''Felicity'' is a 1979

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

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 ...

film starring

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

actress

Glory Annen Glory Annen (born Glory Anne Clibbery; September 5, 1952 – April 24, 2017) was a Canadian actress. Career Glory Anne Clibbery was born in Kenora, Ontario, Canada. She attended the Victoria Composite High School of Performing Arts in Edmonton, ...

and written and directed by

John D. Lamond John D. Lamond (1947 – 24 October 2018) was an Australian film director, producer and screenwriter. He was best known for directing such films as '' Felicity'', '' A Slice of Life'', ''Breakfast in Paris'' and ''Nightmares''. Before becoming ...

Plot

Felicity Robinson (

) is a teenager who studies at a remote Roman

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

and who seeks indulgence in the popular erotic novels ''

Story of O ''Story of O'' (, ) is an erotic novel written by French author Anne Desclos under the pen name Pauline Réage, with the original French text published in 1954 by Jean-Jacques Pauvert. Desclos did not reveal herself as the author until 1994, ...

'' and ''

Emmanuelle Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French erotic films based on the protagonist in the novel of the same name, by Emmanuelle Arsan, written in 1959 and published in 1967. Emmanuelle originated as the pen name ''Emmanuelle Arsan' ...

'', and in a lesbian love affair with her friend Jenny (Jody Hanson). Her father arranges her holiday trip to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

where she will stay with a wealthy couple, Christine (Marilyn Rodgers) and Stephen (Gordon Charles). Christine organises a party to introduce Felicity to a friend of theirs, Andrew ( David Bradshaw). After the party at the couple's mansion, Andrew takes Felicity for a ride in his car during which he pulls over and deflowers her. Christine also introduces her to libertine Me Ling ( Joni Flynn). Me Ling initiates Felicity to new pleasures. However, Felicity eventually falls in love with Miles ( Chris Milne) who saves her from a bunch of Chinese thugs.

Cast

as Felicity Robinson * Chris Milne as Miles * Joni Flynn as Me Ling * Jody Hanson as Jenny * Marilyn Rodgers as Christine * Gordon Charles as Stephen *

John Michael Howson John-Michael Howson (born 8 August 1936) is an Australian writer, reporter, entertainer and Melbourne radio commentator. His involvement in the Australian entertainment scene as a writer, producer and performer spans more than 50 years. Earl ...

as Adrian, Lingerie Salesman * David Bradshaw as Andrew * Christine Calcutt as Nun *

as Peeping Tom Gardener / Man In Cinema

Production

Lamond wanted to make a film in the vein of those directed by

Just Jaeckin Just Jaeckin (8 August 1940 – 6 September 2022) was a French film director, photographer and sculptor. He was known for directing several erotic films, starting with ''Emmanuelle'' in 1974 and continued making movies until he retired from fi ...

such as ''

'':

The French have always been able to make their films NOT be pornographic, they’d be erotic. They were classy – the most they could ever say was 'softcore'. And the way they did it, they made pretty images that looked like a Singapore Airlines TV commercial, they had nice fashion, good photography and nice music. And that way it dresses it up and makes it all chocolate boxy... I thought okay, the way to do that on a film budget is to go somewhere exotic. Make sure the people are pretty and they don’t have pimples. Don’t be sordid in any way, have pretty music and exotic locations, nice lighting and nice fashion. So even though it was a tiny film, we came up to Hong Kong and we got all the clothes tailor made for them, so that they fitted properly.

Lamond was also influenced by ''

The World of Suzie Wong ''The World of Suzie Wong'' is a 1957 novel by British writer Richard Mason. The main characters are Robert Lomax, a young British artist living in Hong Kong, and Suzie Wong, the title character, a Chinese woman who works as a prostitute. T ...

