Baby Love

1967 may have been the Summer Of Love, but 1968 gave us Baby Love – a controversial domestic drama that lead British newcomer Linda Hayden to the role of evil ‘Angel Blake’ in the 1970 horror Blood On Satan’s Claw.

Here, however, Linda plays the sexually advanced schoolgirl Luci who suddenly becomes orphaned when her mother (a rather wasted part for Diana Dors) commits suicide at the start of the film. Coming from an impoverished Northern industrial background, Luci soon comes up trumps when she is adopted by the wealthy Robert Quayle (Keith Barron) and his family. Reason for the adoption is the fact that Robert used to be her mum’s former boyfriend and before her suicide (due to cancer) she sent him a letter asking him to look after the troubled girl.

Robert’s glamorous but bored wife Amy (Ann Lynn) and their adolescent and somewhat naïve son Nick (Derek Lamden) soon fall under the spell of the little troublemaker Luci’s lures. Luci is a complex and deeply disturbed girl who never received much love from her selfish and tarty mother but nonetheless is troubled by her death. Craving the attention she never got, Luci plays power games with her newly adopted family – with disastrous and hilarious consequences!
Frustrated mother Amy, who doesn’t receive the affection she craves from her busy husband, discovers her lesbian side thanks to the wiles of the wanton Luci. Meanwhile, their hopelessly smitten son Nick is at the receiving end of our manipulative enchantresses’ whims. Only Robert appears to be impervious to the girl’s machinations, but can he hold out forever? But more importantly, can he hold his family together for much longer?

With a guest appearance by top TV comic Dick Emery as the lecherous family friend Harry, and an impressive debut by the then 15-year old Linda Hayden, Baby Love is the kind of film that may well have ruffled a few feathers back in the day but seems relatively tame by today’s standards. Quite why it was given a 18 Cert is quite frankly beyond me. Nonetheless it is an enjoyable romp about dysfunctional family life and how a teenage girl manages to wreak havoc amongst an entire household. Better still and to our amusement, by the end of the film young Luci is ruling the roost!
BAFTA and Emmy-award winning director Alastair Reid handles his job deftly and with a feel for the comical.

Baby Love is released on DVD as part of The British Film Collection with the following Extras:

• Image Gallery
• Press material PDF
• Instant play facility