Twinky (film)

''Lola'' (originally released as ''Twinky'', also known as ''London Affair'') is a 1970 romantic comedy drama film directed by Richard Donner and starring Charles Bronson and Susan George. It was written by Norman Thaddeus Vane.

Plot

A 38-year-old writer of pornographic novels named Scott meets and falls in love with a sixteen-year-old school girl whilst living in London.

When Scott is refused a permanent visa to remain in Britain, the couple get married in Scotland and move to America where by state law Twinky must go to school. Tensions arise when Twinky wants to engage in teenage pastimes, while Scott struggles to complete his novels in order to earn a living. She runs away and is found by Scott in the cellar. Twinky then leaves for London the next day after writing Scott a tearful farewell letter.

Cast

Production

The idea and script for the film was written by Norman Thaddeus Vane, which author Simon Richter believes was the key force behind the film. Vane's script has been suggested to be somewhat autobiographical, as it mirrors the author's own marriage to 16 year-old model Sarah Caldwell, whom he married in the mid-1960s when he was 38.

Music

The title song and two other original numbers are composed and performed by Jim Dale.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Metropole Victoria in London on 15 January 1970. It opened in London on 15 February 1970.

Reception

''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "With a frenzied assortment of fashionable tricks (frozen frames, slow motion runs, speeded-up bicycle rides), an insistent pop score, a gratuitous hippy party and yards of exposed teenage thigh, Richard Donner drives what one hopes will be the final nail into the coffin of the Swinging Sixties. The film is predicated on the irresistible appeal of its nymphet heroine and on the assumption that her first fumblings towards maturity are of riveting psychological interest; but since she is surrounded by a family of cutely kooky characters ... it is hard to take problems seriously, the more so since the unbelievably fey dialogue with which she is saddled ...does little to elucidate the processes of the adolescent mind at work. Susan George, who has elsewhere shown herself an actress of some promise, can do little with the part which, with the camera moving in for close-up after close-up of her tossing blonde hair, takes on the nightmare quality of a ninety-minute shampoo commercial."

''The Radio Times Guide to Films'' gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "Richard Donner directs this abysmal relic from Swinging London that not even its distinguished supporting cast can salvage. Susan George plays a 16-year-old schoolgirl who elopes with an American novelist played by Charles Bronson. Both sets of parents are appalled. The audience is, too."

The ''Contemporary North American Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide'' state that the film exploited "the sexual freedom of its era", describing Susan George's character as a "naive young nymphet".

Leslie Halliwell said: "Dreary sex comedy drama, the fag end of London's swinging sixties."

References

External links

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1970 films
1970 comedy films
British comedy films
Italian comedy films
Films about writers
Films about juvenile sexuality
Films directed by Richard Donner
Films scored by John Scott (composer)
Films set in London
1970s English-language films
1970s British films
1970s Italian films

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