The Nudist Story

Contrary to a previous review on IMDB from 2006, the recent 2017~2019 re-release of this film under the title Pussycats Paradise (1960) by Sprocket Flicks for Amazon Prime Video is of terrible quality with film grain, scratches and splotches, and has been SEVERELY cut down to a mere 69 minutes from its original 90 minute runtime. As you can imagine, it has been scrubbed clean of smut, but also a great deal of continuity and story. You are taken on a wild journey of "how did we get here now?" around every bend, with entire segments of the character's lives obliterated for the sake of preserving their modesty. Especially the female characters in the camp, who can barely get in a speaking role on screen because their chests are so naughty.

I rate this as 6 stars, out of respect for the film as a whole as it was clearly well written and directed, with a quality cast and nice storyline. I just hope to see it some day, in its full unabashed glory. I'm very disappointed, because it was otherwise rather good.

This title has been available for quite some time from Something Weird Video under the title For Members only, The Nudist Story. This was the original complete title in the UK. Film quality is excellent. The opening credits briefly switch from the original to the title page of "Pussycat Paradise" and then back to the original. That was a brief alternate title in the mid to later 60s.

I don't have any idea how long this movie has been available, but it was a happy shock to learn of it's original British title, Google it, and discovery that it has been here for some time.

Beyond the opening credits, the film remains complete and beautiful quality. There is even a film trailer after the end of the feature.

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.

Although preceded on Talking Pictures by the usual disclaimer that it was rated 18 as "it dealt with adult themes" 'The Nudist Story' is possessed of a childish innocence that today seems quite charming; apart from the industrial-strength consumption of tobacco by many of the cast.

The title serves as a warning, but at first it all seems to start quite innocently with the prim young heroine addressing a group of shareholders around a boardroom table. Although the fact it's in Technicolor already sets it apart it and the eccentric jazz score by Tony Crombie serves as warning that when she goes down to the woods that day she's sure of a big surprise in the form of a group of well-spoken gentlemen and young ladies engaged in the most innocent of pursuits - complete with singalongs - who just happened to wearing no clothes.

Naturally it's all done in the best POSSIBLE taste...!!