1971 British film by Don Chaffey
Clinic Exclusive (also known as Clinic Xclusive, With These Hands, Sex Clinic)[2] is a 1971 British erotic film directed by Don Chaffey and starring Georgina Ward, Alexander Davion, Carmen Silvera and Windsor Davies.
Plot
Julie Mason abuses her position as the owner of a private health clinic by selling sexual favours to her male clients, whom she then blackmails for large amounts of money. At the same time, she resists the sexual advances of Elsa Farson, a lonely, older woman.
When businessman Lee Maitland engages her services, Julie, who wants to make a new life for herself, is taken by her new client and quickly becomes his fiancée. Meanwhile, barred from visiting Julie, Farson is driven to suicide.
Julie is drawn into Maitland's plan to make them both rich, unaware that he is actually Farson's son and intends to avenge his mother. The film ends with Maitland, having faked his death in a road accident that Julie helped to create, disappearing with tens of thousands of pounds that Julie had extracted from her clients. Julie is left to choose between admitting blackmail or remaining silent and being charged with Maitland's murder.
Production
The film was written and produced by Hazel Adair and Kent Walton under the joint pseudonym Elton Hawke. Many of the cast had appeared in either Crossroads or Compact, soap operas co-created by Adair.[1]
Clinic Exclusive marks the film debut of Carmen Silvera, later known for her role as Edith Artois in the BBC TV sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!.[1]
Release
Originally titled Clinic Xclusive, the film was re-released in May 1975 as Sex Clinic.[1]
The publication in the press of stills from the film led to Georgina Ward withdrawing an application to be a UK parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party.[3]
Critical response
In The Monthly Film Bulletin (1972), critic Nigel Andrews wrote: "After the customary quota of coyly directed nude scenes in sauna bath and shower room – even less titillating than usual, since the clinic's clientele is predominantly middle-aged – Clinic Xclusive takes a turn for the better by developing into quite a neat, unpredictable revenge thriller. Script and direction are glossily efficient throughout, and Georgina Ward plays the ruthless go-getting heroine with some style. Altogether a surprisingly competent production, if only within the limits of its strictly catchpenny genre."[4]
