Sex Kittens Go to College ** (1960, Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, Mijanou Bardot, Mickey Shaughnessy, Louis Nye, Pamela Mason, Martin Milner) – Classic Movie Review 6318

‘You Never SAW A Student Body Like This!’ Ah hem, yes. Director Albert Zugsmith’s demented 1960 American exploitation sex comedy film Sex Kittens Go to College stars the memorable Mamie Van Doren as Doctor Mathilda West, Tuesday Weld (aged 16) as Jody, Mijanou Bardot as Suzanne, John Carradine as Professor Watts and Jackie Coogan as Wildcat MacPherson.

In the (deliberately) ridiculous plot in Zugsmith’s story, Doctor Myrtle Carter (Pamela Mason) and Doctor Ernest Zorch (Louis Nye) of Collins College want a new science department head and consult Thinko, the campus robot, who comes up with the distractingly attractive Doctor Mathilda West, aka Tassels Monclair. Robert Hill writes the screenplay. It is a kind of American version of a Carry On movie.

Also in the cast are Babe London as Miss Amanda Cadwallader, Pamela Mason as Dr Myrtle Carter, Martin [Marty] Milner as George Barton, Louis Nye as Dr Zorch, Mickey Shaughnessy as Boomie, Conway Twitty as himself, Vampira [aka Maila Nurmi] as Etta Toodie, Norman Grabowski as Woo Woo Grabowski (ie himself), Allan Drake as Legs Raffertino, Charles Chaplin Jr (uncredited) as the fire chief and Harold Lloyd Jr (uncredited) as a policeman.

The part of Sam Thinko the robot is played by an actual robot called Elektro, built by The Westinghouse Appliance Division of Mansfield, Ohio, in 1937. They showed it in 1939 and then sent it to the New York World’s Fair of 1939. The film-makers modified it for Thinko, filling in the circle and putting in the square on his chest for the speaker. It is now displayed in the Mansfield Memorial Museum.

It was generally released at 94 minutes, but it was also released uncut in ‘adult’ cinemas at 103 minutes, with extra footage, including a dream scene of Sam Thinko the robot and some striptease dancers.

It is also known as Teacher Versus Sexpot and Beauty and the Robot.

Mijanou [Marie-Jeanne] Bardot is Brigitte Bardot’s younger sister, married to Patrick Bauchau, and living in Los Angeles. She made around 10 films between 1956 and 1968.

It is produced by Zugsmith, Hill and Milner. The interesting Mr Zugsmith also produced Touch of Evil.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6318

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com