All the Right Noises

Far from the saucy romp suggested by the title, it's actually a very subdued triangle drama against a well drawn theatrical backdrop. Seen over fifty years later it's even more poignant than it doubtless seemed at the time since Tom Bell and Judy Carne are both now long dead and Olivia Hussey seventy-one years old.

This is a fairly uneventful 'kitchen sink' drama in which a married man has an affair with a 15-year-old girl. Very much of its time, it is still a surprise to see how his relationship with the young girl is treated so wholesomely as a romance between two very likeable people, while the unsuspecting (?) wife is equally appealing. Personable, funny, charming and generous - even the two young children are lovely - and as a viewer, you don't want anyone to get hurt, which is inevitable considering the man's pretty shocking behaviour.

The affair comes close to being discovered from time to time - whether it does or not, I'm not telling - but there's no huge drama here as every eventuality occurs gently, which is rare for such a usually gritty '70s genre.

The acting is what shines mostly here. Tom Bell is Len, the most flawed character, alongside his dad (Robert Keegan); Judy Carne is Len's wife Joy, a happy and charming actress, and Olivia Hussey plays young Val, whose clear-skinned, wide-eyed appeal is far from the wanton temptress you may expect.

With no real villains to hiss, things could get a little dull from time to time were it not for the characters, but I enjoyed this. My score is 7 out of 10.

A very small film that likely has seem only a be small number of people and a tiny theatrical release. Except for the young fifteen your old Olivia Hussey who had had the most amazing experience in Italy with Zeffirelli and Romeo and Juliet that made her famous across the world. She was like an innocent young child except she was older than her years, smoking a cigarette on TV and falling into a romance with Tom Bell in the film. His is fine, as is Judy Carne as his wife and the story is likeable enough though it his to see there is not anything that earth crashing.

For some reason the theme of older man and younger girl seems a perennially popular one in French cinema and is usually done - film and relationship - with charm and some believability. The stories of Colette an influence but not entire explanation. In Gigi, the film based on a Colette story, young Leslie Caron is an engaging ingenue. Her ultimate fate is glossed over however her love interest is the older but attractive and ultimate French charmer, Louis Jourdan, someone who could probably win over any girl's mother in his project. UK films on this topic however tends towards a peculiar mixture of moralising and prurience - exploitation under the guise of exploring social issues.

Here the film entirely lacks charm (other than Olivia Hussey's innate kind) or believablility. Tom Bell, as ever, plays a bluff manly man's man, but is neither charmer nor seducer. Perhaps his appearance was fashionable at the time but the over-long all-round facial hair gives him a slightly furtive appearance - a sort of hair-hoody, slightly suggestive of dirty-mac schoolyard-loiterer. His performance seems low key - as if hoping that few people will notice he's in the cast. Olivia Hussey, having just charmed the world with her youngest sweetest prettiest of Juliets, is an odd choice here - more a dirty mac fantasy than anything remotely believable. In real life a girl of such extraordinary prettiness would have experienced the interest and (usually) tiresome attentions of older men, would thus have well known her attractiveness and chosen someone special, whatever their age, of equal or greater attractiveness either of looks, style, manner, education, sophistication or simply very rich - not an ordinary middle-aged geezer. Putting aside the improbability, the story-line itself is so-so. The casting of Olivia Hussey makes the film ridiculous.

This film, very much of its time shows London in the early 1970's. Of course now a different world. Note the old fashion Underground ticket machines, and the Black and White Telly in the flat. The location looks very much like Churchill Gardens, Pimlico, with Battersea Power Station in the background. And, plenty of smoking going on, in pubs, and on the tube. The film is strangely sexy in its own way, with the young girl playing along with the much older man, its really a sexual fantasy come true. It is another one of those British low budget film where the low budget adds to rather that take away value. Watch for fun, which is what it is. Good for the BFI for bring to a larger audience on DVD