School for Sex

1969 British film by Pete Walker

1969 (1969)

Running time

80 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishBox office£2.5 million (in US)^[1]

School for Sex is a 1969 British sex comedy film directed, produced and written by Pete Walker.^[2]^[3] It is often described as the first British sexploitation film.^[4]

Cast

Derek Aylward as Giles Wingate
Rose Alba as Duchess of Burwash
Bob Andrews as Sgt. Braithwaite
Vic Wise as Horace Clapp
Hugh Latimer as Berridge
Nosher Powell as Hector
Amber Dean Smith as Beth Villiers
Françoise Pascal as Sally Reagan
Cathy Howard as Sue Randall
Sylvia Barlow as Judy Arkwright
Sandra Gleeson as Jenny
Maria Frost as Polly
Cindy Neal as Marianne
Gilly Grant as striptease artist
Jackie Berdet as Ingeborg
Nicole Austen as Tania
Edgar K. Bruce as Fred
Robert Dorning as Civil Sergeant
Julie May as Ethel
Alec Bregonzi as Harry
Wilfred Babbage as Judge
Dennis Castle as Colonel Roberts

Plot

Lord Wingate, on probation after being acquitted on fraud charges, needs money, so he starts a school to train young women in the arts of gold-digging in exchange for a cut of the take. The alcoholic widow the Duchess of Burwash is a teacher, and an aged Cockney is the fitness instructor. The first group of pupils are on probation from Holloway Prison, but rich parents soon begin to enroll their daughters under the impression the school is a finishing school. Lord Wingate is found guilty on new charges, but the judge decides to try the business idea himself.^[5]^[6]

Production

The film was shot on location in Kent, Sussex and London, England.^{[citation needed]}

The original film includes topless scenes and glimpses of full nudity. Alternative nude versions of some scenes were shot for release in Japan.^[6]

Reception

Box office

In France School for Sex had 72,000 admissions in its opening week.^[1] In the United States, it ran on Broadway for two years.^[4]

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "As its title indicates, Peter Walker's latest piece of titillatory entertainment is largely a peg on which to hang an assortment of bikinis and diminutive undergarments. But after a relatively lively start, this nonsensical and determinedly risqué farce plods humourlessly on its way with leaden dialogue, wooden acting and rough sound recording."^[7] Walker himself regretted saving money by writing the script himself and called it his worst film,^[6] referring to it in 2005 as a "terrible film".^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b Simon Sheridan (2011). Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema. Titan Books. p. 54.
^ "School for Sex". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b Will Hodgkinson (11 March 2005). "'God, what a terrible film'". The Guardian (interview). Retrieved 20 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b Michael Hogan (19 July 2024). "'My testicles were on fire for weeks': the sex movie craze that swept 70s Britain". The Guardian (interview). Retrieved 20 July 2024.
^ Dillon Gonzales (12 January 2022). "Kino Cult Adds 20 New Titles To Their Ad-Supported Streaming Service For Horror Fans And Genre Lovers". Geek Vibes Nation. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lee Pfeiffer (20 May 2016). "Review: Pete Walker's "School for Sex" (1969) & "For Men Only" (1969); Blu-Ray Double Feature From Kino Lorber". Cinema Retro. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
^ "School for Sex". Monthly Film Bulletin. 36 (420): 150. 1969 – via ProQuest.