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Cool It Carol!

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1970 British film by Pete Walker

Cool it Carol!
Directed byPete Walker
Written byMurray Smith
Produced byPete Walker
StarringRobin Askwith
Janet Lynn
CinematographyPeter Jessop
Edited byTristam Cones
Music byCyril Ornadel
Production
company		Pete Walker Film Productions
Distributed byMiracle Films (UK)
Release dates
  • 1 December 1970 (1970-12-01) (UK)
  • 7 December 1972 (1972-12-07) (US)
Running time101 min.
CountryUK
LanguageEnglish

Cool it Carol! (U.S. title: Dirtiest Girl I Ever Met ; also known as Oh Carol) is a 1970 British sex comedy-drama film directed and produced by Pete Walker, starring Robin Askwith and Janet Lynn. It was written by Murray Smilth.

Plot

Young couple Joe and Carol leave the sticks behind and journey to Swinging London in search of fame and fortune. Joe fails to find employment in the big city, but Carol rapidly becomes a model. As the naïve couple begin to enjoy the London night life they are drawn ever deeper into the sleazy but lucrative world of pornography and prostitution, with Joe acting as Carol's manager/pimp. Eventually it all becomes too much for them, and they return home to their former conventional lives.

Cast

Production

Development

According to the opening credits, "this story is true but actual names and places are fictitious"; the film being apparently inspired by a tabloid article the director read in the News of the World.

Filming

The film was shot on location in the villages of Northiam and Bodiam, Sussex and throughout London, England.

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Despite an occasional flash of pubic hair, Cool it Carol! is entirely anaphrodisiac. This is perhaps largely intentional, most of the sex scenes being treated with distancing irony. While the film doesn't stand up to criticism, it is beguilingly good-humoured, and the throwaway, laconic dialogue certainly has its moments. Peter Walker is not very good at constructing smoothly flowing sequences and the images tend to stand in isolation, though this can sometimes be a positive gain, as in some of the location shots. The film is quintessentially English, unconcerned and pragmatic, taking modelling, prostitution and blue movies in its bland stride. Its rather attractive underlying attitudes are summed up by Carol's father, who asks as she waits to go to London, "Is your maidenhead intact?" She replies that it isn't, whereupon he says she can go and gives her twenty pounds. Pragmatism."

Kine Weekly wrote: "This crude and salacious production has been carefully geared to appeal fo a certain predictable minority. The film is supposed to be based on a real-life story. But never, surely, has Shropshire given birth to two such naive creatures as Carol and Joe. And never has success come so rapidly, nor been so casually rejected, as in this sleazy fairy-tale. The plot is, in fact, quite absurd; the script is very low-level stuff and the acting is only so-so, despite appearances from several well-known personal ities, including Jess Conrad, Pete Murray and Stubby Kaye. Janet Lynn is a pretty little thing with a trim little body which the film is never tired of displaying. Her Carol is an indefatigable love-maker who manages to look sweet and cool even after five clients in a row. Robert Askwith brings clumsy charm to the role of her boyfriend Joe. Director and producer Peter Walker has put all his energies into the staging of the sex sequences, some of which are very titillating and most of which depend on heavy breathing or a voyeurs approach. Points of appeal: Sex."

DVD Drive-in wrote: "it’s no great film by any means, but it’s an enjoyable time capsule romp worth checking out."

Cinedelica wrote: "compared to a movie like Smashing Time , Cool It Carol! is probably the more realistic portrayal of the swinging London dream. But we're still in the land of the exploitation flick, so don't expect Ken Loach-like realism."

Pablo Kjolseth writes at TCM.com: "in reflecting on scenes that stood out as memorable, my vote goes for the disturbing and eerie tight shots (seen more than once) of old men licking their dry lips with lusty tongues at the sight of nude, young women. These brief moments introduce an ominous, unpredictable, claustrophobic and icky energy into an otherwise languid story. An early indication, perhaps, that Walker's talents would be best served in a different genre."

References

  1. "Movie Poster of the Week: "Rear Window" and Other Posters That Tell Too Much on Notebook". MUBI. 23 November 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  2. "Cool It Carol!". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  3. "Cool It Carol - Reviews". Lightsfade. 27 October 2008. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  4. ^ "Cool It, Carol!". Tcm.com. 20 March 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  5. "Cool It Carol!". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 38 (444): 5. 1 January 1971 – via ProQuest.
  6. "Cool It Carol!". Kine Weekly. 641 (3293): 15. 21 November 1970 – via ProQuest.
  7. "Cool it Carol". Dvddrive-in.com. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  8. "DVD Review: Cool It Carol (1969)". Cinedelica. 31 October 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2014.

External links

Films directed by Pete Walker
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