A Touch of Love

Sandy Dennis is working on her doctoral thesis at the British Museum. All the young men fancy her, and she seems to be moderately active, but disengaged. She falls pregnant by -- seemingly -- Ian McKellan in his first screen role. She decides to keep the baby as a single mother.

There are several questions. Why, despite her indifference, does she keep the baby? Will she ever finish her thesis, and what it is about? These questions are never answered, so clearly they are not important. What is important to this movie is making sure the Post Office Tower (now the BT Tower) is in seemingly every outdoor shot in case the IRA wants to bomb it, and the poor attitudes of nurses in the National Health Service. They are far more interested in sitting and gossiping than tending to a moaning woman, when Miss Dennis is in the wrong hospital room, they blame her and not the nurse who put her there, and when she wants to see her baby after surgery, they can't be bothered.

It would be a dull movie of petty bureaucracy were it not for Miss Duncan's constant reactions to everything. Usually it's an attitude of annoyance. Occasionally it's deliberately choosing to scream until people do what she wants. Sometimes I wonder if that's the only way to get anything done.

Gentle film based on the Margaret Drabble novel of several years earlier, entitled, The Millstone.

Ros is an academic virgin doing her thesis at some unnamed university. One night she makes love to a campy television presenter played by Ian McKellen and falls pregnant. After much thought, she decides to keep the baby.

Luckily her rather cold parents have left London for Africa, so she has the run of their large mansion flat off Baker Street and she invites her friend, played by Eleanor Bron, to move in. This adds some life to the proceedings. Bron even rents a TV to bring some light to their gloomy flat, it also gives Ros a chance to catch brief glimpses of the father of her child, who she temporarily becomes mildly obsessed with.

The film is really about a young woman who grapples with the problems of having a child out of wedlock at a time when this was socially difficult.

It's sensitively made. Sometimes quite lifeless. There are some very nice shots of London, mostly around Marylebone. It's quite atmospheric and is the sort of gentle film that in the 70s would have been a rather good one-off TV play. The sort that are sadly no longer made. Middle Class, well spoken, Londoners are now forbidden territory for TV or cinematic dramas in 'Classless Britain'.

Made in 1969, but don't expect 'Swinging London'. Ros, played, rather well by Sandy Dennis, who affects a very good English accent, is what back then would have been considered a 'square'. No Donovan singles in Ros's record collection or Saturday afternoons along the King's Road. More a case of violin recitals at The Wigmore Hall and matronly outfits from Fenwick's.

The film is now available on an excellent quality DVD.

It's well made, well shot, well acted, somewhat lifeless at times, but what's good about it adds up to make this into a film well worth watching.

After seeing Sandy Dennis in all her somewhat-quirky roles ( I even saw her hit '60,s play "Any Wednesday", before she got into films), it was almost a revelation: how beautiful and fine her performance. Also, interesting as time warp: 60's situation and attitude, also all the other fine performers when they were young( Bron, Standing, McKellen )

I enjoyed this film. It was a slice of its time-late 60's London. I especially enjoyed seeing early performances by some very cool actors-Sandy Dennis, Eleanor Bron and Ian McKellan. Ian played a sort of lothario which was fun to see. My only doubt is about Sandy Dennis as the lead. I wonder if she was miscast. I love her, she is a favorite of mine, but I'm not sure if I accept her as a British girl. But it's a treat to see her at this young age. She plays a character that is strong willed and apparently doesn't care what society expects of her. This movie has an arty, literary quality to it which I always like. Eleanor Bron is fabulous as always. Not a film for most people, probably, but that's what makes it interesting.

I saw the first 7 or so mins. And realising i was due to miss Ian Mckellen who never fails to fill his excellent acting with every sinew of his mind and body.

As Ms. Dennis is the supposed major role here, she reminded me of what i I regard as the ghastly mundane side of 1960s and 70s Brit . Attempts That s to portray characteristic Englishness ! That said Waris Husein is usually an excellent reason to view anything he directed . Unfortunately , not this time !

An indication of good, bad or indifferent films often seems to be indicated by the tiny, or medium sized, or huge.numbers of reviewers ? This one I think has 10 reviews, my opine being the eleventh ! And sure enough it seems those small numbers are in agreement , or rather i am in agreement with them ! I changed channel to Dunkirk with Kenneth Branagh made in 2017 ! That film modestly has I believe over 200 reviews, albeit some viewers were far from satisfied , which is clearly irrelevant for this review? So, "A touch of love" is not an absolute flop, it simply does not reach the heights in 2022 that it may have been enjoyable for its viewers in 1968 or was it 69 ? That said, with all due respects to Mr Hussein, this film has no bite compared to a number of others from those years, "The L. Shaped Room" springs to mind and many others from those earlier years which definitely stands the (sometimes) brutal test of time ! The occasional similarities betwixt and between those 2 films produced within the same time frame is fascinating to observe ? Both love stories, both far apart from each other in my final assessment there are as i have said, many others,, one in particular that was produced in 1947 , which i have already reviewed not only favourably, also as one of the very best conclusions of any film i can recall, apart from most , almost all of Kubricks genius ?