School for Sex

1st watched 10/21/2022 - (Dir-Pete Walker): *not original Mono* Early British sex-ploitation is barely watcheable for the full 80 minutes not because it isn't titillating - but because it gets boring. It's the story of a well-to-do man who keeps skirting the law despite his guilt as he only gets a suspension for money laundering. He than decides to start a supposed sex-ed school disguised as a finishing school for girls to get money back from wrongs against him by his many wives. It's portrayed as more of a way to tease older rich men with some physical therapy done in underwear, primarily for the audience. The first group bring great results somehow, but it finally catches up to them as the police are keeping their eye on things. It's amazing how this movie got an "X" rating from the British censors when it was released, but would definetly only get an "R" rating, at least in America today. The writer/director & producer was supposedly trying to make money off the lightening of restrictions in British cinema, but it definetly doesn't stand up in today's world. A very silly premise with a lot of teasing, but not enough to keep our modern folks interested, and the bottom-line it's also very poor filmmaking with some scenes that don't even make any sense. This is kind of like a slightly more raunchy extended Benny Hill episode, but not as funny.

A huge financial success in 1969. Like most postwar British films of the forties & fifties the action of this film takes place in a big country house; but despite the title the budget for 'School for School' didn't stretch to similarly spacious interiors, so the lessons indoors are decidedly confined. (Writer-director Peter Walker makes matters even worse by seeming to have learned how to stage his actors by exclusively studying films made prior to 1914; even down to the comic bobby prowling about the undergrowth.)

The patrician hero, Derek Aylward, is required by the script to occasionally lapse into using uncouth expressions like "birds", "crumpet" and "lovely lolly"; while the one authentically foxy female in it is 'Deputy Headmistress' 50 year-old Rose Alba as drunken procuress The Duchess of Burwash, never seen without a double brandy in her hand.

Like most of Walker's films it's very cynical about what makes people tick; the men being generally gormless & easily manipulated and the women mercenary.

I wasn't really sure what to expect going into this one; my experience of Peter Walker extends only to his horror movies, some of which are excellent (House of Whipcord) while others are terrible (Die Screaming Marianne). School for Sex is an early Walker film (actually, his first according to IMDb) and it's his attempt at a sex comedy. The film doesn't exactly have a great reputation among the few who have seen it, and that's not really surprising - but all the same, I actually rather liked this silly little film. Naturally, everything in it is rather tame these days, and compared to other films like this from the late sixties - not all that lurid for the time it was released in. The film was obviously intended to be more of a comedy than a sex film, and doesn't go much further than showing it's female cast topless. The plot focuses on a man convicted for fraud. He decides to start up his own 'school for sex' with the help of a local Duchess. There he teaches girls how to seduce men and get them to part with their cash...

The plot was clearly not the main thing on Peter Walker's mind. The film is only short, running about seventy five minutes and the story neither goes anywhere nor has any real point. Obviously the main aim of the film was to show a bit of skin and make his audience laugh, and Walker just about achieved both of those aims. The comedy isn't really very funny, but it's all very light-hearted and the film has a sort of British charm to it which is nice. I can certainly see why the film doesn't have a great deal of fans; aside from the reasons mentioned, this is never going to be a film that will appeal to everyone; porn fans are likely to be disappointed at the lack of sex and nudity, while non-porn fans probably wont enjoy it much either. The central idea certainly could have lead to a much better movie too; I have to admit that I enjoy movies about people being conned anyway, and showing young girls doing it to 'men who should know better' could have been much more fun. On the whole, this is not exactly Peter Walker's best work, but for what is I enjoyed it, although I wouldn't recommend anyone going to great lengths to track it down!

Dastardly Giles Wingate (Derek Aylward) sets up a finishing school for girls at his large English country manor, teaching delinquent sexy young girls how to financially extort rich men. I am a fan of the horror movies of British cult director Pete Walker so when 88 Films released a box set of his sex movies on a whim I bought a copy. I decided to start with School For Sex, oh dear, I was not impressed. This movie now looks and sounds very dated with words such as "bird", "wench" and "crumpet" used to describe women, and there is no sexual equality here - women are seen stark naked but the men are always at least partially clothed. Early on there is a flashback scene to when Giles was 21 but Aylwood would have been 46 at the time! This is meant to be a comedy but I didn't find it very funny. Don't bother watching the prudish British release, instead go for the Continental version which has far more nudity. Apart from seeing a few nice "birds" I did enjoy looking at the old motor vehicles, most of which would have been built in Britain before the death of the UK motor industry.

An early effort from Pete Walker, this one takes the form of a lightweight sex comedy that's a bit like an old Carry On or St. Trinian's movie with added nudity. It involves an unscrupulous businessman who decides to set up a business training young girls in the art of seduction, and all of the hijinks that ensue.

I always find Walker to be a professional director and his writing isn't so bad either. SCHOOL FOR SEX is obviously a low budget production, but it's an acceptable timewaster with it. Derek Aylward is a likeably roguish lead and there's a good eye for detail in the casting, too; Nosher Powell is a perfect fit as the P.E. teacher, and Rosa Alba brings a touch of class to the proceedings as the Countess. There aren't as many familiar faces here as in other British sex comedies from the era, although popular starlet Francoise Pascal makes an early appearance as one of the students.

The humour is either groan-worthy or mildly amusing depending on your tastes for this sort of stuff, but the nude scenes are plentiful and playful, and the actresses undeniably attractive. It's certainly one of the more lightweight and forgettable Pete Walker movies I've seen, but given the amount of poor British sex comedies in existence, it could be worse.