Au Pair Girls (1972)

First, a word about the above poster—although this UK sexploitation film did indeed hit American screens bearing its original title, Au Pair Girls, the schlock merchants at Cannon Film Distributors apparently assumed that the titular phrase referring to young women who trade domestic services for lodging with a host family in a new country was too opaque for the intended audience. Thus, Cannon marketed the picture as The Young Playmates, even though people buying tickets for The Young Playmates actually saw Au Pair Girls, title intact. Anyway, the picture was helmed by UK director Val Guest, and his signature handsome production values are put in the service of a silly storyline peppered with leering shots of women and wan attempts at comedy. At the beginning of the flick, four ladies from around the globe report to the offices of a staffing agency. Next, each is sent to an assignment somewhere in the UK. Thereafter, the movie toggles between the resulting subplots, each of which is a variation on the sex-comedy theme. The two sleaziest threads of the movie involve Anita (Astrid Frank), an uninhibited Nordic type who eventually ends up in the bed of a super-rich sheik, and Randi (Gabrielle Drake), who spends most of the movie riding naked in the passenger seat of a horny bloke’s car. Concurrently, Nan Lee (played by the dubiously named actress “Me Me Lay”) is hired to look after a rich twentysomething so sheltered he’s never even kissed a woman, and Christa (played by the mind-meltingly sexy Nancie Wait) ends up running with fast company including an obnoxious pop star. Every scenario in Au Pair Girls is designed for optimal ogling, so there are lots of scenes with women in miniskirts climbing ladders and/or ladies changing their clothes in plain view of others. The dialogue is as juvenile as the rest of the film, so upon seeing gorgeous babes naked, male characters say things like, “Now that is a wunderbar plus!” and “Come on, you shattering creature!” If one felt the need to identify praiseworthy elements, it could be said that the culmination of Christa’s storyline comes dangerously close to respectable drama, the cinematography is glossy from start to finish, and the movie is never mean-spirited.

Au Pair Girls: LAME