A movie which starts strong, with the fiancée of a man who had a bachelor party saying she's entitled to one too, and daring to wonder what's so great about being a virgin anyway. She stares into her mirror and sees an inner alter ego who speaks to her, encouraging her to put on a sexy dress and boots for the office Christmas party, which also happens to be her last day. The conventional path for a woman at the time was to quit her job upon getting married, and this 20-year-old seems to want to have a little fun or a 'wild affair' before setting down to a humdrum domestic life. There's something liberated in the sentiment, as well as in the diversity of casting Nancy Kwan in the lead role.
Unfortunately, the film is also practically an HR training video for inappropriate or illegal office behavior. We have to calibrate ourselves to the 1960's of course, but that doesn't make it much easier to see Kwan told by one of her superiors that she's hypocritical to think a model posing in the nude isn't her cup of tea, because after all, she wears half cup bras, revealing dresses, and alluring perfume, so clearly she wants the attention of the men around her. The big boss (Terry-Thomas) then calls her in to his office to give her a bigger bonus than what the others will receive, all while running his hands over her, telling her that her "sails are in fine trim", and reminiscing over her four years in the office, starting from back when she was 16. (I love Terry-Thomas but ugh). Kwan handles herself well, but it's a recurring theme - every man she encounters comes on to her, some creepier than others, and Kwan is tempted, goaded on by her alter ego. Things get a little crazy in the office when she spends her bonus on large amounts of booze, and co-workers are soon making out and dancing around wildly. One of them, a man whose wife is actually in the delivery room of a hospital at the time, tells her that she has a reputation for having a lot in the window, but nothing in the shop, in other words, that she's a tease.
And that's the trouble, of course. The film is a comedy, so all of these things said or done are viewed with an underlying acceptance, just the wacky situations women needed to navigate their way through at work until they settled down and got married. The film also never really takes advantage of the alter ego either; we don't see it take control of situations to seduce someone, as she never really has any sort of power. That would have pushed the film in a more dramatic or empowering direction, when it really just wants to be a titillating comedy. Even if I chalk up all the problematic behavior as being part of the period, or maybe even look at this as an interesting window into it, the plot just doesn't progress in interesting ways.
Still, with that said, it's not an awful way to spend an hour and a half. Kwan is delightful, and her light playfulness is engaging. There are amusing moments, such as when a drunk stranger gets into the phone booth with her fiancé and the pair carry on a polite British conversation. I also liked seeing silent star Bessie Love in the role of her mother at age 65. My favorite character, though, was the cleaning lady (Gladys Morgan) who reminds her that the old were young once too, saying "You're like a lot of your young sort. You think you invented all this sex business. And we older people, we know nothing about it, I suppose?" Watch this one for her, and for Nancy Kwan.
