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A TOUCH OF LOVE is a film adaptation of a famous feminist novel of the 1960s by Margaret Drabble entitled THE MILLSTONE. It's a work of social realism that looks at the plight of a young girl who finds herself pregnant with no father in sight, and the trials and tribulations she faces over what do with the unborn baby. A film which rides the trend for gritty kitchen sink dramas without ever sugar coating the story. What's surprising is that this was put out by the Amicus film studio, who were best known as Hammer's main British rival and who put out horror anthology after horror anthology during the era. A TOUCH OF LOVE is completely atypical for them, and yet as a film it retains a certain quality that gives it the edge over rival fare.

American actress Sandy Dennis is an excellent choice for the lead role and totally convinces as the young and naive British girl. Compare her performance with, say, Renee Zellweger in BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY. I know the films are from two entirely different genres, but Zellweger's acting is full of exaggerated mannerisms and a put-on persona, where Dennis is all real, all out in the open, and thoroughly sympathetic as a result. Ian McKellen has a warm role as her friend and the supporting cast is generally fine. Watching as a viewer in the 21st century, I was occasionally flabbergasted at the depiction of the sexist and inhumane attitude of NHS workers during the era; a young Penelope Keith is one of the nurses.

The crying baby with the bright red face Sandy Dennis has thrust into her hands in a hospital waiting room would now be in her fifties (assuming it was a girl).

For someone who regards a film made in 1970 as recent, it's sobering to realise that over half a century now separates us from this attempt by sixties schlockmeisters Max J. Rosenberg & Milton Subotsky to go legit by filming Margaret Drabble's 1964 novel 'The Millstone' in a fashion reminiscent of 'The L-Shaped Room'. More decades now separate us from this film than from this film and the silent era; a time when telephones had rotary dials, the Post Office Tower featured prominently in the background during the street scenes so we knew it was London, Sandy Dennis was a bankable Hollywood star, and Penelope Keith as a nurse and Ian McKellan in his film debut look young and fresh-faced (the latter playing a gay man long before he came out in reality. "I keep it secret not because it's wicked but because it's so dull!").

And the stylistic tic indulged in by first-time big screen director Warris Hussein is pans and zooms rather than pans and steadicam, as it would be today.

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.

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.

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 ?