NAUGHTY TEEN

(A.k.a. CARA DOLCE NIPOTE)

Corrado (Lucio Flauto) runs a busy hotel in the centre of Rome. It’s so busy, in fact, that he’s turning potential customers away – including the ironically named Innocence. She soon gets a room though, thanks not only to her revealing attire (nipples hanging out over her low-cut top) but also due to the fact that she is the niece of an influential businessman.

Taking Innocence to the room he’s just made available for her, middle-aged Corrado looks to be on to a good thing when she strips and reveals she is a rather unconventional ‘niece’ to the businessman – and offers her wares to the hotelier. But Corrado isn’t interested. He has eyes for one woman only: his late wife Laura.

The following day Corrado sets off to the bus-stop to meet his own visiting niece, Daniela (Ursula Heinle). When she arrives, after having enjoyed being felt up by a randy male passenger on the bus there, Corrado is stunned to discover the niece he hasn’t seen in years has grown into a young woman baring an uncanny resemblance to Laura.

Trying not to freak out, he drives the bubbly young filly back to his hotel where she’s arranged to stay for a short while.

Before long, Daniela has made herself at home, stripping in full view of her room’s open window and being spied on be the impressed playboy pilot who lives opposite. The following day, he begins paying Corrado visits with increasingly feeble excuses (a broken coffee percolator etc) in a bid to get closer to the precocious adolescent.

But Corrado is not about to encourage Daniela into the arms of his neighbours: he’s quickly growing infatuated with her himself. And, after witnessing him catching an extended glimpse of her soaping her perfect rear in the shower, you could hardly blame him.

Furthermore, Daniela swiftly ingratiates herself with gossip-addicted – not to mention gorgeous – maid Marietta (Femi Benussi), and a handsome young hippy at the local disco.

Hmm, this young free spirit seems to be building a fan club rather rapidly. Can Corrado rein in his own feelings, or will he become compelled to make a move on Daniela too ...?

Predictable and a little too genteel for its own good, NAUGHTY TEEN is billed as a ‘sex comedy’ but is a little light on the latter ingredient. Modest smirks aside, there’s little to tickle the ribs in the dated humour offered here.

Thankfully then, the film scores better as a slice of vintage erotica. It’s tame stuff, certainly, but the light tone and agreeable charm of Heinle ensure it’s sexy stuff nonetheless. The girl has a fantastic figure and a winning smile to match; it’s such a shame that this appears to be the only film she featured in.

It helps that there is plenty of attractive young female flesh on display too, during the bouts of soft-core fun. Expect lots of full-frontal frolics for your money.

Performances are delivered with energy and fun, helping the tepid pace of Andrea Bianchi’s workman-like direction along somewhat. The camerawork of Franco Villa may be ugly, but the girls are not – and there’s a quaintness to the awful lounge score that can’t help but put a smile on the faces of those familiar with dodgy Euro comedies of the 1970s.

One 7 Movies bring this rare slice of Italian erotica to English-friendly DVD in an uncut presentation which preserves the original 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The transfer is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.

Colours are generally good, with a satisfyingly natural hue to them throughout. Blacks are mostly stable save for some digital noise evident in the odd darker scene, while images remain a tad soft but reasonably clean considering the age (1977) and relative obscurity of this title. Logos in the bottom right-hand and left-hand corners of the screen have been optically obscured, hiding the source of this transfer. They’re not too distracting, truth be told: I soon forgot they were there.

Italian mono audio is solid from beginning to end, while optional English subtitles are in the main well-written and easily readable.

The disc opens with a static main menu page. From there, an animated scene-selection menu allows access to NAUGHTY TEEN via 12 chapters.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are no bonus features on this region free disc.

Innocuous as it may be in these more cynical times, NAUGHTY TEEN is still a lot of fun. It comes packed with amiable performances and hot young women frequently disrobing for set-pieces of agreeable soft-core titillation.

Review by Stuart Willis