Mistress Pamela -1974
Director
Jim O’Connolly

Writers
Jim O’Connolly
Samuel Richardson (novel)

Cast
Ann Michelle
Julian Barnes
Dudley Foster

Review by Wayne Malin

Saw this years ago on Cinemax late at night,

I was in college and we were actually READING “Pamela” (which is long and dull) when this popped up late at night. I tuned in expecting just a silly little T&A movie. Surprisingly that’s not what I got! The movie has a sexist jerk named Lord Robert Devenish (Julian Barnes). He falls for lovely Pamela (Ann Michelle)–but she’s a commoner. So he intends to rape her and use her whenever he wants. He doesn’t expect her to fight back…but she does and Lord Devenish doesn’t know how to handle her…

Film is very lighthearted and doesn’t take itself seriously for one moment. A statement at the beginning proclaims that this is a serious movie and will not encourage sex between men and women. Then it disappears and up comes, “Honest! We won’t!” There are some comedic lines sprinkled throughout and characters breaking down the 4th wall and talking to the audience. And (surprisingly) we just get male nudity in this one–no female! No great shakes but a cute, funny little movie. It will be even more amusing if you’ve struggled through the book. I give it a 7.