cult film freak: JACQUELINE ELLIS 'THE YELLOW TEDDY BEARS' ANNETTE WHITELEY

Jacqueline Ellis in THE YELLOW TEDDY BEARS Year: 1963 Rating: **1/2

With alternate titles THE THRILL SEEKERS and GUTTER GIRLS, even the actual name THE YELLOW TEDDY BEARS... pins that female students wear meaning they've been devirginized... is very misleading, and, what initially plays out a sexual cautionary tale for teenagers turns into a third-act lecture for adults about these kids...

So while ahead of its time, not only addressing abortion but showing GIRL ON APPROVAL rebel chick Annette Whiteley about to have one, the pace is uneven while progressively sympathetic teacher Jacqueline Ellis (THE HI-JACKERS)... who winds up in the same kind of "why even discuss such a thing with students?" predicament William Shatner landed in in THE EXPLOSIVE YEARS... seems more a guest star than lead...

Georgina Patterson is the good girl in THE YELLOW TEDDY BEARS

Meanwhile token melodramatic good girl Georgina Patterson along with nice guy boyfriend Douglas Sheldon (Barry Foster's driver in RYAN'S DAUGHTER), Whiteley's wannabe musician beau Iain Gregory (THE SYSTEM) and the "abortion dealing" fatale Jill Adams are thrown in to make the viewer think this just might turn into something risque...

Including a mini rock concert and a pass the bottle/music box party... and there's a version with nudity inserted but, overall, while representing sexual awareness, THE YELLOW TEDDY BEARS ultimately leaves you with blue balls.