Baby Love

source: Baby Love

BABY LOVE seems one of the most exciting of the '60s youth movies; not only it's thematically daring, but it's interesting, lively, thrilling, thanks in equal measures, I suppose, to real qualities of style and to a nymphet's nudity. It's such a lovable movie. The sulfurous story gets a slightly sleazy B treatment, wholly appropriate for a B subject. The girl in this movie stands out as one of the genuinely exciting realist portraits of women in the cinema. The tendency might look a bit misogynistic—not only is this girl, Luci, the acme of depravity—but look at her mother—and at her adoptive mother …. The one member of her new family who completely capitulates is the adoptive mother. By comparison, her new father and her new brother seem slightly more principled, anyway; though they're counterbalanced by guys like the ugly one who assaults the girl in the movie theater, and the family friend who does his best to seduce the girlie. Is the schoolgirl Luci merely naughty? Is she nasty? The movie suggests she's mentally disturbed. The mellower Shannon Tweed will also seduce a whole family—husband, wife and son—in A WOMAN SCORNED. But Shannon's was a thriller, meant to please more than to shock. Babe Hayden was, as known, 15 yrs old in BABY LOVE, her * scenes are great and very rewarding; she went on to play in some defining B movies of the '70s, being perhaps the iconic '70s British cult actress. Nowadays she's 56.

Looking a bit like Jodie Foster in "Taxi Driver", Linda Hayden is all innocence on the outside but a troubled little vixen on the inside. She's the daughter of Diana Dors, seen preparing for her Shelley Winters underwater playing in the opening scene and discovered by Hayden when she returns from school. Feeling sorry for her, Dors' ex-lover Keith Barron takes her in where she begins to have a series of horrifying nightmares and eventually begins to make plays for members of the entire family, even Baron's wife. Obviously the presence of this troubled girl will turn the family upside down, but they kowtow to her every emotional need, hidden through sexual desire on the surface. A rather troubling coming of age drama, this is not how most parents want to see their children come of age and as a result, this is often disturbing to watch. Dors, not shown as a dead Dora, makes a series of quick nightmarish appearances in Hayden's dreams, one time laughing maniacally but never really saying a word. I don't see this film being for all taste, and it is definitely a product of the swinging London sixties that wasn't at all absolutely fabulous. The lack of name British stars in major roles will prevent this from having much interest today, and outside of being somewhat of a time capsule is quite forgettable.

Essentially this is the British version of LOLITA, and just as moderately shocking as it must have been upon first release. I've always been a fan of Linda Hayden for her work in the horror field and she's every bit as good here, really investing her character with a sympathy that exists even in devilish turns like her one in BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW. The film explores burgeoning teenage sexuality in a stark and sometimes provocative way, also looking at trauma, marriage and lust at times; the focus on characte relationships is what makes it engrossing. It's well acted and well shot too. Seen today it's a fitting portrait of the predatory nature of the era.

The essence of 'Baby Love': female lead Luci rebels against the morals & behavior her 'new parents' try teach her -- a very well known theme in Sixties-films. Luci comes quite far in her rebellion, almost wrecking this household. Showing herself indecently to her new father, waking up lesbian feelings with her new mother, and having some adventures with her new brother. All these battles are intensified by the class-difference between Luci and her new family: working-class against London upper class. 'Baby Love' is a very well-pictured film (according to the technical standards of 1969). Its good acting shows no flaws. It's very English as well, and evokes memories for those around in 1969.

Surprisingly good and whilst not a major work, a most interesting and involving film from that sunny 1968 with appropriately colourful and short skirts and dresses. Basically exploitation this is not, however, without thought but now is it steeped in moralising as the British film of the time tended to be. Indeed, although the plot here concerns the dropping of a highly sexed and vulnerable 15 year old into a well off family situation where the father once went out with the girl's mother it is dealt with in a refreshingly reasonable manner. Nevertheless there are various hints and incidents of rape and incest along the way as this goes from bad to bad but always with a smile. Not much smiling from Keith Barron who seems to not be enjoying his part here at all. For the rest it is a different story and Linda Hayden excels as the British Lolita with more than an eye for the men, and women. It is an impressive and nuanced performance and no wonder at all that she went on to further movies. It is also a credit to all involved that it was possible to get such a performance out of the youngster. Dick Emery just about controls himself in a small but exuberant role and overall this is a most watchable film very much of the moment that certainly could not be made today.

Perhaps this British movie from the late 60s has virtues that were hidden from me. I didn't think much of it. (My opinion may have been tainted by the sleazy transfer to DVD.) It's the story of Luci, a fifteen-year-old girl whose mother has just committed suicide and who is taken in by her mother's former beau and his family -- a nice wife and a goggle-eyed adolescent boy. It's a pretty nice house and a comfortable place, though the father is uptight and snarls a lot. Luci exploits all the family members by suggesting she's sexually available, although there isn't a lot of nudity or simulated coitus. What it is, is a set up for a pornographic movie, but without the skin, just the rather ordinary plot. In skin flicks, a plot like this would be used as a device to hinge together the varied couplings. In an underground skin flick they'd have introduced the family mule or something. They'd bring in the chauffeur and the idiot son who is kept in the attic. Here, without the couplings, it's just dull. And it's not simply that the plot isn't exactly gripping. The only talent visible on the screen is that of Luci's adopted mother, who gives a seasoned performance. Luci herself -- that is, Linda Hayden -- could have been replaced by any reasonably good-looking kid who had stood out from the crowd in her high school plays. The editing is pretty clumsy too. Luci is groped by a neighbor in the local cinema but the camera doesn't seem to know how to handle the situation any better than the heroine. The cuts are confusing and Luci's response is a blank. It's not a terrible movie -- not a fell insult to anyone's sensibilities. It's just cheap and rudely made. A little more gratuitous nudity would have helped. However, others have apparently got more out of it than I did.

