User Reviews

To understand why a film as poor as this even exists you need to know that at the time this was produced it was possible for British producers who would not be welcome in Hollywood to make cheap British films that made money being shown in British cinemas that couldn't afford Disney product. This was because apart from favourable tax breaks there was a scheme called the "Eady Levy" that ensured that a portion of the box office made its way back to the producers. Consequently there was an undercurrent of low budget film making which didn't need to be any good. It would be nice to say that a wealth of talent got their break in that climate and there are gems to unearth but Michael Winner stands out as one of the few and probably the most successful film maker to emerge from that scene. Even by the standards of the time this "Perils" is one of the more inept examples of cinema to appear from that era. The title refers to the famous silent serial "Perils of Pauline" and "Mandy" has a cliffhanger ending with the titular heroine tied to a railway line as apparently there was a series intended, which thankfully did not appear. If the film has any appeal at all it is as a vehicle for Gloria Brittain an attractive and popular nude model of the time who appeared in top shelf mens magazines, stag loops and the few other titles listed here on her IMDb profile. Unfortunately the whole enterprise is so inept that it does her no favours. In any case I don't know if Gloria could act but here she just doesn't . The film starts with her feeding the birds in Green Park and then cuts to her wandering around Soho. This sequence is quite puzzling as it was obviously shot over several days as Gloria changes clothes and hairdo's from location to location. When the plot kicks in she is introduced as a schoolgirl in a boarding school with a yen to act. Several sequences which appear to have no relation to the plot occur before she ends up on the railroad track. Some films are so bad they're good this is so bad it's unintelligible . So unless you are of a certain age and a Gloria Brittain completist ,she does get her clothes off but it really isn't worth sitting through the longest forty minutes of your life for, this is one to leave undiscovered. The full credits include one Toni Muldoon as Executive Producer whose name is now associated with various time share schemes operated from the Costa del Sol so maybe this film did make a fortune.