The Wife Swappers

Last updated

The Wife Swappers
Wifeswappers.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Derek Ford
Written byDerek Ford
Barry Jacobs
Stanley Long
Produced byStanley Long
Starring James Donnelly
Larry Taylor
Valerie St. John
Denys Hawthorne
Bunty Garland
CinematographyStanley Long
Music by John Fiddy
Distributed byEagle
Release date
  • 9 September 1970 (1970-09-09)
Running time
82 min [1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£50,000 [2] [3]
Box officeover £1 million (UK) [4]

The Wife Swappers is a 1970 British drama documentary film by sexploitation director Derek Ford and starring James Donnelly, Larry Taylor, Valerie St. John and Denys Hawthorne. [5] It was written by Ford, Barry Jacobs and Stanley Long, and produced by Long. It was released in the US as The Swappers.

Contents

Cast

Response

Box office

The film was a huge commercial success relative to its budget. [2]

Critical

Monthly Film Bulletin said "Dramatised documentary inquiry into wife swapping, on the lines of previous voyeuristic exposés of similar scandals. The thesis is that while the practice is as yet a minority social phenomenon largely confined to the affiuent middle classes, it is on the increase – and so cinemagoers need this salutary warning about "a game of increasing risk and diminishing returns". This warning is delivered by means of a series of cautionary stories interspersed with interviews and comments from an alleged psychiatrist on group sex. The dramatised episodes – which range from the adventures of an innocent couple duped aboard a houseboat to the sado-masochistic proclivities of "Dare Club" members – are characterised by banal scripting and stiff, amateurish acting, which makes for some presumably unplanned moments of comedy. But the fictional content is as nothing compared to the interviews, particularly one with the editor of a contact magazine, which have to be heard to be appreciated." [6]

Variety said "This is one of those finger-wagging pix that, posing as an "in depth" revealing exposure of shocking facts, is really simply a rather clumsy attempt at titillation in which it fails singularly. Poor scripting, leaden direction and barely adequate thesping don't help." [7]

Releases

The film was released on UK DVD in January 2007 on the Slam Dunk Media Label (the US DVD release on the Jeff films label is an unauthorized bootleg.)[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<i>Beneath the Planet of the Apes</i> 1970 American science fiction film

Beneath the Planet of the Apes is a 1970 American science fiction film directed by Ted Post from a screenplay by Paul Dehn, based on a story by Dehn and Mort Abrahams. The film is the sequel to Planet of the Apes (1968) and the second installment in the original Planet of the Apes film series. It stars James Franciscus, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, and Linda Harrison, and features Charlton Heston in a supporting role. In the film, a second spacecraft arrives on the planet ruled by apes, carrying astronaut Brent (Franciscus), who searches and finds Taylor (Heston) only to realize the apes are not their greatest threat.

<i>The Games</i> (film) 1970 British sports drama film

The Games is a 1970 British sports drama film directed by Michael Winner. It is based on the 1968 Hugh Atkinson novel and adapted to the screen by Erich Segal. The plot concerned four marathon competitors at a fictitious Olympic Games in Rome, played by Michael Crawford, Ryan O'Neal, Charles Aznavour and Athol Compton. Elton John recorded one song for the soundtrack.

Joseph W. Sarno was an American film director and screenwriter.

Derek Ford was an English film director and writer, most famous for sexploitation films such as The Wife Swappers (1970), Suburban Wives (1971), Commuter Husbands (1972), Keep It Up, Jack (1973), Sex Express (1975), What's Up Nurse! (1977) and What's Up Superdoc! (1978).

<i>Virgin Witch</i> 1971 British horror sexploitation film by Ray Austin

Virgin Witch is a British horror sexploitation film directed by Ray Austin and starring Ann and Vicki Michelle, Patricia Haines and Neil Hallett. A prospective model and her sister join a coven of white wizards.

<i>The Mummys Shroud</i> 1967 British film by John Gilling

The Mummy's Shroud is a 1967 British DeLuxe colour horror film made by Hammer Film Productions which was directed by John Gilling.

<i>Kaleidoscope</i> (1966 film) British crime comedy film by Jack Smight

Kaleidoscope is a 1966 British comedy crime film directed by Jack Smight and starring Warren Beatty and Susannah York.

<i>Eskimo Nell</i> (film) 1975 British film by Martin Campbell

Eskimo Nell, is a 1975 British sex comedy film directed by Martin Campbell and starring Roy Kinnear and Christopher Timothy. It was produced by Stanley Long. Though inspired by "The Ballad of Eskimo Nell", the movie owes little to the original bawdy song. Long called it "my definitive statement about the sex films". The film features little nudity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Long</span> English film director (1933–2012)

Stanley A. Long was an English exploitation cinema and sexploitation filmmaker. He was also a driving force behind the VistaScreen stereoscopic (3D) photographic company. He was a writer, cinematographer, editor, and eventually, producer/director of low-budget exploitation movies.

