A somewhat tepid offering from Doris Wishman, 'Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls' is really a two part story, glued together with the same type of 'naturist' footage shown excessively in most Doris Wishman 'Nudie Cutie' productions…I swear to god, if I have to watch one more set of shots of nude couples playing 'suction cup archery' i'll scream.

So the primary plot follows Thomas and Annie, a pair who work for A chap called 'Bill'. Bill is a straight shooter with only two rules 'No Funny Business' and 'No married couples working together'…and for Thomas and Annie, thats a problem…Because not only are they working together and married, but they're also both Nudists. and they have to hide both of those things from their boss, otherwise they'll be out on the unemployment line.

Well, as you can imagine, it doesnt take long for Thomas to be caught out, when he leaves his 'Naturist business card' on the ground in Bills office by mistake. Out of the job, Bill retreats to the nudist camp while Annie continues to work. While at the retreat, Thomas is offered a temporary job working at the camp and quickly becomes a star employee.

This is where the 2nd part of the story picks up as Thomas bumps into Charles, a chap who's VERY good friends with Bill…and also is a nudist. After explaining whats happened, Charles is mortified that Bill would behave in such a way, and with that, he arranges for Bill to attend the nudist camp for a getaway weekend. Bill doesnt KNOW he's going to the nudist camp for the weekend, until he arrives. At which point he's very much against the idea, and also shocked to find out that Annie and Thomas are married.

Nevertheless Charles implores Bill to give the lifestyle a chance, and what follows is an extended set of scenes of the idyllic Nudist lifestyle, with the hope that Bill will see the error of his ways and take the couple back.

I didnt really get on with this one. the plots themselves were fine, and I appreciate that the (largely male) audience coming to this film were really more there for the nudity than the story. But the plot for this one feels so threadbare and thin, that it might as well be translucent. The main plot of this film, is a side plot that lasts no more than 10 minutes in other Wishman films like 'Another Day, Another Man'. Here? its strung out to over half the films runtime, and heavily subsidized with 'Nudie Cutie' footage that, if I didnt know any better, i'd assume was simply recycled from Doris's other Naturist films from 1960 – 1963.

The pacings lumpy and unpleasent, the tones inconsistent and constantly broken up with stock footage, the characters are largely uninteresting and unremarkable. There are flecks of Camp studded into this production, but not enough to really save it. Its just a kind of dull, very lightweight production.

The direction feels inconsistent and a bit stale too, not a lot of noteworthy production choices, the cast all feel a bit aimless within the shot frame, and the ACTUAL nudist footage also feels a lot less like a curated and managed experience, and more like the nudists told Doris what they were going to do that day, and Doris could take or leave what she wanted to film, because they wernt taking orders from anyone.

As such, the cine feels rough around the edges too, we do still get a nice colourful and vibrant set of shots, but it all feels a bit aimless. the sequences feel roughly composed as well…very much as if this was a working print cut rather than a polished and finished product.

Add to this the fact that the main casts performances are all very muted, very static, and that the dialogue on offer isnt exactly 'top craft' and that the supporting cast are predominantly mute for 99% of the runtime. and 'Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls' ultiamtely just kind of falls through the cracks. Not interesting or memorable enough to stand out agains the tidle wave of 'Nudie Cutie'/ Naturism movies that came out during this time, and without enough of a hook to make it worth excavating in the year of our lord 2026.

I cant recommend this one, Its not really a great jumping on point either, there are better Wishman productions out there, and definitely better Wishman directed naturism productions. One for only the hardcore fans I fear…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/gentlemen-prefer-nature-girls/