Cool It, Carol!

This is not what you expect from a Robin Askwith film. It's actually a charming, thought provoking little drama about a young naïve couple trying to make it in the big bad nasty city.

This story is exactly the sort of story which was the staple of dozens of pre-code movies in the early thirties. A young couple leave their quiet rural existence to make a life for themselves in the metropolis - how difficult can it be? As any fan of pre-codes will know, the only career choices for a pretty young lady in the big city is posing for saucy photos and becoming a prostitute! In the thirties, she'd have been someone like Miriam Hopkins. Maybe Spencer Tracy may have been the young man but here it's Robin Askwith.

For those of us used to seeing Robin Askwith in those dreadful "sex comedies", it takes a while to accept that this serious young actor is the same person. To confuse us further, he also used his own accent which isn't cockney! He's ok but not brilliant - it was probably a good career move for him to switch to those smutty comedies. The girl is the unknown Janet Lynn whose untrained, raw natural acting ability makes her fascinatingly complex character completely believable. The normally of her girl-next-door character really hooks you.

Underground director Pete Walker infuses a distinctive style to his picture ensuring that you know one hundred percent that this could only have been made in the late sixties. For an independent British production it's also got higher production values than you'd expect. The sumptuous classical score for example, swelling and ebbing with emotion is more reminiscent of a big budget 1950s biblical epic. This is a big score!

Just like in a thirties movie, as time progresses, it dawns on our young couple that they are not living at the bottom of the rainbow. Their new life is not what they wanted and the people they've become aren't really them. She becomes more trusting and subservient, he becomes more selfish and controlling. It's a simple but intelligent little morality tale.

If you want a fabulous taste of the real (un)swinging sixties, you should give this a go. That sixties, just like the thirties was a dirty, unsavoury and cruel place but also bursting with blind optimism.

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?

Somewhat interesting cautionary tale(or tail if you prefer) about a young couple leaving the barrenness of their humdrum lives behind in a small English village and going to the big city - a really swinging London in the late 1960s. What they find is that work is hard to come by unless you are really willing to shed your inhibitions and your clothes. While the story probably resonates much of the real-life atmosphere of the culture of that time, the film bogs down really into one sexual scene after another - none of them particularly effective or redeeming in any way. And though the film is considered a black comedy - I think of it really more as a bleak one. I found so little humor in the film. Director Pete Walker - who would go on to do some pretty expressive and decent films of the horror/exploitation genres in the 70s - has obvious skill with the camera. The pace, sets, and dialog are all generally well-conceived for a film of this kind. The two primary acting leads are actually pretty good too as is most of the supporting cast. Watch for Stubby Kaye in a small role! But the end comes on so hard-handed and without warning as to be any bit believable though the film does try to have some moral to this constant parade of sexual encounters surrounding a youngish Carol and her openness to sleep with virtually anyone for a few bob.

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.

"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.