<i>Commuter Husbands</i> 1973 British film by Derek Ford

Commuter Husbands is a British 1972 comedy film directed and written by sexploitation director Derek Ford, starring Gabrielle Drake, Robin Bailey and Claire Gordon. It is a semi-sequel to Ford's 1971 film Suburban Wives.

<i>Secrets of Sex</i> 1970 British film by Antony Balch

Secrets of Sex, released in the US as Tales of the Bizarre and Bizarre, is a 1970 British multi-genre sexploitation anthology film, directed by Antony Balch and narrated by Valentine Dyall. It was written by Martin Locke, John Eliot, Maureen Owen, Elliott Stein and Balch.

<i>Groupie Girl</i> 1970 British film by Derek Ford

Groupie Girl is a 1970 British drama film directed by Derek Ford and starring Esme Johns, Donald Sumpter and the band Opal Butterfly. The film was written by Ford and former groupie Suzanne Mercer. The film was released in America in December 1970 by American International Pictures as I am a Groupie and in France in 1973, with additional sex scenes, as Les demi-sels de la perversion. It was later re-released in France in 1974 as Les affamées du mâle this time with hardcore inserts credited to "Derek Fred".. 17 minutes of hardcore footage, shot for the film, was discovered in 2024. https://under-the-counter.com/2024/12/09/lost-continental-footage-found/

<i>Adventures of a Taxi Driver</i> 1976 British film by Stanley Long

Adventures of a Taxi Driver is a 1976 British sex comedy film directed by Stanley Long and starring Barry Evans, Judy Geeson and Adrienne Posta. There are two sequels, Adventures of a Private Eye (1977) and Adventures of a Plumber's Mate (1978).

Growing Up is a 23-minute sex education documentary film for schools directed and narrated by Dr Martin Cole. It was first shown in April 1971.

<i>Zeta One</i> 1970 British film by Michael Cort

Zeta One, also known as The Love Slaves, Alien Women and The Love Factor, is a 1970 British comedy science fiction film directed by Michael Cort and starring James Robertson Justice, Charles Hawtrey and Dawn Addams. It was written by Cort and Alistair McKenzie, based on a comic strip short story in the magazine Zeta, and was produced by George Maynard and Tony Tenser for Tigon Films.

<i>Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair</i> 1979 British sexploitation comedy film by Willy Roe

Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair is a 1979 British sexploitation comedy film directed by Willy Roe and starring Alan Lake, Glynn Edwards, Mary Millington, Bernie Winters, Diana Dors and Anthony Booth.

<i>Whats Up Nurse!</i> 1977 British film by Derek Ford

What's Up Nurse! is a 1977 British sex comedy film directed and written by Derek Ford and starring Nicholas Field, Felicity Devonshire and John Le Mesurier.

<i>Suburban Wives</i> 1972 British film by Derek Ford

Suburban Wives is a 1971 British sex comedy directed and written by Derek Ford and starring Eva Whishaw, Maggie Wright, and Gabrielle Drake.

<i>Naughty!</i> 1971 British documentary film by Stanley Long

Naughty, also known as Naughty! A Report on Pornography and Erotica, is a 1971 British dramatised documentary film directed by Stanley Long and written by Suzanne Mercer. Long said although the movie was sold as a sex film it was "a fairly serious film" which "had some purpose". Mercer called it "a serious sociological look at pornography and erotica." It mixes interviews with archived footage and re-enactments, and was screened at the Wet Dream Film Festival in Amsterdam in 1971. The same team later made a similar movie, On the Game (1974).

<i>On the Game</i> 1974 British comedy film by Stanley Long

On the Game is a 1974 British comedy drama film directed by Stanley Long and starring Charles Gray. It was written by Suzanne Mercer, who spent two years researching it. The film is a dramatised comedy documentary about prostitution through the ages. 23 minutes of hardcore footage, shot for the film was discovered in 2024. https://under-the-counter.com/2024/12/09/lost-continental-footage-found/

References

  1. "THE WIFE SWAPPERS | British Board of Film Classification". bbfc.co.uk.
  2. 1 2 Making it Jordan, C. New Society; London Vol. 16, (Jul 2, 1970): 420.
  3. "Stanley A Long". British Entertainment History Project. 24 November 1999.
  4. Sheridan, Simon (16 September 2012). "Stanley Long: Film director who was described by 'The Sun' as 'The King of Sexploitation'". The Independent.
  5. "The Wife Swappers". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  6. "The Wife Swappers". Monthly Film Bulletin . 37 (432): 193. 1970 via ProQuest.
  7. "The Wife Swappers". Variety . 259 (13): 22. 12 August 1970 via ProQuest.