The Romantic Age

Somewhat dated in this post-feminist age, the premise of the story is possibly illegal, based as it is upon the notion that men can be seduced by teen-aged girls! If one looks past these anomalies, however (and that is a big 'ask') there are some memorable performances from the main players, including Petula Clark as the petulant daughter, who, at one point, rather charmingly receives her 'come-uppance' over the knee of the family butler. The film-goer is treated to a delightful, if somewhat tuneless, early example of Miss Clark's adolescent singing skills. It's hard to imagine a scene such as this getting past the censors today!

The first thing to be said is that nearly all the schoolgirls are played by actresses who are well over 18 years old.Mai Zetterling was 24 years old.It is difficult to know if this was looked on as a romantic comedy.Noways it wouldn't get made because the Hugh Williams character would loose his career and end up in prison for a couple of years.

Movie Girl -

I saw this film on TV in the early 60's as a kid on a station here that aired British films on Friday nights one summer. My older sister and I always loved this film.

In the second review here it says that Petula Clark was the petulant daughter of Arnold who was spanked at the end. No, it was Mai Zetterling, her provocative school friend.

When I saw the opening scene "Littleton School for Girls" I cheered, for I knew it was the beginning of the film. (Sadly, every time the film aired in the 70's the beginning was cut off and the same happened with Mad About Men!). In the early 90's I finally obtained a complete copy.

The adolescent girl who got spanked by the butler was not Petula Clark here, but Mai Zetterling (as Arlette, a spoiled student) who had had an affair with her friend's father. She had earlier made a bet with her friends that she could seduce the new art master who was the only male teacher and was very reserved. Hugh Williams played the part very authentically.

Petula is very good too as his daughter Julie, but Mai as Arlette Tereseau takes the cake! Raymond Lovell was his usual talented self as the butler. (At the end he reaches his limit of endurance when Arlette is repeatedly rude to him).

I well remember the scene where Petula (as Julie the daughter) goes to a nightclub and dances provocatively with Arlette's boyfriend, Henri Sinclair. When Hugh (as Arnold Dixon) as her dad drags her out of there it makes him realize how sordid Arlette and her friends were. I do remember the woman in the bar who laughed and laughed when this happened! I can still hear her laughter ring out. (Julie secretly restores her family, for her father comes home again after that).

Arnold parts in great sadness from Arlette, believing he has done her wrong. She secretly snickers at him. When Julie discovers the malicious plot hatched by her so-called school friend, she turns away in disdain, but keeps the girl's insults about her boring and stuffy father to herself.

One thing that got by the censors was the spanking by the butler at the end, but the key thing was the fact that she did actually seduce Arnold! The students were on a field trip and it was pouring rain. Arlette was "lost" and sought refuge in a deserted hut. Of course she knew he (as the only man on the trip) would be the one to come to her rescue. (They had spent several hours in the hut). Margot Grahame is great as Helen, his suffering wife. They had been a happy family until Arlette entered the picture.

I will always remember how fun it was to watch with my sister. A lot of things got by me at the time, but in viewing the film again it all fits into place.

Though the film had serious elements there are moments of humor as problems are resolved.

In common with some French directors (cf. Duvivier's "Anna Karenina") Gréville made several films in England after the war. This film is a light-footed, fluffy type of comedy set in a girls' school in England with a plot based on the arrival of the first male teacher in this school and the flirtatious attempts mainly of Arlette, a French girl, played by Zetterling. She was a minor Swedish actress who worked mainly in the UK and Hollywood and ended up as a director, also of minor films. She is terribly miscast in this role, being way too old. She plays so over the top that you laugh every time she is on screen, which is clearly not what the director intended. The so-called French accent which she puts on when speaking English is very badly executed — anybody who has heard Greta Garbo or Ingrid Bergman would recognize Zetterling's voice in this film as being tinged definitely not with a French but a Swedish accent. Sometimes you wonder whether Zetterling found inspiration in Marlene Dietrich's night-club singer in "Der blaue Engel", which is patently ludicrous considering that her role is supposed to be that of a schoolgirl in England. The other members of the cast are quite good apart from the American girl in the school (too old and using inexplicable nautical jargon all the time). Hugh Williams as the teacher is a reliable performer and his daughter (also a pupil at the school), played by Petula Clark, comes across very convincingly as a teenage girl. Those interested in early post-war British cinema might enjoy spending one and a half hour with this lightweight but well-crafted film. At least — unintentionally on the part of the makers of the film — they would be assured of some laughs thanks to Zetterling's exaggerated performance

A fascinating and very vintage story about a teacher seduced by a devious student as an act of revenge. It's hard to know if this film is supposed to be a comedy (I found myself mainly laughing in agony over Mai Zetterling's French accent) or a more serious drama. The scene near the end in the cab is incredibly poignant, when Petula Clark attempts to save her father's feelings by lying to him.

Hugh Williams was a romantic hero in his earlier career, but by 1949 he is pretty far from being love's young dream. Combined with Mai Zetterling's atrocious accent and the fact we know she is taking him for a ride, there's no real romance to be found here.

Some interesting parallels may be found with Girls' Dormitory (1936) where schoolmaster Herbert Marshall is seduced by French schoolgirl Simone Simon. Marshall is at least single in that one, and Simon's accent is happily authentic. Both films feature a scene in a hut in the middle of a storm, where Hugh/Herbert "rescues" Mai/Marie. There is surely a deliberate parallel or influence there.

As others have mentioned, the spanking scene at the end is frankly outrageous (though amusing for being so) and it's amazing it got past the censors. The silhouetting reminded me of the scene in Seinfeld episode "The Contest" where George visits his mother in hospital. It's very reminiscent of a Carry On film as well.

Unlike many reviewers have claimed: it isn't the case that this student-teacher relationship would be "illegal" in the UK these days. Mai's character is 18 and therefore legally able to consent - the "position of trust" legislation enacted in 2001 does not apply to legal adults. Hugh would doubtless be sacked, but he wouldn't face criminal charges. Unethical, and unwise, but not illegal.