This is one of a dozen efforts I will be watching in tribute to its late controversial director, whose big-screen debut the film was. Actually, he started off his cinema career with two uncharacteristic movies (the second being the "Harry Palmer" adventure BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN {1967}): this one, then, is a farce which, at least, comes up with an original premise (a small British seaside resort contriving to augment its inexistent tourist industry by organizing a Film Festival and inviting a Brigitte Bardot-type siren to be the guest of honor) – even if, in retrospect, the general lack of discipline on display would soon become a mainstay in Russell's work, it is the would-be fashionable technique adopted throughout (a remnant of the "Swinging Sixties" fad just then taking sway) which dates it most of all! Having said that, the harsh cinematography (by the stalwart Ken Higgins) is very typical of its era – though the panned-and-scanned TV-sourced copy I watched did the film's look no favors at all!; in addition, Georges Delerue's score is pleasantly evocative.
As for the cast, it may be second-rate but proves undeniably enthusiastic: leading man James Booth seemed to divide his time between serious and lighter fare but nevertheless comes across as a bit forced here in the role of the deck-chair attendant who comes up with the idea for the much-needed economic boost (initially, the Mayor is almost offended that he should even deign him the time of day, let alone take heed of his suggestion!) – the town's notion of an event had earlier been restricted to a dismally-attended skating competition in fancy dress!; rotund Roy Kinnear is predictably buffoonish as the eager but gawky bureaucrat; Marisa Mell (replacing Annette Stroyberg, who withdrew due to illness) does well in the first of her only 2 films – the other being Basil Dearden's espionage romp MASQUERADE {1965} – made outside the "Euro-Cult" spectrum in which she later thrived; Alita Naughton, too, is a delight in her only theatrical film (she would drop off the radar completely in a couple of years' time!), bafflingly decked-out in sailor's outfit(!) as a teen journalist whom Booth 'plays' with but forsakes as soon as Mell turns up; Bryan Pringle, a prolific character actor here in something of a showcase as the lecherous Mayor (shown watching pornographic slides in his office!) and ingratiating himself with Mell at every turn; and Sandor Eles as Mell's agent who prides himself of having fabricated her alluring image but scoffs at the sex kitten's wish to flex her acting muscles.
The film's most notable set-pieces involve a parade disrupted when the pier from which both Mayor and starlet are watching slides out to sea, the Film Festival itself – highlighting the spoof of a French art-house pic – which turns into a melee' when some puritanical locals object to smut being projected (with people even ripping through the screen via the mouth of Mell's enlarged image!), and the concluding nudist beach inauguration (for which the journalist impetuously decides to replace the actress after the latter has left in disgust, with Kinnear making a desperate run to the train station in vain in order to retrieve her). For what it is worth, the comedy would like to hark back to the Slapstick heyday of the 1920s (with one rather nice nod to Laurel and Hardy) but the end result is decidedly patchy and, in any case, owes more to the vulgar "Carry On" brand then in full force!
