Teenage Tramp

source: Teenage Tramp

That Kind of Girl

This is a good film It shows the swinging sixties, and to be honest they were not really that swinging. The very petty au-pair goes round London given almost everyone she meets the Clap. But what I liked about the film was outdoor shots of London, BMA House, was interesting because I used to work there, and the back ground demo of the the ban the bomb marches. The opening title shots, around the City, and the Barbican have nothing to do with the story, but still this is British movie making at its cheapest. All the women seem to be good looking, while all the men seem B or maybe C rate actors. Still this film is a gem and should have a wider public. See it and enjoy it.

I rented the BFI DVD of this film.Looking at the extras first of all I wondered what a Crown information film about VD and the CND protests had in common.Well I soon found out.The young Austrian Au pair unfortunately puts herself about a bit and she and everyone else seems to end up with an infection.However with a little understanding and some sang froid everyone seems to cope.It really seems to be an odd combination.There is the doctor moralising about sex before marriage and there are scenes from a striptease club.Producers used to do two versions one,where nothing was shown,would be for the UK market and a continental version for the rest of Europe where everything was on view.So as soon as the * starts to turn around the film cuts back to customers in the club.Given that the film has no stars,and the distributors were a small outfit,i reckon that it is unlikely that it was shown in many cinemas outside Soho.

It's London in the swinging Sixties, so it's fun fun fun all the way... except for the syphilis. And the children born out of wedlock. And.... This movie tries to tackle some real issues, but winds up taking more of an exploitation movie attitude towards matters, with Margaret Rose Keil having a great time as an Austrian (everyone asks "what do Austrians think of Hitler?") au pair who likes to party hearty until VD raises its ugly head; also Linda Marlowe, who,enjoys a good time too, until the rabbit dies. Blame director Gerry O'Hara. He started as an uncredited Old Mother Riley assistant director, and wound up credited on some big films through the 1960s. Along the way, he started directing, but they were competent trash like this one.

This unheralded film from Gerry O' Hara is a strange and sometimes preachy mix of the perils of sex outside marriage. English morals and sense of duty are put to the test when a free-spirited Austrian au pair arrives in a London on the verge of change. On the face it she's a blonde bombshell so beloved of the era. In truth she's sensitive and intelligent, just a little ahead of her time. Made in 1963 when moral rearmament co-existed with CND rallies (replete with marchers in big woolly jumpers), it's hard to tell if the title is meant ironically. The US release is less equivocal in this regard - the distributors renamed it Teenage Tramp. Either way, it's an excellent snapshot of the period