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Released by: BFI
Released on: 1/25/2010
Director: Lindsay Shonteff
Cast: Maggie Stride, Gay Singleton, Gilbert Wynne, Robert Daubigny, Forever More, Titus Groan
Year: 1970
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The Movie:
Directed by Canadian ex-pat Lindsay Shonteff, Permissive is, on the surface at least, a pretty basic sexploitation picture disguised, as so many of them were, as a morality tale. What makes it stand out from the countless other sex films churned out in the sixties and seventies in both Europe and North America is the setting and the music.
The movie follows Suzy (Maggie Stride), a foxy young blonde who finds herself in the big city of London when the picture starts. Without a place to stay or any real contacts she soon meets up with a friendly redhead with a cute bob cut named Fiona (Gay Singleton) who introduces her to the members of real life folk rock outfit Forever More. Fiona is essentially a groupie. It's her job to take care of the band, the singer in particular. She's sort of a den mother in a way, but she's basically there to screw them when they want her to. She brings Suzy into this world, eliciting a comment from one of the other innocuous groupies on the scene 'Oh, she'll be doing a lot of pulling tonight.' Suzy's unsure what the means, but she doesn't waste much time figuring it out.
As she and Fiona hang out backstage and grow closer as friends, Suzy meets a spacey stoner named Pogo (Robert Daubigny) who she latches on to. They hit it off but she soon finds he's a religious fanatic and even if he weren't, well, he gets flattened by a car and dies pretty early on in the picture. Sorry if that's a spoiler, but what can you do. Regardless, at this point, Suzy's adventures become a little less innocent. Her trysts with the band's manager (Gilbert Wynne) start to get weird and when Fiona's squeeze starts passing longing glances Suzy's way, jealousy just has to rear its ugly head and prove that this free love movement is not about love at all, it's about using anyone and anything in your grasp.
Shot more like a documentary than a traditional narrative picture, Permissive is a pretty bleak film considering how much sex and bare flesh is crammed into its ninety minute running time. It starts off playful enough, all of the groupies and band members alike seem to be having a whole lot of fun just enjoying one another and getting it on when and with who they see fit. Once you start paying attention though, you realize that the musicians are all a little burnt out from the lifestyle and that the girls are nothing more to them than possessions. As Suzy becomes more and more permissive the deeper entrenched her lifestyle becomes with this scene, her initially pleasant demeanor changes as well. It's along this line that the moralizing creeps in, the film makes it very clear that what she's involved herself in is corrupting her and changing her, albeit not for the better either.
The footage of Forever More, who contribute three live songs that interestingly enough compliment the development of the narrative quite fittingly, is interesting as are the shots of Titus Groan, a band that was a bit of a footnote in the music industry of the day. Neither rose to superstardom though Forever More did cut a couple of records for RCA and two of the members, Alan Gorrie and Onnie Mair, would start the more successful Average White Band when Forever More called it quits. The Collinson twins, best known for Hammer's Twins Of Evil, has small supporting roles in the picture as well.
The sex is never glamorous and rarely erotic in the film, and the whole thing has this air of despair to it that makes it an odd picture to watch. You feel like you're supposed to get aroused by the copious scenes of coupling, and the picture even throws in a completely out of place (and in the context of the narrative, predatory) moment of lesbian relations, but the gloominess that permeates the film negates whatever erotic content was there initially. This makes for a weird film in a lot of ways, one that pulls the viewer in a couple of different directions but which is also, in its own strange way, rather interesting as both a time capsule of a London that is no more and as a snapshot of the death of the free love movement.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The BFI's 1.33.1 fullframe 1080p high definition transfer, taken from the film's original negative, is excellent. There's a healthy coat of natural looking film grain present throughout but no real print damage and the color reproduction is very strong and natural looking, without ever looking artificially pumped up. Skin tones, of which there are many on display, also fare quite well and look nice and detailed and lifelike, not pink or waxy at all thought it does look like a bit of DNR has been applied in some shots, eliminating some fine detail along the way. Shadow detail is also strong, with nice inky black levels staying strong and consistent without smearing the backgrounds or hiding anything from the camera. Close up shots of the actors are very crisp and even the scenes that take place in dreary, smoky, dark night clubs look quite good, particularly the scene shot in the gay bar which has some really nice, bright colors that make for interesting contrast against the strong black levels. The level of detail is very fine, letting you enjoy every hair on every member of the exceptionally hairy band featured in the film! Some of the live footage looks a little bit more washed out thanks to the stage lighting but this is nit picking, this is, all in all, an excellent effort.
The English language 48 kHz/24 bit PCM 2.0 Mono track, which comes with optional closed captioning in English only, doesn't have a ton of range and shows the limitations of its source but is otherwise fine, especially when the music kicks in. There are no problems with hiss or distortion to complain about nor are there any issues with the levels. The film's soundtrack in particular (which from a technical stand point is one of the more important aspects of the production) sounds quite good with a nice, strong low end and some really impressive clarity showing off every instrument in every song. On top of that, the dialogue is always crisp and clear and perfectly balanced.
The BFI have included two interesting short films in the supplemental department for this release, the first of which is called Bread. Directed by Stanley Long in 1971, it's a sixty eight minute film that follows a group of young friends who decide to put on a music festival of their own. Plenty of screwy sex comedy ensues and in between the high jinks we're treated to performances by Juicy Lucy and Crazy Mabel. It's an odd film that features an out of place scene that takes place in a sex shop and which has a bizarre subplot about the friends trying to figure out how to best make their own pornography. The film, co-written by Long and Suzanne Mercer, doesn't really have much of a message to it but it does have some interesting footage of the London of the era and provides a glimpse into a strange part of the city's musical subculture. An essay in the liners explain how the version included on this DVD was culled from what remained of the original negative and from Long's own Festival cut, which ran shorter than the original theatrical version. The excised footage that Long trimmed from the theatrical cut is included here as an extra, but the sound recordings were damaged beyond repair and they are unfortunately presented silently.
A second short film, the four minute 'Ave You Got A Male Assistant Please Miss? was directed by Graham Jones and John Astley in 1973 and was sponsored by the Family Planning Association. In short, it's a sex education film that advises girls of the era how to not wind up with an unwanted pregnancy and features an amusing segment in which an embarrassed young man has to ask a female drug store clerk for condoms (hence the odd title). It's a weird little movie and one which was obviously made very much in the spirit of the day, complete with weird hairy dudes and a proggish soundtrack.
Rounding out the extras on the disc are some keen menus and the film's original theatrical trailer. The BFI have also included a very nice booklet of liner notes that features essays from film historian I.Q. Hunter, former Napalm Death vocalist and Rise Above Records main man Lee Dorrian, as well as the members of Comus. The book also includes biographical and credit information for the feature and the included short films.
The Final Word:
Interesting as both a time capsule of an under documented time in British musical history and as a morality tale, Permissive is a pretty interesting movie with a surprisingly bleak tone. It's well acted, well directed, and full of odd characters, interesting music, and overcooked morality and it makes for a pretty entertaining and marginally sleazy look at the perils of its titular character trait. The BFI have done a fantastic job on the transfer and on the extras, making this a welcome addition to any British exploitation collection.