Most of the films about "Swinging London' celebrated the joys and colors of the time. "Baby Love", while it was made during the heyday of "Swinging London", deals with the story of an adolescent girl called Luci, and London serves just a background for Luci and the other characters around her. The characters and their environment are portrayed with a documentary feel - they are shown in a realistic way. Luci, one day, on returning home, finds her mother dead. A great shock! For Luci there are not many choices. Her future looms black. But her mother, before killing herself, had sent a letter to a doctor who in the past had been her lover, and where she asks him to take care of her daughter Luci. The doctor is now a married man with wife, son and maid - in short, a well-off family. The doctor brings Luci (Linda Hayden, who was only 15 at the time) to his home. At first she seems just a bewildered, shy girl, but it won't take long till they discover other sides of Luci's personality. Luci needs love and protection, and for her, love and sex are not very apart. She is manipulative (but not consciously so), yet she acts by instinct - she's a bundle of contradictions, a very complex character. She'll use her powers of seduction on all members of the family, everything is turned upside down and masks fall. In some ways, "Baby Love" reminded me of "Teorema" by Pasolini, but while "Teorema" is a mystical-political parable, "Baby Love" has her feet on the ground. The creativity linked to reality, the freedom of the camera, Luci's sensuality/sexuality (there are even some bits of nudity), the nonjudgemental way of showing the characters, make "Baby Love" a very interesting film. It's a pity though that (as far as I know) the only available copies have soft (a bit washed out) colors. Anyway the film is very watchable. Well worth checking out.

Would you believe that this very old movie, with little known stars (well, even back then, I suppose) has actually stood the test of time? Okay, towards the end, it shoots itself in the foot when the movie turns violent. But aside from that... I'm always on the look for controversial movies and when I read about this one, I was immediately intrigued. With something so old and with such an unknown cast and, on top of it, dealing with such a subject matter, I didn't even expect it to have been released on DVD, much less find it on my seller site, but I did. First off, let me just voice an objection. The current (2017) summary here on INDb was written by somebody (anonymous) who doesn't like the movie, and that particular style is fine (and entertaining enough) for a review, but absolutely unsuitable for a summary. To each their own, if they don't like a movie, they don't have to be nice, but summaries should be factual and impartial. The movie doesn't deserve to be derided. As for the deeply human characters, I have enjoyed watching, I was pleasantly surprised, it is a good movie. Yes, I'm into pretty actresses, we all know The Raven, but besides the obvious points of interest for me, it was surprisingly well done. The movie is almost fifty years old and I knew I was taking a big chance when I bought it sight unseen. I'm glad I did. Diana Dors is just way off-putting as the choice for Luci's Mom, and here's something else: Somebody who already knows pain (cancer) would choose being scalded by boiling water while bleeding to death because of razor slices as method of suicide? I think that nasty start should have been replaced with something more "sedate" like sleeping pills or so. That was just to shock! And the movie doesn't need it. Anyway, loved Linda Hayden and appreciate her fine performance. I do appreciate that she is the real thing, only fifteen years old, imagine this being done today!!! Good choice with mature female lead Ann Lynn as well.

This nifty, late-60's British thriller is about a scheming teenage girl (Linda Hayden) who after her mother's suicide moves in with the family of her mother's married lover and proceeds to seduce all three of them (father, mother, teenage son)--two of whom may be blood relatives! If this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because it was the subject of an uncredited, near-remake by Hollywood in the early 1990's called "Poison Ivy", which spawned three increasingly trashy sequels and revived the career of Drew Barrymore. Hayden is actually much better here than Barrymore was in "Poison Ivy", but this movie is very hard to find today, no doubt because Hayden has several brief * scenes and was about the same age at the time as her fifteen-year-old character. This is monumentally silly more than forty years later--half the adult population (women) have seen a girl that age naked, and the other half (let's just be honest here) probably have at some point in their lives. But we live in a society today where if a teenage girl sends * photos of herself to her teenage boyfriend, instead of considering it a "teachable moment", we're more likely to charge them both with distributing child *! Anyway, whatever else she was, Linda Hayden was a criminally underrated actress. She got some attention for her appearances in Hammer's "Taste the Blood of Dracula" and as another sexy, evil vixen in "Blood on Satan's Claw" (where, incidentally, she has even more graphic and still-underage * scenes as well). She had more bad luck after that though. She reunited with the director here (Alistair Reid) as well Peter Finch and Shelly Winters in another very solid thriller called "Something to Hide" that has been all hacked up and never released on DVD for no good reason I can tell. Her best performance perhaps though was in "The House on Straw Hill" (which makes it's likely inspiration, Sam Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs", look like a Disney film), but that entertaining but uber-sleazy venture became the only British-made film to be labeled a "video nasty" in Britain and it was banned there for many years. As a somewhat ironic result, it's considered a minor cult film there today(and was even remade in 2009), but was little seen outside of the UK. As for Hayden, she eventually took her considerable charms to dumb British sex comedies like the "Confessions of" series and "Queen Kong" (starring her then paramour Robin Askwith) before ending her career with a cameo role (mostly *, of course) in "The Boys of Brazil". There's nothing much to say about the rest of the cast as this is Linda Hayden's show all the way. But there is a good cameo at the beginning by ill-fated, former glamor actress Diana Dors as the Hayden character's mother. As for the director, Alistair Reid, he's no doubt now written off as a "dirty old man" in some quarters for having directed this, but his "Something to Hide" and "Deadly Strangers" (with Hayley Mills and Sterling Hayden)were equally good British thrillers. I'd certainly recommend this.