The Warm, Warm Bed

As a prolific pornographer Barry Mahon churned out considerable chaff, with an occasional bright moment like HOT SKIN AND COLD CASH, but THE WARM, WARM BED is strictly routine.

Part of the problem is casting -with so many talented and beautiful actresses working in the late '60s it was a mistake to employ a set of unknowns. Acting is adequate, but with this weak a script the project needed some personality injected.

It starts off like an episode of The Bickersons -a couple arguing interminably. Heroine Margie takes a sexy shower, even revealing a fleeting shot of bush, visible through the distorting glass shower door.

Unfortunately what follows is talky filler, trying and failing to be funny. The haphazard casting is most evident in Margie's airline pilot husband Sam covered with tattoos, completely inappropriate for the character. Repetitive elements of bedroom farce are clumsily staged. Not exactly Noises Off quality.

Later reels segue into the then-trendy theme of suburban wife swapping, but not as interesting as the many better known movies on the subject made by Sarno, H.G. Lewis or Rotsler. In fact, the nondescript cast makes A.C. Stephen's ensembles from this period look like A-listers in comparison.

Just in case the viewer is really sympathetic to Mahon's cause and going with the film's flow, a sudden "go away" ending seals the film's fate as a clunker, and relies on an annoying "comical" cuckoo clock gimmick.