MARIO GAUCI Given that director Mattsson made his name with the ground-breaking Swedish erotic drama ONE SUMMER OF HAPPINESS (1951), it was perhaps inevitable that during the twilight of his career he would return to this theme. The film (distributed in the U.S. by Roger Corman's New World Pictures!) is basically a variation on "Lolita" – with successful married lawyer Franco Nero falling under the spell of a teenage schoolgirl and all but ruing his life for her. What is more, here, the protagonist's wife is herself involved in an affair with a much-younger man; though Mattsson understandably has the young Clare Powney disrobe quite often, he also gives middle-aged Bernice Stegers her share of nude scenes! The temptress of the title comes from an eminent family, so her sudden elopement with Nero leads to an ambitious journalist tracking the couple down to an island retreat – complete with mute servant girl (I thought Jess Franco cornered that particular market?!) – and eventually attempt blackmail; the girl, obviously wiser than her years, seduces and knifes him (twice at one go!) in order to deal with his threat – a befuddled Nero can only contrive to dispose of the body and his personal effects. Ultimately, both elder parties decide to get together again, which the youngsters do not take lightly; Stegers' boyfriend begins hounding her, so she opts to come clean – but somehow Nero never does and pays the price with his life…only, since the death occurs in an apartment separately shared by the clandestine couple and to which the young man also has the key, it is he who is accused of the crime by Christopher Lee (once again playing at upholding law and order)! The latter appears during the very last stages of the film but his presence add some much needed gravitas at that point.To be fair, the film is not devoid of interest throughout – but the tedious plot and sluggish pacing only exacerbates the redundancy of the whole enterprise, while the palpable decline in the quality of movies being offered at this point in time to international stars the likes of Nero and Lee – who had previously appeared together in THE SALAMANDER (1981) – renders it that much sadder to watch! Incidentally, I recall the VHS poster of THE GIRL from one of the magazines dedicated to that home video format I used to pore on in my childhood days

christopher-underwood Quite a pleasant surprise. I was intrigued to see this 1987 film helmed by veteran Swedish director, starring Franco Nero and Christopher Lee with a young Clare Powney in the 'Lolita' role, but things did not turn out quite as expected. For one, the direction seems a little wayward, particularly in the early scenes but then Arne Mattsson was almost 80 and for another Christopher Lee doesn't appear till the very end. Things do get going, however, when we reach a very out of the way part of Venice and the story begins to take a series of surprising turns. Lots of sex and nudity and a solid performance from Nero (and a plucky one from Powney) help to make this a most enjoyable viewing.

roysid John Bart, a respected middle aged person is seduced by a young girl Pat (daughter of rich parents). He tries to get over her but unsuccessful. He then takes her away to a isolated place and stays with her.Unknown to John, his wife Eva is carrying on an affair with a much younger man. She tries to end the affair but he doesn't. He is obsessed with her.A detective follows John and finds the isolated place. He blackmails them. Pat then kills him.The movie ends with John returning to his wife and Pat committing suicide.

jbcohen This is a slow moving british movie about a girl with a bad home life who goes out into the world in search of love and understanding. One word of caution: The reason that this film is R is for the nudity scenes in it.