For Men Only (originally titled I Like Birds) was written, produced and directed by Pete Walker and released in 1967. It was almost Walker’s first feature film. I say almost because with a running time of just 43 minutes it’s halfway between a short and a feature film. It’s included in the four-movie 88 Films Pete Walker Sexploitation Collection Blu-Ray set.
Happily 88 Films have included the sexier scenes from the continental version as extras so it’s possible to see what Pete Walker actually intended these movies to be – good-natured, amusing, lively and sexy.
Freddie Horne (David Kernan) is a journalist for Woman’s Vogue, or at least he was until his fiancée Rosalie (Andrea Allan) forced him to give up the job. She didn’t want him spending so much time with glamorous fashion models.
Her father has found him a more respectable job, working for a magazine publishing house that specialises in serious highly moral religious magazines.
Freddie gets a shock when he goes to the country house of the chairman of this publishing house, Miles Fanthorpe (Derek Aylward). He discovers that Fanthorpe’s real business is not religious magazines but girlie magazines. The religious magazines are just a front.
Fanthorpe’s house is full of very pretty very scantily-clad girls. The girlie photography is done here. Freddie knows that Rosalie won’t approve but Fanthorpe assures him she’ll never find out. And Freddie does have an eye for lovely young ladies.
Of course it’s all going to get rather fraught when Freddie forgets about his prospective father-in-law’s silver wedding anniversary party and Rosalie sets off to Fanthorpe’s country house to fetch him. Even worse, her father turns up soon afterwards. To put the icing on the cake the vicar and two very respectable church ladies also show up, to demonstrate their appreciation for Fanthorpe’s campaign for the moral cleansing of Britain.
Rosalie gets in a few embarrassing situations, falling into a bathtub and having to take off her sodden dress only to be mistaken for one of the models.
Freddie ends up sharing another bathtub with a couple of naked young ladies.
This film is very similar to School for Sex. Both have ideal plots for sex comedies but neither film manages to extract quite as many laughs from the situations as one might have wished.
For Men Only is however good-natured and light-hearted and energetic.
Derek Aylward to a large extent carries the film. He was remarkably good at playing characters who were gentlemen on the surface but likeable rogues underneath.
David Kernan is quite OK as the somewhat flustered hero.
It’s a movie that would like to be shocking but doesn’t quite dare to do so.
For Men Only was released as the second half of various double bills and apparently did reasonably well.
The short running time turns out to be an asset. It means that the action keeps moving along and the movie is less likely to wear out its welcome.
It’s interesting as marking the beginning of Pete Walker’s career (if you don’t count the 8mm nudie shorts he’d been making for several years). Walker developed quite quickly. School for Sex in 1969 would be an improvement on this film and it was followed by the rather excellent Cool It, Carol! a year later. For Men Only isn’t great but it’s worth a look.
The Blu-Ray provides a nice transfer but apart from the racier scenes from the continental version it’s bereft of extras.