OK, this is the first movie in the Doris Wishman boxset I haven’t seen yet, so now I actually have to sit down and craft an actual review instead of half-assing a bunch of notes and tacking them to the bottom of an older review.
Thomas (Lou Alexion) works at a real estate office for his hard-ass boss Bennett (William Mayer, also in Wishman’s Nude on the Moon and Blaze Starr Goes Nudist). When Bennett learns Thomas is a nudist in his spare time, he fires him on the spot. It’s then up to Thomas and his wife Ann (Joan Bamford), who also happens to be Bennett’s secretary, to show him there isn’t a stigma attached to being a nudist.
This is one of those good news/bad news situations. Unlike the previous Doris Wishman nudie movies I just watched, Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls doesn’t make us wait a half-hour or so before our characters arrive at the nudist camp. This time out, we only have to sit through ten minutes of boring plot stuff before we get to the naked sunbathing, naked picnicking, naked hair combing, naked swimming, naked accordion playing, naked archery (naturally), naked gardening, naked seesawing, naked stretching, naked photography, naked volleyball, naked yard watering, naked walks in the rain, naked swinging, naked skipping rocks, naked basketball, naked popsicle eating, naked shuffleboard, and everyone’s favorite… naked sulking around because you lost your job.
However, Doris’ other films at least had the benefit of a marginally interesting hook. Nude on the Moon was about space exploration. Blaze Starr Goes Nudist offered an intimate look into the life of the “real” Blaze Starr. Hideout in the Sun had a bank robbery/kidnapping plot. This one can’t even muster up an interesting scenario.
Yes, Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls belongs in the subset of nudist movies where the characters/filmmakers are out to prove that nudism is a natural and healthy lifestyle choice; not something to be frowned upon. Because of that, there’s a little bit more thrust to the story than in the other Wishman movies I’ve seen (but not much). However, without the novelty of a hook, it just never quite takes off.
Overall, Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls feels more like a generic nudist picture and less like a Doris Wishman film. Because of that, it’s lacking that certain quirkiness that makes Doris Wishman movies Doris Wishman movies. Don’t worry, there are still plenty of those little Wishman touches like underwater shots of skinny-dippers, poorly synched sound, telephone conversations where the listener’s mouth is obscured (which goes hand in hand with the poorly synched sound), and long driving scenes. One big notable absence is a lack of random shots of people's feet. Another glaring omission is the lack of a killer title song over the opening credits.
I guess if you just want to see some boobies, this is an OK way to go. The ladies vary in attractiveness, but that helps makes it more realistic. If everyone looked like Blaze Starr, it wouldn’t feel authentic.
AKA: Gentlemen Prefer Girls.
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