Two Left Feet

Roy Baker's final film before he added 'Ward' to his name following a mid-sixties sojourn in tv was this bittersweet comedy-drama that was one of the casualties of the distribution crisis that famously hit the British film industry in 1963.

A project the director had approached with considerable enthusiasm (reflected in his memoirs by his fond recollection of his fresh young cast of whom Julia Foster is by far the most appealing) and slightly ahead of its time in its exploration of the theme of youthful sexual experimentation that later hit the spot with Dick Lester's 'The Knack' (also starring Michael Crawford as a sexual novice but fortunately without the later film's leering misogyny).

Although today it all seems rather innocent, at the time it actually carried an 'X' certificate, which severely compromised its commercial prospects; and was probably one of the reasons it took two years to hit cinemas.

Crawford has enjoyed a rather more varied career than is sometime realised by British viewers used to his ultra-popular role in the sit-com 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'. This early outing about a daft as a brush youth's search for sex has similarites with the above but a drier and slightly black line creates an amusing little film that looks at British teen-life just before the Beatles. Some good names crop up here and there but it is Crawford who holds our attention.

Made before Michael Crawford found fame on TV.This is a fairly standard rites of passage.Nyree Dawn Porter plays the manipulative older woman,whilst Julie Foster plays the virginal true love.The problem with the film is that it is too insubstantial and at 90 minutes,it is about 20 minutes too long.Although it had an X certificate it is difficult to understand why the censor thought it rated the X certificate.It is very tame.