DVD Review: Cool It, Carol! (1970)

Cool It, Carol! is a rather dark British sex comedy that was recently released on NTSC Region-1 DVD in the US by Image Entertainment. The movie is directed by the creative British exploitation filmmaker Pete Walker, who made lots of horror films and sex comedies in the late sixties and seventies, and it features the popular period actor Robin Askwith along with Janet Lynn.

Carol (Janet Lynn) is a pretty, but simple young girl who likes showing men her knickers and dreams about becoming a model. Joe (Robin Askwith) likes fantasizing about working for high-end car dealerships and driving expensive sport cars.

Joe & Carol decide to leave their small town and low-paying jobs behind them, and move to swinging London to pursue their dreams. Together they explore the city while looking for work, but they don’t have much luck. The young couple soon finds out that London is a tough place to survive in if you're jobless, so they naively turn to prostitution and performing in stag films for extra money.

Carol’s modeling career finally takes off after she’s spotted by a well-known photographer. With Joe posing as her agent, the two begin to see their dreams of fame and fortune realized, but the price they paid to attain them may have been too high.

Filmmaker Pete Walker seems to be having trouble figuring out what he wants to say with Cool It, Carol!. The film is part sex comedy and part cautionary-tale about the evils of city life and unrestrained sexuality. Some scenes in the film are just plain uncomfortable to watch and completely humorless. You’re left feeling positively awful for the young couple and then in the next scene you’re supposed to be laughing at them. It makes the film a bit hard to watch at times, but I think the movie is well worth a look.

Cool It, Carol! was shot in 1969 so it offers an interesting peek at London in the late sixties and features plenty of great fashions, along with enough club scenes to keep viewers entertained. You also get to look at a naked Robin Askwith and Janet Lynn, who resemble a young Brian Jones & Sarah Miles in the film. Both actors offer compelling, but somewhat restrained performances in their narrowly defined roles.

For more information about the DVD please see Amazon

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Comments

[David Walker]

Parallels drawn to Askwith's own career - typecast for the sex comedies - I don't think he did much else after that work dried up.