The Yellow Teddy Bears * (1963, Jacqueline Ellis, Iain Gregory, Annette Whiteley, Raymond Huntley, Georgina Patterson, John Bonney) – Classic Movie Review 11,835

The pupils at an English girls’ school deal with pre-marital sex, unwanted teen pregnancy and abortion in director Robert Hartford-Davis’s 1963 British teensploitation drama film shocker The Yellow Teddy Bears (aka Gutter Girls and The Thrill Seekers), starring Jacqueline Ellis, Iain Gregory, Annette Whiteley, Raymond Huntley, Georgina Patterson, and John Bonney.

A group of schoolgirls wear yellow teddy bears on their school uniforms to show they have lost their virginity. Annette Whiteley plays girls’ leader Linda, who becomes desperate when she thinks she is pregnant by her aspiring pop singer window cleaner boyfriend Kinky (Iain Gregory). Then the biology teacher who tries to help the girls puts her own career in jeopardy.

The dated, once shocking film’s sensationalist subject made it a cause célèbre back in the day. This once hot potato is clumsily handled and unsubtle, but it has considerable historical and sociological interest, shedding light on the hopes and fears of its pre-Swinging Sixties England era. Also, it is not just a teen sexploitation film, it has good intentions, with a daring original screenplay discussing relevant contemporary issues.

Writers Derek Ford and Donald Ford were inspired by a British newspaper story about a group of schoolgirls who showed their lost virginity by wearing Robertson’s Jam gollywog brooches. Robertson’s refused co-operation, hence the teddy bears.

The alternate overseas version contains more nudity, notably in the girls’ shower-room scene. Renamed Gutter Girls, it adds topless nudity, performed by adults not the film’s schoolgirls, and was shown in US adult cinemas. The Thrill Seekers version does not have the nudity and played in drive-in cinemas in America.

It is shot in black and white at Shepperton Studios, Surrey, England.

It is produced by Michael Klinger and Tony Tenser.

The cast are Jacqueline Ellis as Anne Mason, Iain Gregory as Kinky, Georgina Patterson as Pat, John Bonney as Paul, Annette Whiteley as Linda, Douglas Sheldon as Mike Griffin, Victor Brooks as George Donaghue, Anne Kettle as Sally, Lesley Dudley as Joan, Jill Adams as June Wilson John Glyn-Jones as Benny Wintle, Raymond Huntley as Harry Halburton, Harriette Johns as Lady Gregg, Noel Dyson as Muriel Donaghue, Richard Bebb as Frank Lang, Ann Castle as Eileen Lang, Micheline Patton as Mrs Broome, and Irene Richardson.

The films of Robert Hartford-Davis: Crosstrap (1962), The Yellow Teddy Bears (1963), The Black Torment (1964), Saturday Night Out (1964), Gonks Go Beat (1965), The Sandwich Man (1966), Corruption (1967), The Smashing Bird I Used to Know (1969), Incense for the Damned (1970), Nobody Ordered Love (1972), The Fiend (1972), Black Gunn (1972) and The Take (1974).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,835

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