Loving Feeling is a 1968 British sex comedy-drama film directed by Norman J. Warren and starring Simon Brent, Georgina Ward and Paula Patterson.[3]
| Loving Feeling | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Norman J. Warren |
| Written by | Robert Hewison Bachoo Sen Norman J. Warren |
| Produced by | Bachoo Sen |
| Starring | Georgina Ward Simon Brent Paula Patterson |
| Cinematography | Peter Jessop |
| Edited by | Tristam Cones |
| Music by | John Scott |
Production company | Piccadilly Pictures |
| Distributed by | Richard Schulman Entertainments |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £30,000[2] |
Premise
editStevee Day, a womanising DJ, wants to get back with his wife Suzanne, from whom he is separated. Obstacles to the reunion include Suzanne's boyfriend Scott, as well as Stevee's affairs with his secretary Carol and her flatmate, and a French model.
Cast
edit- Simon Brent as Stevee Day
- Georgina Ward as Suzanne Day
- Paula Patterson as Carol Taylor
- John Railton as Scott Fisher
- Françoise Pascal as Model
- Heather Kyd as Christine Johnson
- Peter Dixon as Philip Peterson
- Carol Cunningham as Jane Butler
- Jacky Allouis as Helen
- John Aston as Jane's Boyfriend
- Richard Bartlett as Sound Mixer
- Sonya Benjamin as Belly Dancer
- Paul Endesby as Old Man on Beach
- Stanley Folb as Press Photographer
- Robert Hewison as Radio Producer
- Allen John as Restaurant Manager
- Mary Land as Girl
- Barry Stephens as Chauffeur
- Penny Watts as Girl
Production
editLoving Feeling was filmed between May and June 1968. It was shot mainly at Isleworth Studios with sets designed by art director Hayden Pearce. The production also included location shoots in Margate and London.[1]
The film's UK release was complicated by a dispute between producer Bachoo Sen and the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC). Sen was unhappy with the board's instructions for cuts to various sex scenes to secure an X certificate, preferring the uncut version. In one of his letters to head censor John Trevelyan, he accused the board of acting as "moral preachers trying to remake films [...] in accordance with their likes and dislikes." At one point Sen tried to bypass the board by applying for X certification from the Greater London Council, but it too required cuts.[1]
Sen withheld payments from several of those who were involved in making Her Private Hell and Loving Feeling. This led to a legal case that stripped him of his rights to both films. He later moved to the United States, taking the film negatives with him, which prevented Warren and the other UK stakeholders from receiving any royalty payments.[1]
Critical reception
editDavid Wilson of The Monthly Film Bulletin described the film as a "crude miscellany of episodes from the sex life of a singularly unprepossessing disc jock who drifts from bed to bed with a casual indifference to anyone's feelings – loving or otherwise. Execrably scripted and limply acted, the whole tedious business is put across with an air of half-hearted contrivance which the unsynchronised dialogue only compounds."[4]
The New York Times called the film "a curious little sex-go-round package from England that almost achieves merit in spite of itself", adding that it "says a bit, but could have said much more." The review praised the "brisk" direction and "beautiful" cinematography, as well as the performances of Brent, Ward and Patterson.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Locks, Adam; Smith, Adrian (2021). Norman J. Warren: Gentleman of Terror. Creepy*Images. pp. 27–28, 35–37. ISBN 978-3-00-070720-9.
- ^ Simon Sheridan, Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema, Titan Books, 2011, p. 60.
- ^ "Loving Feeling". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
- ^ "Loving Feeling". Monthly Film Bulletin. 38 (444): 52. 1971 – via ProQuest.