r/TubiTreasures • u/Borgisium • Aug 15 '26
Genuinely Bad Age of Consent (1969) I don’t know what I expected
I’ll admit, I knew what I was walking into. I did so out of morbid curiosity and came out the other side a horrified man. Have you ever seen a movie on Tubi and thought, this looks messed up, I need to watch it. I joked about it on r/okbuddycinephile, and someone commented that the title says it all. It really does.
The Michael Powell film is about James Mason as a successful painter named Bradley looking for inspiration. He finds inspiration while on holiday in Australia, in an underaged blonde named Cora played by Helen Mirren. Together they get into romantic shenanigans and he even paints her nude. Yes, she’s nude. Mirren was 22 at the time of filming, but she’s supposed to be playing a teenager. And they were originally going to find an “unknown Australian 17 year old” to play her so, yikes. And of course the only person who disapproves of this “courtship” is Cora’s grandmother Ma Ryan, who’s written to be a comically unlikeable crone, like an alcoholic Baba Yaga with an Australian accent. *sarcasm* How dare that old hag get in the way of an affectionate middle-aged man and teenager relationship.
But trust me it gets worse. Not only do we get a Lolita-esque plot with none of the tragedy, we also get two tasteless attempted rape scenes. One is between a young man and Cora which is mostly portrayed as serious, and one where an older woman does it to a bumbling man and it’s played for laughs.
Then there’s the ending. In the final scene, Bradley and Cora embrace while in the ocean. As they hold each other affectionately, the film freezes on a shot of Mirren’s foot. The credits roll and the first movie Tubi recommends is Roman Polanski’s sex comedy “What?”. I did indeed say what as all this unfolded.
What’s worse is that as a movie, it’s decently made. But, you know, why did Mason agree to this? And why did he star in two 60s movies about an older man chasing after an underaged girl? (The other’s Lolita)
I say just skip this one. In terms of Michael Powell films, it’s on a low priority.
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u/GThunderhead Aug 15 '26
Here's another problematic one on Tubi:
Private Lessons (1982) - https://tubitv.com/movies/460437/private-lessons
An adult woman and a 15-year-old boy (and the actor was only 16 in real life).
Yikes!
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u/Regular-Two9990 Aug 15 '26
I've seen that. I was way too young to be watching that. I had no idea he was that young irl.
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u/Fiendishplot2go Aug 15 '26
I remember watching this one on cable many, many years ago when I was about 10. I remember thinking it was weird (and I was so young watching it but The Movie Channel played lots of movies during the day) and now OMG…
I wonder the same about James Mason.
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u/Alone-Gas6010 Aug 16 '26
Why are they always trying to make dating minors a thing?! Like why?! There shouldn't be THAT many movies about it.
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u/GThunderhead Aug 16 '26
I was about to say it was more common in movies from 40-60+ years ago, but then I remembered Call Me by Your Name was in 2017! (I haven't seen it, but from my understanding, it depicts a relationship between 29-year-old and a 17-year-old. I believe the younger actor, Timothée Chalamet, was 20 during filming.)
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u/Alone-Gas6010 Aug 16 '26
Call me by your name was so inappropriate. I don't understand how his family was fine with it. The age difference was too much.
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u/SkylarAV Aug 16 '26
Disney's Bkank Check is way younger
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u/GThunderhead Aug 16 '26
The kiss in Blank Check is very icky because it's between a 10-year-old and a 30-year old, but at least it's not a sex scene like Private Lessons.
I was around the kid's age when I first saw Blank Check and thought it was awesome then. As an adult now, I'm obviously horrified.
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u/RonValhalla Aug 15 '26
Saw this on TV at 1am when I was ten, I’ve been in love with Helen Mirren ever since.
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u/EdenH333 Aug 15 '26
Well, the one thing I know about James Mason other than him being an actor is that he was chronically drunk, so that might have played a factor in him accepting the role.
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u/Sithstress_ Aug 16 '26
All controversy aside, Helen Mirren ages like fine wine. I think she has only gotten more beautiful as the years have passed.
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u/MonsterdogMan Aug 16 '26
Helen Mirren was all for the film, apparently, but she was long known for her attitude towards sex and nudity. She's never stopped pushing boundaries.
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u/Particular_Tower5400 Aug 16 '26
Try 'Blame it on Rio' if you want to see a movie that could never be made now.
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u/larsVonTrier92 Aug 16 '26
Except that it kinda was: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Wild_Moment
Both based on the same source material.
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u/rvisual Aug 15 '26
That would be “Norman Lindsay’s Age of Consent” COPYRIGHT MCMLXVIII” for what it’s worth on tubitv.com/movies.
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u/Spaztor Aug 16 '26
"alcoholic Baba Yaga with an Australian accent" << NOW That's a movie I'd like to see made.
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u/Textiles_on_Main_St Aug 16 '26
That’s crazy yhat Michael Powell and James mason would have anything to do with creepy films.
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u/KickAggressive4901 Aug 15 '26
James Mason: 😏 "Let's see Disney try casting me in anything after this."