Rita's first film appearance was as Landlady Mrs Slaughter. She had two talking scenes in the film, the first with Sandra Dorne, Lisa Dainley and Ian Wilson (as husband Alfred) kicks off like this"Here you are my dears, (entering room) one of my best rooms, nice' n light n' airy, hot and cold running water, (GOES TO SINK) oh out of the way Alfred, (PUSHES PAST HUSBAND) interior sprung mattress's, (BOUNCES ON BED) every modern comfort, just like it says in the advertisement, and if you should want anything just ring for Mr slaughter, come along Alfred" (exits room) her accents is posh, but some bits come out a bit cockney, later on in the film she reappears when one of the girls father (Leslie Dywer as Mr Hawthorn) comes looking for her
MS-"Well Mr Hawthorne all I can tell you is that your daughter left here on the Saturday night, or rather the Sunday morning, and we haven't heard from her since"
MH-"Saturday, but there must be some mistake, she told us she'd booked for the whole week"
MS-"So she did, and paid in advance, well as I was saying it must have been after12 O'clock, because we'd all gone to bed, and the front door was locked, it's always locked at midnight that's the rule, if any of my borders want to stay out later than that they can ask me for a key and I'll give it to them, Well I can't say farer than that now can I"-
MH-"No, No of course you can't, but what about my daughter?"
MS-"Well I'm telling you, it must have been close on 1 o'clock when the bell rang, Mr Slaughter went down, and there she was, said she'd been called home suddenly, illness she said it was, so she went up stairs to pack her bags, and a few minutes later a car came and tooted outside, and off she went"
MH-"A Motorcar?"
MS-"Yes, shocking noise it made too, woke up the whole house"
MH-"Well who, what sort of a motorcar was it?"
MS-"Well I really can't tell you, my private apartments being at the back of the house, besides I'm not one to pry into what doesn't concern me,(GOES TO THE WINDOW AND PEEPS OUT THROUGH CURTAIN) my borders all being very respectable,(MOMENTS PAUSE AS HE READS POSTCARD) is something the matter?"-
MH-"It looks like her writing; it's addressed to me"
MS-"Well what does it say then?" (scene ends)
this is a must see for all fans, it's probably the nearest you will get to see what she was like at the begining of her tv career as no early perfomances seem to have survived from that medium.
NB: The publicity photograph from this film (CENTRE PIC) was used to advertise Rita in Spotlight for over two decades.