La vergine e l'amante

"London? At your age!?" Teenagers Joe (Robin Askwith) and Carol (Janet Lynn) leave their rather boring lives in rural Norwich and go to swinging London to make their fortune. Things do not go to plan and when they run out of money Carol turns to prostitution. She doesn't seem too bothered about selling herself to dirty old men but Joe is obviously jealous - that is until big money starts rolling in. However riches don't always bring happiness and I think that there is a moral in this tale (allegedly based on a true story). Director Pete Walker made a series of very British horror movies but before that he was making sexploitation films, this being the second one that I have so far watched. And I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a delightful snapshot of England, both rural and urban, in 1970. I loved seeing the fashions, the old vehicles, the music and listening to what would now be considered dated language. Apparently the film courted much controversy in the UK at the time but viewed now the sex side of it is pretty tame. Carol and Joe do have sex a few times, including on the train to London, but very little is seen. Janet Lynn was a very attractive young actress, she is seen topless quite a few times plus one brief full frontal shot. Askwith, who went on to star in the British sex comedy "Confessions of.." movies, is seen naked from the rear. Fair amount of sex talk, ranging from the f word to the very British "have it off". I noticed one goof, the couple agree to be filmed having sex for money, the reflection of the real crew cameraman can be seen in a mirror next to the character cameraman with his 8mm handheld camera. Cool It, Carol isn't exactly red hot as a sex movie but I found it to be an enjoyable and charming romp that has as much humour as it does sex.

Part black comedy, part cautionary tale, "Cool it Carol!" is the frank story of a sometime-couple of teens from the Midlands who hope to make the big move to London, circa 1969. She to be a model, he to be a delivery driver for an auto company. Carol is played by the fresh and quite pretty Janet Lynn, who unfortunately did almost no other films. The boy, played by Robin Askwith, brings a modestly charming goofiness. The rest of the cast is made up mostly of unknowns who do a pretty good job, and the sets and costuming are quite characterful. The music is unfortunately bland and heavy-handed. The plot is fairly standard potboiler stuff, relieved somewhat by the rather blase' attitude of the teens. Supposedly it is based upon a true story, as reported by that paragon of reportage -- The News of the World(!) Considering how often such situations must've occurred, it is not too wild a claim.

In all, a good addition to the catalog of youth films set in London in the late 1960s, and made more watchable by the appeal of "Carol" herself. Where is she now?

Two bored teenagers leave their small town and travel to London to try and live the dream. Soon, it becomes apparent that the boy's claims of a good job waiting for him are false and, so, before long they are destitute. To make money, the girl gets involved in the sex industry, starting with modelling and ending in porn films via prostitution, all of this actively encouraged by her boyfriend. Needless to say, life in the big city does not turn out to be very glamorous.

This is an early film from British director Pete Walker, who is now known mainly on account of his horror movies, such as the impressive Frightmare (1974). In the earlier part of his career he seemed to be more focused on sexploitation, of which this is a pretty obvious example. It is a pretty good film of this type though, especially when you consider how terrible British entries in this category usually are. Funnily enough, a lot of the later atrocious 70's examples seemed to star Robin Askwith, who appears here in the role of the rather unsympathetic boyfriend. Janet Lynn stars opposite him as the girl who the story essentially revolves around and I thought she was pretty good. The film itself is basically a cautionary tale, which is fairly downbeat a lot of the time. The heavier elements actually make it a better film though, as it is sexploitation with at least some substance. A story which looks at the grim reality of aspects of the sexual revolution. Like in all the other Walker films I have seen it has unpleasant members of the older generation interfering aggressively with the young. On the whole, it can certainly be considered another very worthwhile film from Walker.

An absolute gem! This is possibly Walker's finest film, although it is a bit unfair to compare it to his 'terror' pictures. England, particularly, London 1970 and things are changing and this little film captures something of the very essence. Janet Lynn is fantastic as the wide eyed innocent who is more than happy to shed her clothes and have some fun. 'I don't mind people looking at my body. I quite like it actually.' This she says as she changes her dress and gets rid of her bra, in a railway compartment. Robin Askwith is also very good as the young guy who pretends to have all the connections but in reality is nowhere near as resourceful as the delightful Lynn. There are sleazy sessions with elderly men in high positions ready to take her on for a fiver when the young couple find their finances dwindle. Plenty of location shooting, some marvellous cinematography, humour and flesh and an insightful glimpse of London's underbelly c1970.

One of a mass of soft-porn films produced by the British industry at that time, catering to the semi-pissed young blokes set who needed somewhere to go between the pub and an early-hours curry, with cinemas showing them suitably late in that 'slot'.

Robin Askwith got typecast in the 'Confessions' films of that 'genre', but those films had a comedy air, and THIS one just seemed to be telling a morality tale, with the main couple returning to the country having got fed-up with debauchery in sex-mad London.

Lots of nudity, as you'd expect, with quite a few shots of female pubic hair, to keep the audience suitably excited.

The film looked like it had been butchered by the editor, and/or the studio, as some scenes didn't seem to follow from the previous one, and the ending looked like it had been glued on in a hurry?

My total admiration goes to the train-spotter geek who noted (see 'goofs') that the couple boarded their original 'to London' train on the Kent/Sussex border, had sex in the carriage (but such rolling stock was used on the Pompey line!), and arrived in London at Paddington, despite supposedly coming from the East Midlands - from where trains do NOT go to Paddington! Clearly he wasn't overly entranced by the gorgeous pert breasts, firm peachy bum and nubile body of the lead actress, let alone the other models on view in the film?!

The lead actress made very few films - as someone said - a shame as she had some talent, and was certainly very attractive. Her character's name (Carol Thatcher) was presumably a coincidence, not a sad jibe at her eventual PM mother Margaret?!