The last year of the 1960s featured a number of significant movies: Midnight Cowboy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Satyricon, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and others. But there was an equally significant - if lesser known - one out there. Michael Powell's "Age of Consent" casts James Mason as an artist and Helen Mirren as his muse. I seem to recall that when "60 Minutes" interviewed Helen Mirren, she said that her early movies just tried to show off her body. You'd better believe that this one does (and what a babe Ms. Mirren was!).

We could be cynical and note that the movie only shows off Helen Mirren's body without doing so for the men - especially considering that she's with men old enough to be her father - but it's got a clever plot. Not the best but still enjoyable. I recommend it just as long as you know that some of the material is questionable.

This film marks the first starring role for Helen Mirren and she appears in quite a few tasteful nude scenes. Because of this, it's certainly not a film for the prudish!

James Mason plays Bradley, an aging artist who feels that his work has stagnated. So, on a whim, he decides to relocate from Sydney to the wilds of Queensland in Northeast Australia. There, he lives in a hut and has a simple but lovely life along the beach. There he meets a gorgeous young lady, Cora (Mirren) and she stimulates his creative drive...and he begins making art that he is once again proud of and wants to make more. The problem is that she is very young and he is an older man...and her disgusting grandmother thinks that there's some hanky panky going on...which there isn't...at least for now!

This is a slow but enjoyable film. What I appreciated is that while this is by no means a comedy, little comedic touches were used here and there. I also appreciate how different the film is. Although Mason ALSO starred in "Lolita", the tone and style of the two films are like night and day...and I prefer "Age of Consent".

One of Helen Mirren's first films is this unforgettable exotic drama that deals with a Hemingway like artist (James Mason) who, trying to find some ambition to get himself back behind the canvas, goes to a tropical setting where he becomes friendly with a local girl (Mirren) who models in the nude for him. She has a cackling, constantly drunk grandmother (Neva Carr-Glynn),certain that Mirren is fornicating with anything and everybody. When granny goes too far, Mirren stands up to her and this results in a twist that will alter the course of Mason and Mirren's up to now professional relationship.

I'll never forget the sight of the elderly granny running around swinging her raised cane with the intention of striking. A combination of Granny from "The Beverly Hillbillies" and various cartoon old ladies, she's very witch like in her anger, and the over-the-top Neva Carr-Glynn doesn't even stop to breathe while speeding around faster than Margaret Hamilton on her broomstick.

The romance that is insinuated between Mason and Mirren is very subtle, and of course, there will be the temptation to compare this to "Lolita". They have a nice sparkle together, but I saw it more as a budding friendship, like a fun-loving uncle with a niece who enjoys his company. This has some beautiful photography with natural settings, many on the beach and some underwater photography that shows off some exotic fish. It is enjoyable fluff, and quite surprising in the film credits of Michael Powell who directed many classic British films in the 1940's.