''Commuter Husbands'' is a British 1972

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

film directed and written by

sexploitation A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, Low-budget film, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition o ...

director

Derek Ford Derek Ford (6 September 1932, Essex – 19 May 1995) 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 ...

, starring

Gabrielle Drake Gabrielle Drake (born 30 March 1944) is a British actress. She appeared in the 1970s in television series '' The Brothers'' and '' UFO''. In the early 1970s she appeared in several erotic roles on screen. She later took parts in soap operas '' ...

Robin Bailey William Henry Mettam "Robin" Bailey (5 October 1919 – 14 January 1999) was an English actor. He was born in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. Often cast in upper class and tradition-bound roles such as Mr Justice Graves in Thames Television Th ...

and

Claire Gordon Claire Gordon (16 January 1941 – 13 April 2015) was an English film actress and comedian known for leading and cameo roles in many British films from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, and for working with most of the television comedy stars of ...

. It is a semi-sequel to Ford's 1971 film '' Suburban Wives''.

Plot

The Story Teller enters the Penthouse Club in London, which she declares is the "front line" in the battle of the sexes, proving "that man is the most dangerous animal of them all – excepting woman". She introduces six stories about wayward husbands.

Cast

as The Story Teller *

as Dennis *

Heather Chasen Heather Jean Chasen (20 July 1927 – 22 May 2020) was an English actress, known for her roles in soap operas; playing Valerie Pollard in the ITV soap opera, '' Crossroads'', from 1982 to 1986 and guest roles in ''Doctors'', ''Holby Ci ...

as wife * Robin Culver as John Appleby * Brenda Peters as Lola *

as Carla Berlin * Jane Cardew as secretary * Dick Haydon as Arthur Benbow * Dervis Ward as Arnold * Dorothea Phillips as wife * Mike Britton as Peter Harris * Nicola Austin as dream girl * Timothy Parkes as Raymond Hardacre * Yokki Rhodes as Trudi * George Selway as Charlesworth

Soundtrack

*"Man Is A Hunter", performed by Samantha Jones.

Production

The film exists also in a version with hardcore inserts, but there is no suggestion that any of the credited cast performed hardcore.

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' said "An almost caricaturally British sexploiter whose infrequent and generally cold consummations are supplemented by some indulgent fantasy inserts involving ladies less coy in their abandonment than the majority of the film's characters. From the setting of London's Penthouse Club, here claimed as "the foremost casualty station in the battle of the sexes", Gabrielle Drake delivers the commentary's anthropological generalisations in tones of genteel condescension, though neither the setting, the hunting metaphors nor the refinement have much relevance to the rather wistful lusts subsequently displayed. Although the film overworks its fairly flimsy material, milking the potential comedy of its awkward situations for several laughs too many, it at least has the merit of not expecting us to take seriously the philandering of its one-dimensional characters."

References

External links

* {{Derek Ford 1972 films British sexploitation films 1970s English-language films 1970s sex comedy films British sex comedy films 1972 comedy films Films directed by Derek Ford 1970s British films English-language sex comedy films