The Nudist Story

This film is being screened this week by Talking Pictures, my favourite British TV channel because of its old black-and-white films, though "The Nudist Story" is in rich colour.

It all seems very harmless nowadays,with a number of topless women and glimpses of pubic hair on both sexes. But when it was first released back in 1960 I was 15 years old and was curious about what women looked like and around that time I did watch another nudist film. As I remember it, pin-up photos in girlie magazines and the nudist magazine "Health and Efficiency" had photos of both sexes with the groin areas airbrushed out, so I was a little surprised to see the pubic hair, though in most scenes the actors carefully employed a towel so as not to show very much.

I watched the first part of this film, with its predictable plot, endured the synchronised swimming and then fast-forwarded through the camp concert and the rest of the film. Enough said.

From the outset I must recuse myself from any critical appraisal of this film. Because it is certainly not my type of film. It contains several song and dance routines which again are not to my taste.

So the background to my having seen the film is quite simply this. I attended a dinner party given by husband-and-wife couple. Have been my friends since teenage years.

So when their guests had departed, and they asked me to remain and watch a film with them. On seeing the title of the film I was placed in a painful predicament. I put my own feelings to one side so as not to offend them

So my observations and only observations are these. The film was made in Britain in 1960. Apart from social mores. Cinema and TV output very much reflected a conservative society.

So I was quite surprised to see full frontal nudity of both men and women in a substantial amount of the footage of this film. Children also depicted in some scenes, but their bodies were not exposed.

I could not find any information as to the location for the shooting. It appeared to be a large country house in Britain. Although that could have only been for the scenes of arrival at the centre. Most the footage was probably shot in a naturalist centre. And many of the persons would have been members of that centre.

Quite apart from my recused comments on the film itself. The production values as to regards the filming of it. Were very high indeed. The quality of the colour is not exceptional but fair considering the year in which it was shot and processed.

After further investigation, I was curious as to the certification of the original film.

There being in Britain at the time, only three classifications awarded by the British Board of Film Censors. If they awarded a classification. U fit for universal viewing, A . Adults only and children accompanied by an adult and X for any remaining films which the BBFC deemed fit for adult viewing only.

I was surprised to learn this film was classified as A. Effectively what we might deem today as PG.

A final comment. You will not be surprised to learn that the married couple hosted me and myself. Spent several hours discussing the film at its end.

This title popped up on youtube. I'm sure it was marketed for its titillating subject, a throwaway "adult" low-bill title. It's actually fairly well made, with decent acting and production values. The story is exactly what you might expect, but it's not bad. Except for the skin, this could be Disney film.

There is some padding in the middle, where we're treated to not one but two full-length songs. Maybe they were giving the drive-in audience a chance to go to the snack bar. Also, being very English and very 1960, it's extra shades of whiteness.

THE NUDIST STORY is your garden-variety nudie flick, with a threadbare plot of sorts to keep the momentum going and more than half the running time devoted to cinema verite-style footage of men and women going about their business at a nudist camp. It was made by the 'British Sunbathing Association' and feels at times like a propaganda flick; you can guess the kind of viewers this type of film attracted.

Lead actress Shelly Martin puts in a surprisingly good performance in the leading role as a prim and proper young woman who treats the idea of nudist camps with the usual prejudice. When she inherits one and begins to learn more about it, her eyes are opened to a very different world. A love triangle sub-plot of sorts serves to drag out the short running time a little further, while topless nudity from woman after woman - not all of them young and nubile either - is the order of the day. It's nothing more than a forgettable fluff piece in retrospect.

Stephen Blake - "Have you ever been to a nudist camp Miss Robinson?" Jane Robinson - "Certainly not!" "The Nudist Story" is a 1960 British B movie, nicely shot in colour. Jane is a young business woman who inherits her Grandfather's nudist camp, at first she is quite shocked but her opinion changes when she falls in love with Stephen, a lawyer and secretary of said club. I can think of three different driving factors behind this movie - 1. It presents a case for public acceptance of nudist clubs (which is does well). 2. It is a drama/love story. 3. It is an excuse to show of lots of naked flesh. Though the latter is tastefully done I could imagine plenty of men in long coats going to the cinema to see this for a dose of titillation! The budget was obviously quite low, some of the sets look very studio bound and the acting varies from acceptable to poor (Gloria, who tries to put a stop to Jane and Stephen's romance, is played but a very wooden - though attractive - French actress). "Highlights" (for wants of a better word) include watching two couples perform synchronised (or at least they try to be) swimming, seeing Jane strip off for the first time and a song and dance segment. This last bit has the happy campers perform cheesy singing and dancing to band music despite no band being there, and it does drag on. In the UK the movie is rated BBFC 15 yet the excellent Talking Pictures TV screened it with an 18. That was very odd as there is nothing sexual or explicit about this harmless movie, there are even children in the cast, naked along with adults but all quite innocent. I had never heard of this film before and it does not appear in any of my movie books. As something of a curiosity I found it to be a fairly entertaining watch, for a movie made in Britain in 1960 I was surprised by the amount of flesh on display. For people interested in the history of "skin flicks" this is recommended viewing.