The Strange Affair

David Greene's assured direction makes this offbeat police thriller as notable as his first British film, The Shuttered Room, the previous year. Here he uses another fine jazz-score to counterpoint a sordid story (naïve rookie constable Michael York caught up in corruption in the London Metropolitan Police by detective Jeremy Kemp) with the same strange, almost dreamy quality.

By now, the anti-establishment Sixties was souring towards authority (compare the cynicism towards the police with, say, 1961's Jigsaw). But although initially Greene's telephoto camera-work gives the film a documentary feel, he proceeds to visualise Swinging London in almost David Hockney-like pictorial compositions (the shadow of a helicopter across the old Battersea power station, Susan George's kinky bedroom), all of which add to an unsettling air of unreality.

An oddity, but an original and arresting one.

I think the judge sums it up, because of PC Strange's behaviour, all other police will have to work ten times harder to compensate.

True words, but alas the film tends to trivialise the events leading up to P C Strange's planting of evidence on "known" criminals. We see him being dragged into trouble by way of jail bait Susan George, who gets her kit off in a pretty unerotic way during the film.

Nowadays the main crime would not have been the planting of evidence so much as the statutory rape.

A better motivation for planting evidence would be the sheer frustration of seeing career criminals getting away with crime time and again. It would be more interesting than the plot actually used in this film.

No, It's not about strange people, well, at least not entirely. 'Strange' is the surname of the young man who has just joined London's Metropolitan Police and become a 'bobby'. That was back in the days when there were really police on the streets. Nowadays one never sees them, because they are too busy filling in forms and having, one presumes, endless cups of tea. In fact, one wonders what they really are doing in the privacy of their own police stations (the few stations that are left). Constable Strange is played by a young Michael York (25 when he shot the film), who is always smiling and jolly. Meanwhile, the 'Met' as the Metropolitan Police is called today under its Commissioner Hunt has had to get rid of large numbers of corrupt officers who were employed by gangsters. Too sleazy for words. But back then they were all straight, or so we are to believe. Michael gets in trouble because he meets an irresistibly charming girl who is a 'free spirit' (sixties-style) who just happens to be, uh oh, two weeks short of being 16 and hence 'jailbait'. She is played by Susan George, aged 17 when she shot this, who had been acting in films since the age of 11. During the sixties and seventies, Susan George was considered very hot and very cute. After that she continued acting and became a grown up. She certainly has irrepressible energy in this film, and simply will not take no for an answer from Michael York. So he succumbs to her charms and, unknown to both of them, her crazy rich aunt and uncle with whom she lives in a large house in Hampstead have secretly filmed their lovemaking, because they are kinky and enjoy making and selling porno films. This quickly comes to the hands of a police sergeant in the Met, and York becomes a blackmail victim. The sergeant is played implacably by Jeremy Kemp, with enormous intensity, He is obsessed with catching and jailing a notorious criminal named not Hunt but Quince, who used to be a policeman and went crooked, and who has two identical twin sons who are psychopathic killers. So it is all very desperate. The story is based on a novel by Bernard Toms, who only had this one work filmed. The director was David Greene, whom I knew at that time. I visited the set of his previous film in this same year, which is now called SEBASTIAN (1968) but was originally called MISTER SEBASTIAN, starring Dirk Bogarde and Susannah York. David had only just made his way into features from television, and was considered a hot new director then, though he was already 46 years old. I still have a call sheet from that visit. David's direction early in this film is pretty rough, with too many extreme closeups, and edited in that jumpy style which was then fashionable. After the story really gets going and moves past the 'establishing the situation' stage (which goes on for too long), the film settles down and becomes more watchable, so it is worth sticking with it. Only in the sixties, I suppose, could such a film be considered 'normal'. Yes, things were pretty crazy back then. It was 'crazy London', which did more than just frantically swing.

The film opens with British copper Pete Strange (Michael York ) being sent off to prison in disgrace. We then flash back to his first day on the job and find out why he ended up such a loser. Detective Pierce (Jeremy Kemp ) is tipped off to a drug shipment being delivered to Quince ( Jack Watson ) , head of a London crime family. The criminals are in turn tipped off by the corrupt Inspector Evans ( Arto Morris ) and they are not caught. Pierce knows Evans blew his case and is determined to get Quince. Meanwhile, Strange meets Fred March (Susan George ) on the job and while attracted to her, he won't date her as she is weeks away from legal age ( 16 ). Fred persists and Strange agrees to a date and meets her at her aunt and uncle's house where she is staying. Unknown to Strange and Fred is the fact that auntie and uncle are pornographers who aren't against using their under aged niece in their underground business. Strange is seduced by Fred and their tryst is secretly caught on film. Later, Strange is viciously assaulted by the Quince family, but can't ID them as they wore masks. Pierce attempts a second drug bust but is outwitted by Quince and is subsequently demoted. Frustrated beyond reason, Pierce coerces Strange to help him plant evidence that will convict Quince by threatening to expose his affair with a minor. Strange reluctantly agrees, leading to the downbeat finale. Directed by David Greene, THE STRANGE AFFAIR mixes several differing elements with ease. Corrupt police, brutal British gangsters and the youth movement all figure prominently and Greene blends them deftly. Greene ( THE SHUTTERED ROOM, GODSPELL ) worked mainly in television, working on the Twilight Zone and other programs before graduating to features in the mid 60's. He went back to TV in the 70's and directed 2 of the most popular mini series ever, ROOTS and RICH MAN POOR MAN, and remained in television for the rest of his career. Michael York was fresh off of ROMEO AND JULIET and is well cast as the young idealist who joined the force to help his fellow man. Jeremy Kemp is very effective as the angry and humiliated Detective Pierce. He would appear with Ms. George in SUDDEN TERROR a few years later. Jack Watson's Quince is a fine study in evil who delights in thwarting Pierce at every opportunity. A great British character actor, Watson appeared in PEEPING TOM, KONGA and TOWER OF EVIL among many others. Susan George is the real surprise here. Her presence brings the film to life and it is a treat to see this early unaffected performance which no doubt led to her first starring role in the Charles Bronson drama TWINKY ( 1969 ) / LOLA ( 1973, US ), ironically also detailing an under aged affair. Released by Paramount, THE STRANGE AFFAIR has never had a US home video release and remains hard to find. Only cut pan and scanned prints have played on cable, making this a fine candidate for dvd release and subsequent rediscovery. The cast here is quite strong and George and York still have an active fan base. Seeing as this is held by Paramount, this may take a while to surface...but there is always hope.

Great 1968 film which I have very much wanted to view over the years and it is very hard to obtain and when I was in England, I was able to view this film and enjoyed it greatly. Michael York, (Peter Strange) played the role as a London policeman who is being arrested in the opening scenes of this movie and then it flashes back to when he first joined the force. Detective Pierce, (Jeremy Kemp) is a detective who likes Peter Strange because he is a cop who goes strictly by the books. It is not too long when Peter meets up with a hot to trot Fred March, (Susan George) who is under the age of 16 years until one more month and she is out to seduce the apple of her eye, Peter. Peter meets her family who live in a big mansion and they immediately take a liking to him and this paves the way for Peter & Fred to make very warm and passionate love with plenty of nudity by Susan George. Susan was just starting out in films and this is one of her early films which I am glad I was able to view in Europe. If you like Susan George, don't miss this one; the other film I want to see her in is: "Neat With Black Stockings", 1968. Enjoy.