Minor Victorian soft porn
My review was written in July 1984 after watching the movie on a VHS screener copy.
"'Frank' and I" is a rather flat (no pun intended) rendering of Victorian era romantic porno, funded by and recently broadcast by the Playboy channel and currently playing theatrically in France (via Eurogroup Films distribbery) under a title translating as "Liberated Lady".
Screenplay by exec producer Harry Alan Towers (using his nom de film Peter Welbeck) will be familiar to 1960s readers of "The Pearl" or other traditional erotica published by Grove Press, presenting a romantic tale of a young woman's adventures with inevitable "birchings" and other disciplining punctuating the usual softcore sex couplings.
A British writer, Charles Beaumont (Christopher Pearson), narrates the story as recollections, detailing his romance with a 16-year-old girl (Jennifer Inch), taken into his household as a wastrel he met on the road disguised as a boy named Frank. "Frank" is in fact Frances, sent to London after her parents died in Canada, to stay with a Mrs. Leslie (April Hyde). Leslie turns out to be running a brothel, forcing young girls to work as her prostitutes, and Frances escaped, cutting her blonde hair short and dressing as a boy.
In Beaumont's care, "Frank"'s masquerade is quickly discarded and the young woman is initiated into more adult behavior by Beaumont's prior girlfriend (planning to marry another man), Maude (Sophie Favier). Various minor adventures, including Beaumont beating Mrs. Leslie as punishment for her having mistreated "Frank", lead to duo finally getting married and living happily ever after Diminutive Jennifer Inch combines a childlike face with a very well-developed figure in the central role, but her acting is unimpressive, not helped by post-synched English dialog. Production values are low budget, with two European tours by Beaumont presente as still photos only.
"'Frank' and I" is a rather flat (no pun intended) rendering of Victorian era romantic porno, funded by and recently broadcast by the Playboy channel and currently playing theatrically in France (via Eurogroup Films distribbery) under a title translating as "Liberated Lady".
Screenplay by exec producer Harry Alan Towers (using his nom de film Peter Welbeck) will be familiar to 1960s readers of "The Pearl" or other traditional erotica published by Grove Press, presenting a romantic tale of a young woman's adventures with inevitable "birchings" and other disciplining punctuating the usual softcore sex couplings.
A British writer, Charles Beaumont (Christopher Pearson), narrates the story as recollections, detailing his romance with a 16-year-old girl (Jennifer Inch), taken into his household as a wastrel he met on the road disguised as a boy named Frank. "Frank" is in fact Frances, sent to London after her parents died in Canada, to stay with a Mrs. Leslie (April Hyde). Leslie turns out to be running a brothel, forcing young girls to work as her prostitutes, and Frances escaped, cutting her blonde hair short and dressing as a boy.
In Beaumont's care, "Frank"'s masquerade is quickly discarded and the young woman is initiated into more adult behavior by Beaumont's prior girlfriend (planning to marry another man), Maude (Sophie Favier). Various minor adventures, including Beaumont beating Mrs. Leslie as punishment for her having mistreated "Frank", lead to duo finally getting married and living happily ever after Diminutive Jennifer Inch combines a childlike face with a very well-developed figure in the central role, but her acting is unimpressive, not helped by post-synched English dialog. Production values are low budget, with two European tours by Beaumont presente as still photos only.
- lor_
- Feb 10, 2023