School for Sex was Walker’s first proper feature film. It’s a sex comedy, but that has to be qualified since the movie was made in two very different versions. It has been said that the problem with British sex comedies is that they’re not funny and they’re not sexy. That’s a bit unfair. It’s a legacy of the extraordinary critical hostility to these movies at the time, a legacy they have never fully been able to escape. Some British sex comedies are actually very amusing. Some are sexy, in a typically embarrassed British way.
Which leads us back to the two different cuts of this movie. Given the insanely restrictive censorship environment in Britain in the 60s the cut prepared for British release is so tame that it could be described as a sexless comedy. The other cut, the continental cut, was intended for release in European markets. It represents the movie as it should have been and was clearly intended to be. Instead of the occasional embarrassed glimpses of bare breasts in the UK cut it features a lot of nudity, including a lot of frontal nudity. It’s an actual sex comedy.
Happily 88 Films have included both cuts on their Blu-Ray release. My advice is, don’t bother with the pointless British version. If you want to appreciate what Pete Walker was capable of doing within this genre you need to watch the continental version.
The movie begins with a distinguished English gentleman facing sentencing on charges of fraud. His defence counsel offers a lengthy speech in mitigation, which introduces a flashback sequence. We find out how Giles Wingate (Derek Aylward) ended up in such a mess. He had returned from the war a hero, to take possession of a large estate and an even larger fortune. Wingate had one weakness - women. And unscrupulous gold-diggers gradually stripped him of his fortune.
The plea of mitigation succeeds in keeping him out of prison but now he has to find a way to rebuild his fortune. He has a plan to do just that. He will turn Wingate Manor into a school for girls. But a school with a difference. The girls will be instructed in the art of seduction, the aim being to teach them how to separate rich men from their money. This will be profitable for the girls, and for Giles Wingate (he will get one-third of whatever money they are able to extract from those rich men).
Wingate will be the headmaster but he’ll need a deputy headmistress. He finds the Duchess of Burwash (Rose Alba) who needs work after having spent all her late husband’s money. The duchess is rarely sober but she’s in tune with Wingate’s ideas on how to make a less-than-honest buck. Wingate also finds a PT instructor for the girls, Hector (Nosher Powell), a broken-down lecherous ex-prize fighter. Wingate himself will teach the girls how to seduce men into handing over their fortunes. Having been the victim of unscrupulous women himself he knows all their techniques.
Unfortunately the amazingly thick-headed village policeman and a jealous neighbour are taking an interest in the goings-on at Wingate Manor.
That’s pretty much it for the plot but there is a nice twist at the end.
This movie has a very 1969 anti-authoritarian vibe. The police are bumbling idiots constantly sticking their noses into other people’s private affairs. Lawyers, judges and politicians are dishonest and are much worse rogues than Wingate.
Wingate is a rogue, but he’s a likeable rogue. His girls are not exactly honest. They all have criminal records (he recruits them via a crooked parole officer) but they’re likeable rogues (or rogue-ettes) as well.
Derek Aylward is perfectly cast. He does the dishonest gentleman thing superbly. One thing that’s interesting is that Wingate is genuinely fond of his young lady pupils and treats them with respect. He may not be honest but he is a gentleman.
The girls are all extremely pretty and all look good with or without their clothes. The most notable is Françoise Pascal who went on to star in Jean Rollin’s superb The Iron Rose (1973).
So going back to that accusation that British sex comedies are neither funny nor sexy, how does School for Sex stack up? It really isn’t terribly funny but it is good-natured and lighthearted and occasionally amusing. The British cut isn’t sexy, but the continental cut with its copious nudity definitely is sexy. It’s a basically good idea but at this stage of his career Walker lacked the experience to exploit it fully. It’s harmless and it is interesting as a very early British sex comedy. Worth a look, but don’t set your expectations too high.
The 88 Films Blu-Ray offers a nice transfer. There are quite a few extras. Sadly the audio commentary is disappointing.
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