L'école du sexe

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.

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!

Saw this on an obscure British TV channel, that shows some old TV, and a few films of this type, a genre sometimes called 'sexploitation', from the 60s or 70s, designed to capture lads at the end of a Friday or Sat night out, pub, perhaps a curry, and a raunchy film -- maybe the film then a curry?

And this is really the MOST AWFUL tosh! A few such films had a bit of merit, told tongue in cheek, the 'Confessions of' series perhaps, but this has nothing of note, except perhaps the 2nd recorded appearance of Francoise Pascal?

I had to give it one (of 10) as IMDB doesn't permit anything lower, I'd have rated it approx -37 for a more accurate assessment?! A couple of reviews give it EIGHT out of ten, several scored it as a 'six'. WHAT??? How on earth then do they assess actual films that deserve proper scoring, say, Casablanca, 12 Angry Men, Roman Holiday, El Cid, The Odd Couple, Thelma & Louise, Chinatown, etc etc??

The 'story' has been described in a few reviews, the acting is dire throughout, though Derek Aylward does appear a suitably smooth bounder in the lead.

The rest have to do their best not to bump into the furniture, or each other, a village bobby might have failed an audition to be in Benny Hill, perhaps? Even the girls - the whole point of the film -- are a pretty ordinary bunch, not even much in the way of a big chest, though we have to credit Francoise Pascal, just her second film, and even in this dross managed to get noticed for a career in films and TV -- though her partner being a film star may have helped?!

I think there was some 'full frontal nudity' near the start, but I did nod off at times. The films at that time - of this type - used to love a bit of pubic hair, to keep the drunks slightly amused, and give the dirty mac brigade something to hope for later on? But there were no jokes, no great erotic appeal, nothing of note.

I suppose I could justify my 'one' rating, a mark for me, as I judged that the outdoor scenes looked like they'd been shot in one of the pretty villages in E Sussex or W Kent, and so it transpired, apparently Robertsbridge had been used to give the locals a little to chat about in shops and the pub. Hopefully any that saw the movie weren't too disappointed?!

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.

My local Blockbuster did not have the film I wanted so I rented this film instead. As I watched this film I thought I was watching a topless version of the Benny Hill show. The Benny Hill show included recurring sketches where Benny played "a dirty old man from Britain" trying to seduce an attractive young ladies. I thought this film had the similiar theme of the Benny Hill sketches except the girls were often topless in this movie. Even though the film was "wild" for the late 60's it may be consider only a comedy farce by today standards. I consider this a good movie when a person wants to watch a no plot comedy with topless ladies. Only warning is that the quality of the movie may be sub standard since this was a low budget film, and the color, tint, and sharpness may have faded.