The Nudist Story Uncovered

The Nudist Story (1960) 

 

It's gay! It's charming! It's beautiful! It's the picture about altogetherness! 

 

 

I. 

 

One of my favourite Carry On films - and I suspect one of everybody's favourite Carry On films - is Carry On Camping (dir. Gerald Thomas, 1969). 

 

But my favourite scene, however, is not the one in which Dr Soaper leads an outdoor aerobics session, during which Babs's bikini top flies off and he famously instructs Matron to take them away!  

 

No, I think my favourite scene is the opening one set in a local Playhouse cinema where Sid and Bernie have taken their girlfriends, Joan and Anthea, to see a film entitled Nudist Paradise about the joys and benefits of naturism [1]. 

 

And it was this scene that I was reminded of when watching an entertaining British movie directed by Ramsey Harrington and starring Shelley Martin and Brian Cobby, that has been described as the Citizen Kane of nudist films ...    

 

 

II. 

 

The Nudist Story (1960), released in the US with the title Pussycats Paradise (1967) [2], is essentially 85 minutes of naturist propaganda - it was produced by the Danzinger brothers [3] with the co-operation of the British Sun Bathers Association [4] - masquerading as a romantic drama written by Mark Grantham (under the name Norman Armstrong). 

 

The film also gives us two song and dance numbers, as well as more naked breasts and big bottoms bobbling about all over the screen than you can shake a stick at. Despite all one may have seen, nothing quite prepares you for this film; Carry On Camping's Sid Boggle would love every minute; Joan and Anthea less so. 

 

The plot - and there is a plot - involves an uptight businesswoman called Jane Robinson (played by Shelly Martin) who pretty much inherits the entire estate belonging to her very wealthy but somewhat eccentric grandfather, including the Avonmore Sun Camp where naturists like to get their kits off and relax or play sports in the altogether.     

 

Jane does not approve of Avonmore - her prudish attitude to nudism similar to that of Joan Fussey's in Carry On Camping - and so she decides to sell the property in order to raise funds to pay the inheritance tax owing on the estate.   

 

However, persuaded by handsome lawyer and camp director Bob Sutton (Brian Cobby) to at least visit the place and meet some of the sun-bronzed campers, Jane soon falls in love with him, with the place, and, indeed, with the naturist philosophy. Thus, before long, she's as naked and free as nature intended and has changed her mind about selling Avonmore. 

 

However, Miss Robinson is to discover there's a snake in paradise in the form of Gloria (played by Jacqueline D'Orsay); an extremely jealous young woman in love with Bob who does what she can to cause trouble for Jane. 

 

Happily - and I don't really think it necessary to issue a spoiler alert as I'm sure everyone can predict the ending - Gloria's scheme to break up Bob and Jane and see Avonmore sold after all is frustrated thanks to the good work of Jane's Aunt Meg (played by Natalie Lynn) and Bob's sister-in-law Carol (played by Joy Hinton). 

 

Thus, all's well that ends well.    

 

 

III. 

 

I think the reason I like this film is that it has a proto-Lynchian feel to it, by which I mean an almost surreal and unsettling style; nothing too dark or threatening - there are no severed ears to be discovered in the grass - but the normalised and Technicolor nudity in mundane settings leaves one feeling a little disoriented, so that one hardly knows where to look at times.   

 

And, what's more, the unscrupulous and devious character of Gloria illustrates that there remains a powerful sexual element hidden beneath the apparent innocence of life at Avonmore and Tony Crombie's all-too-jaunty somewhat irritating musical score.  

 

Many critics dismiss The Nudist Story as just another film in a genre of moviemaking which, as mentioned, is more about the promotion of a healthy lifestyle (without clothes), rather than the production of great cinematic art [5]. 

 

But I would encourage readers to watch it - unembarrassed and unashamed - so as to make up their own minds: and you can do so by simply clicking here. 

 

But, if watching it au naturel, just be careful you don't drop your ice-lolly in your lap ...    

 

Brian Cobby (as Bob Sutton) & Shelley Martin (as Jane Robinson) 

having decided to see a lot more of each other in The Nudist Story 

 

 

 

Notes

 

[1] Carry on Camping can be watched in full and for free on daily Motion: click here. The scene I refer to in the cinema is at 1:40 - 4:51. Readers will note that I borrow some of the lines and phrases spoken here in the post that follows. 

 

[2] The film was later re-released in the UK with the title For Members Only (as seen in the poster reproduced above). 

 

[3] Edward J. Danziger and Harry Lee Danziger were American-born brothers who produced many British films and TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s. And when I say many, I mean many; "their pervasive presence forming a part of virtually every British filmgoer's and television viewer's experience during those years", as Tise Vahimagi writes in his profile of the Danzigers on the BFI Screenonline website: click here. 

 

[4] The BSBA was formed in 1943 and soon became recognised as a national federation of nudist clubs. By 1951, they had over fifty member organisations. 

 

[5] Nudist films first appeared in the early 1930s, often as narrated documentaries rather than dramas. During the 1940s, interest in making and watching such films significantly declined, but then really took off in the '50s and early 1960s, with the arrival of colour and changes in the law governing censorship. Doris Wishman was perhaps the most prolific producer and director in the genre, with eight nudist films to her credit between 1960 and 1964.  

      Despite the best intentions of some filmmakers devoted to the naturist cause, most nudist movies were largely made for titilation and real members of nudist camps were often replaced onscreen with younger and more attractive models. Obviously, the nudity remained strictly non-sexual and whilst there were plenty of bare breasts and backsides on display, genitalia was discreetly concealed by the angle of shot or a strategically placed prop.    

      As for the acting and technical production standards, well, as stated, no one was chasing an Academy Award. Gradually, as explicit sex scenes and nudity became a regular aspect of many major films in the late 1960s and 70s, the market for nudist films dwindled away until production ceased altogether.   

 

 

Readers interested in naturism might like to see earlier posts published on Torpedo the Ark which touch on this subject: click here.