'' (1960), which prompted him to set it in Hong Kong. He intended to make it immediately after '' Australia After Dark'' but ended up making '' The ABC of Love and Sex: Australia Style'' first. Lamond claims that at one stage George Miller was going to direct but he wanted to take the film in a different direction. Lamond secured investment from Roadshow Pictures, then tried to obtain funding from the government film bodies. They refused, although the AFC offered to loan him $40,000, but Lamond did not want to be beholden to them. He formed a

unit trust A unit trust is a form of collective investment constituted under a trust deed. A unit trust pools investors' money into a single fund, which is managed by a fund manager. Unit trusts offer access to a wide range of investments, and depending on ...

and sold a hundred units at $1,250 each which people could buy in any number, and the movie was made entirely with private funds.Scott Murray, "John Lamond", ''Cinema Papers'' Oct/Nov 1978 p97-98 Glory Annen was a Canadian actress living in London who was cast in the lead role. The film was shot in 1977. The

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

cites the opening scenes as having been shot at

Montsalvat Montsalvat is an artists' community in Eltham, Victoria, Eltham, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established by Justus Jorgensen in 1934, the colony is set among gardens on five hectares (12 acres) of land, and is home to dozens of bu ...

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three ...

, while the train station scene was at

Healesville Healesville is a town in Victoria, Australia, 64 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Healesville recorded a population of 7,589 in the 2021 census. H ...

. Other scenes were filmed in Hong Kong and in a studio at

Nunawading Nunawading () is an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 18 km (11 miles) east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Whitehorse and City of Manningham local government areas. Nunawading recorded ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

; when a typhoon was approaching Hong Kong Lamond moved the unit to

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...

instead for a number of days.Interview with John Lamond, ''Mondo Stumpo'', early 2002
accessed 14 October 2012 Lamond says it was shot in the same "

Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...

style" as ''

'', "No. 3 fog filters and so on. It gives the film a nice, respectable look. In one scene the characters go to a movie where '' The ABC of Love and Sex: Australia Style'' is being shown. Lamond describes this as a "pure Roger Corman-style economic necessity."

Box office

''Felicity'' grossed $532,000 at the box office in Australia, perhaps $5,000,000 in 2020 dollars. According to Lamond it also sold widely around the world.

Cancelled sequel

Lamond intended to make a sequel, ''Felicity in the Garden of Pleasures''. It was budgeted at $230,000 and the

South Australian Film Corporation South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) is a South Australian Government statutory corporation established in 1972 to engage in film production and promote the film industry, located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Adelaide Studios are managed ...

decided to invest A$100,000. The corporation's director, John Morris, told the board "the film would be funny, commercial and R-rated". However the decision was much criticised and the SAFC withdrew their investment. No sequel was made.Vincent O'Donnell, "Strewth! How Aussie does Australian cinema need to be", ''The Conversation'' 30 March 2012
accessed 21 February 2015

Edits

* In the UK, the

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organization, non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited ...

(BBFC) has classified three versions of the film: in 1979, the film was released for cinema with an "X" certificate, precursor of the "18" certificate, after unspecified cuts had been made; in 1991, it was passed uncut for video with an "18" certificate; in 2008, ''Severin Films'' released an uncensored Director's cut of the film on DVD. It was passed uncut with an "18" certificate. * Prior to the

Video Recordings Act 1984 The Video Recordings Act 1984 (c. 39) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was passed in 1984. It states that commercial video recordings offered for sale or for hire within the UK must carry a classification that has been agre ...

, the film was available uncertified on VHS video cassette. * In 2004, ''Obsession Entertainment'' of North America issued a DVD in the NTSC format. The running time is quoted as 91 minutes. The star, Glory Annen, is not credited on the DVD cover. The UPC is 0-19485-05333-3. * (Date Unknown) ''Fejui Media Corporation'' of Taiwan issued a DVD in the NTSC format. The running time is quoted as 90 minutes. The UPC is 4-716354-372439.

References

External links

*
''Felicity''
at Oz Movies
''Felicity''
at the National Film and Sound Archive {{John D. Lamond 1979 films 1979 LGBTQ-related films 1970s English-language films 1970s erotic drama films Australian coming-of-age drama films Australian erotic drama films Films about female bisexuality Lesbian-related films Sexploitation films Films set in the 1970s Films set in Hong Kong Films shot in Hong Kong Australian teen LGBTQ-related films English-language erotic drama films