Thanks for the memories!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

I remember there was a lot of media hype in Australia about this movie when it was first released. I thought it was a bit of an oddity then, and it definitely is today.Bradley Morahan (James Mason), a successful Australian artist based in New York is dissatisfied with his art and his life. He heads for North Queensland and a remote island on the Great Barrier Reef. Here he meets some of the locals including a young girl, Cora (Helen Mirren), whose grandmother is an eccentric old beachcomber.Despite constant reminders from her grandmother that she is underage, Cora becomes Bradley's model and muse, restoring his belief in his art and himself. "You've given me back my eyes; you've taught me to love things again ", he exclaims at the end of the movie as their relationship blossoms, despite the 30-year age gap.Based on a novel by Norman Lindsay, the film was made about the time he died. Decades earlier, Norman Lindsay had outraged prudish Australian society with his art, which often featured well-rounded, naked nymphs cavorting with leering satyrs.But as this movie showed, society had caught up with his ideas and even surpassed them in what was termed permissible - he seemed a bit out of touch by this time, and had outlived his particular crusade against Puritanism.Unfortunately, the art on show in "Age of Consent" doesn't show much of Lindsay's influence - he was a brilliant artist. Bradley's paintings and sketches in the movie are a combination of the work of two Australian artists: John Coburn produced the strongly patterned New York paintings, and Paul Delprat did the scenes on the island in what could only be called a naïve style.The biggest connection to Lindsay's art is actually Helen Mirren, who had 'the equipment', as Michael Parkinson once described her voluptuous figure, that would have had kept Norman Lindsay happily working away at his easel for hours.The restored version of the film also features Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe's lyrical score, which was replaced with one by the more experienced British film composer, Stanley Myers. Interestingly, Myers' score seemed a more revved up version of Sculthorpe's work.It was pretty much Helen Mirren's first film, but it was a considerable way into James Mason's career. What a presence he had. The mellifluous, honey-toned voice was as hypnotic as ever, despite a half-hearted attempt at an Australian accent. The rest of the cast were mainly Australian, playing characters of varying levels of eccentricity and annoyance. Irish actor Jack MacGowran as Nat Kelly is particularly strident. The comedy in the film is definitely of the broad variety and was no funnier back in 1969 than it is now.With a particularly messy script, the film is more of a novelty than anything else, but does feature two magnetic actors at opposite ends of their careers - it's worth a look for that alone.

Whilst this is not a masterpiece of film making, I found it an enjoyable piece of entertainment. Who could not enjoy watching a young Helen Mirren spending much of the time naked? The story is about an artist(James Mason) going to live on an Island in the Great Barrier Reef where he meets young Cora(Mirren)who lives with her horrid granny. He gets Cora to pose naked for him on many occasions. There is some drama along the way and also some comedy mainly from Jack MacGowran, (especially when being pursued by a man mad woman) plus some lovely scenic shots of the island. But by far the best scenery on show is the lovely Helen. Just sit back and enjoy!!

The British-Australian film 'Age of Consent' was released in 1969 - the same year as the publication of the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name on which it was based, and also the death of its author, the well known Australian artist Norman Lindsay. It appears to have once been released briefly in some North American cinemas but only in a heavily bowdlerised version with its playing time significantly cut. Until last year no DVD was available in North America although one was released in Australia in 2005, and until the film was shown on the TCM TV channel I did not even remember that it existed. The long delay in marketing it here seems a pity as it was a very enjoyable and rewarding film to view, but it is now part of a double label disk (with 'Stairway to Heaven') released by Sony which I recommend unreservedly to all IMDb users who are interested. It will probably appeal particularly to those viewers who also enjoyed 'Sirens', a better known film also featuring incidents from the life of the same Australian artist.The theme - a talented but burnt out artist taking a break from his regular lifestyle to recharge his batteries, and becoming re-energised through a chance friendship formed with a young person from a very different background - is somewhat hackneyed, but with a good cast it can still be very effective. James Mason, as Bradley Monahan gave one of the great performances of his career playing a jaded 60 year old Australian painter who returns from New York to an isolated island on the Great Barrier reef off the Queensland coast for what appears to be an extended vacation, whilst a 24 year old Helen Mirren - straight from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre - changed horses completely here to give a remarkably mature interpretation of Cora Ryan, a lonely and unsophisticated orphaned teenager trapped in an isolated and unrewarding life with her drunken and quarrelsome grandmother. When Cora meets Bradley she starts by regarding him as a possibly useful source of pocket money, quickly comes to respect him for what he is, and finally develops a real affection for him. Michael Powell, returning to directing after the failure of Peeping Tom, was as usual both deft and effective, although more easy going and less powerful than for example in Black Narcissus. The colour cinematography was mostly a delight - the three strip Technicolor process used avoided the garish colours so often encountered in travel documentaries and many major feature films. I felt that the principal weakness of this film lay in Peter Yeldham's film-script, but it may well have originated in Lindsay's novel. He was one of Australia's best known artists and during his long career as both artist and writer, one may assume that he must have experienced periods when he felt like the artist of his story; this film certainly conveys the feeling of becoming burnt out and drained of creative energy just as he may himself have experienced it. I have not read the book and my quarrel with the film-script may or may not also extend to it, but I felt that by featuring a long series of very unlikely events, it unfortunately made the film appear to be some sort of dream story or myth rather than a real life drama. In fairness both Lindsay and the scriptwriter may have been aware of this problem and have accepted it as inconsequential. Their object was to convey the reality of loss of artistic vision for any artist, and the final film-script did this very effectively. I found that, when I stopped analysing the mechanical details of the events shown, and concentrated on the emotions with which they were associated, my recognition of the exceptional quality of this film rose sharply.SPOILER AHEAD: The film's title is misleading for anyone who, like myself, is not familiar with the story - in it Bradley, a 60 year old worldly wise artist, makes no attempt to seduce his new under age model. Clearly if such a thought has ever entered his head he has rejected it instantly. But as Cora continued to model for him over many weeks they develop a very real friendship. The climax of the film is the confrontation which leads to the accidental death of Cora's grandmother (and the highly improbable sequence in which a local policeman decides that this does not even warrant a formal open inquest), Only after this, and right at the end of the film, does Cora show that she is very disturbed by the complete absence of any personal attention being paid to her by her new friend, something she feels must indicate some significant failing or inadequacy on her part. The film closes with Cora, reassured on this point, starting what appears likely to become a successful attempt to seduce him.

A very pleasant surprise. I had expected Michael Powell's last feature to be mediocre at best, with the one selling point of a nude, young Helen Mirren, but it's actually a pretty good movie. Not the director's best, of course, but it's quite sweet and beautiful. James Mason plays an Australian painter who has difficulty perfecting an Australian accent. He flees the city for an island in the Great Barrier Reef, where he can relax and paint. There he meets a 17 year old girl (Mirren in her first film role) who dreams of moving to the big city. He's entranced by her beauty, and agrees to fund her dreams if she'll pose for him, often nude. Despite the lurid title, the film isn't sensationalistic or pornographic. Mason's interest, despite what some of the townsfolk might think, is purely artistic. It's much like the film, actually. You might watch it for the naked lady, but you stick around for the artistry. And Powell's artistry is intact, fully. Besides the enveloping cinematography (not to mention some beautiful underwater photography), you'll find plenty of Archers-esquire touches, like the dog chasing toads out the door. The story is pretty thin, but that's not uncommon amongst Powell's many travelogue films. It's often very funny, especially with Jack MacGowran and Neva Carr-Glynn. Oh yeah, and Helen Mirren, 24, gets naked a lot. That's definitely worth checking out!