Escort Girls (1974)

It is Christmas Eve in London and the streets are aglow with festive lights. But behind closed doors, the city’s loneliness is louder than the yuletide church bells.

This 1974 British sexploitation film weaves together six different stories about men and women who turn to escorts for company during the holiday season.  Each story is a snapshot of desire, power, and isolation.

Office clerk Hugh Lloyd (David Dixon) spends his Christmas bonus on a night out with Susan (Maria O’Brien), a social escort, only to find himself caring more about conversation than anything else.

After dinner at an Italian restaurant, they take a taxi back to Susan’s flat, where both admit their loneliness and Susan takes Hugh’s virginity.

Wealthy widow Mary Hockstadler (Helen Christie) hires Barry (Richard Wren) as a male companion, but drives him away with her controlling nature.

He slips away while her back is turned, leaving her heartbroken.

Emma Gouldman (Marijke Mann) is a company director who brings Wayne (Gil Barber) as a paid date to a lavish party, only for their arrangement to spill into something more intimate.

Not every story is lighthearted. Corrupt businessman Harvey Matelow (Brian Jackson) gets more than he bargained for when his escort Sheila (Barbara Wise) flips the power dynamic on him. Hiring her to escort him to a casino, Harvey tricks his way into Sheila’s flat and rapes her.

He is interrupted by her boyfriend, who photographs him in the act and proceeds to blackmail him, stealing his money and threatening to publish the photographs if he goes to the police.

Another storyline touches on racial tension and fantasy, when Vicky (future Coronation Street star Veronica Doran) uses black escort Lester (Ken Gajadhar) as a spark for confrontation at a reunion with her old school friends.

Over the course of the party, Vicky’s female friends fantasise about Lester and discreetly pass him their telephone numbers. Back at Vicky’s flat, Lester hesitantly indulges Vicky’s interracial rape fantasy.

Two Scottish visitors to London – James (David Brierly) and Ian (James Hunter) – stumble into the city’s nightlife, their evening turning into a mix of comedy and awkward encounters.

They pick up two women and take them to dinner at a restaurant, where they are shocked to see an exotic dancer give an explicit solo sex show.

After leaving the restaurant, they pursue the two women for sex. The women knock them to the ground and they drunkenly pass out.

For 1970s audiences, this wasn’t a romantic comedy. It was an unpolished look at the city’s hidden transactions and the people behind them. But it didn’t pass through British censors, and the most explicit scenes – along with the sequence involving the forced encounter – were cut down by over three minutes before the film could be released.

Even with the required edits, Escort Girls – written, directed, produced and distributed by one-man-band Donovan Winters – remained provocative for its time. Not because of lavish sets or big drama, but because it held up a mirror to the quiet, complicated ways people seek connection.

It’s a depressing film as all the main characters are lonely and lacking something (mainly human interaction). As a result, the frequent sex scenes feel grubby and tend to use actresses who are either middle-aged or not particularly physically attractive. It’s hard to imagine Escort Girls succeeding as a work of titillation.

Susan
Maria O’Brien
Hugh Lloyd
David Dixon
Mary Hockstadler
Helen Christie
Barry
Richard Wren
Emma Gouldman
Marijke Mann
Wayne
Gil Barber
Harvey Matelow
Brian Jackson
Sheila
Barbara Wise
Vicky
Veronica Doran
Lester
Ken Gajadhar
James
David Brierly
Ian
James Hunter

Director
Donovan Winter