comparison because it's new and I’ve seen it; not suggesting it has anything in common with The Blue Parrot. Although you'd hope things would have moved on more in the past nearly-fifty years.