The Love Box

The Love Box
Theatrical release quad poster
Directed byTudor Gates
Wilbur Stark (as Billy and Teddy White)
Written byTudor Gates
Wilbur Stark
Produced byTudor Gates
Wilbur Stark
executive
Barry Jenkins
CinematographyGrenville Middleton
Edited byRex Graves
Music byMike Vickers
Production
company
Short Circuit
Release date
  • 1 October 1972 (1972-10-01)
Running time
91 mins
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£28,000[1]

The Love Box, also known as Lovebox, is a 1972 British sex comedy film. It was written, produced and directed by Tudor Gates and Wilbur Stark under the pseudonyms "Billy and Teddy White".[2][3][4]

Plot

Tris Patterson runs a classified ads section called "Love Box" for an entertainment guide magazine. The ads provide the settings for eleven separate self-contained sex comedies:

  1. Peter the virgin
  2. The sex kittens
  3. The young wives' club
  4. Massage wanted
  5. The trade descriptions act
  6. The refined couple
  7. The wife swappers
  8. Orgy in Kilburn
  9. The bored housewife
  10. Trying new colours
  11. The love park

Cast

In the magazine office

  • Chris Williams as Tris Patterson
  • Alison King as Margery
  • Simon Legree as Rod
  • Maureen Flanagan as Helen

Peter the virgin

  • Maggie Wright as Mrs Angela Simpson
  • Paul Aston as Peter
  • Christine Bradwell as Miss Harvey

The sex kittens

  • John Mattocks as tom cat
  • Lizbeth Lindeborg as blonde kitten
  • Minerva Smith as brunette kitten

The young wives' club

  • Jane Cardew as Fran
  • Leonora Little as stripper
  • Anthony Bailey as Jock
  • Rosemary Burdon as club member
  • Lita Petrou as club member
  • Julia Breck as club member

Massage wanted

  • Elaine Baillie as the masseuse
  • Basil Clarke as old man

The trade descriptions act

  • Raymond Young as the official
  • Anne Henning as Gerda
  • Jennifer Guy as student

The refined couple

The wife swappers

  • Freddie Earlle as Bill
  • Marianne Morris as Janet
  • Charlie Miller as Harry
  • Cheryl Gilham as Sally

Orgy in Kilburn

  • Emmet Hennessy as Martin/boy
  • Dick Hayden as John
  • Georgina Symonds-Rose as Kit
  • Trudi Blue as Sandra

The bored housewife

  • Joan Alcorn as Kathy
  • Craig Israel as Texan
  • Dave Carter as husband

Trying new colours

  • Simon Legree as Rod
  • Minah Bird as black girl
  • Pauline Anderson as Eskimo
  • Vivienne as Chinese girl
  • Kerima as Indian girl

The love park

  • Laurie Goode as boy
  • Emmett Hennessy as boy
  • Nicola Austine as girl
  • Sue Bowen as girl
  • Jeanette Marsden as girl
  • Rina Brown as girl
  • Liz Carlson as girl

Production

It was the first film from a production company set up by Tudor Gates, and was originally called Looking for Love. In his interview for the British Entertainment History Project Gates states that he was nervous about the film's reception, so he and co-director Stark adopted the pseudonyms "Billy and Teddy White".[1]

Reception

Box office

Gates said the film was "very successful of its kind and it did make money for us."[1]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "A number of potentially funny situations go sadly to waste in this essentially witless offering. The makers have settled for an 'illustrative' style that reduces every episode to predictable routine, while the attempts at humorous dialogue never rise above the level of smutty double entendre. ('Are you glad you came?' – 'I wasn't sure I could'). Out of a crowded gallery of one-dimensional characters, three performances suggest talents worthy of less limp material: those of Alison King as Margery, of Paul Astor as Peter, and of Maggie Wright, who exudes sensuality and even manages to wring some humour out of her role as Mrs. Simpson. (The number of topical references leaves little doubt that the name is a sly joke in very poor taste.) Directors contemplating this episodic style of sex-comedy might profitably take a look at The Secrets of Sex since, even in the film's censored version, Antony Balch gave a lead which has still to be taken up."[5]

The Spinning Image said: "this is tat, really, but for a glimpse of seventies Britain it is more revealing than many a documentary."[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Fowler, Roy; Giesler, Rodney (26 November 2003). "Interview with Tudor Gates - Side Five". British Entertainment History Project.
  2. ^ "The Love Box". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Unnamed". Evening Post. 30 September 1972. p. 2.
  4. ^ Hunt, Leon (1998). British low culture : from safari suits to sexploitation. Routledge. p. 94.
  5. ^ "The Love Box". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 39 (456): 236. 1 January 1972 – via ProQuest.
  6. ^ Clark, Graeme. "The Love Box - review". The Spinning Image. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015.