Naked As Nature Intended

Book excerpt: Released in 1961, Naked as Nature Intended created a sensation. Queues formed around the block and police were called in to manage the crowds. It stayed on the big screen for over 17 months. The film was directed by the notorious George Harrison Marks and starred Pamela Green, Britain's answer to Bettie Page. Pamela Green was best-known for her short but striking role in Michael Powell's Peeping Tom. The plot involves Pamela Green and a few other young women taking a holiday. Their destination? A nudist camp. Perfectly legal but totally scandalous at the time. Naked as Nature Intended represents a milestone in movies. Made for little money, the film earned its production costs back many times over. It ushered in a new era of cinematic "exploitation," driven by simple economics. Naked as Nature Intended takes its place in history as the bridge between the puritanical Fifties and the Swinging Sixties.