Thinko (Elektro) selects the perfect candidate to head the science department at Collins College, but Dr. West turns out to be a blond woman who looks like Mamie Van Doren (Mamie Van Doren). I mean, a blond woman? To run a college department? All of the men and some of the women fall over themselves in slapstick antics, while idiot gangsters try to find this Thinko character. I knew what I was getting into.
Perhaps Dr. West (Tassels Monclair to her friends) is the titular Sex Kitten but the plural ‘Kittens’ implies more than one. Maybe it’s a general statement as there are several attractive women we presume to be students: ‘The place that sex kittens go is college’. More likely they simply didn’t think very long on the title before shipping it off to drive-ins. The original title was Sex Pot (singular) goes to College. Either way, it wasn’t a terribly sexy movie. Or a funny one.
The main character other than Mamie is college administrator George, played by Martin Milner. Us old people will recognize him from Adam-12. He likes Dr. West just fine, but blond and attractive? Ya gotta admit she doesn’t look the part! Also here is a sixteen year old Tuesday Weld and her friend Brigitte Bardot’s sister. Bardot Sister is quite adorable but apparently needed to have all her lines dubbed.
John Carradine played a lecherous professor. He played a lot of low rent roles later in his career, though this was rather early for him to sink so low. Jackie Coogan plays Wildcat MacPherson, a college benefactor with a W.C. Fields impression. He was a child star in the silent era (The Kid) before personal problems put his career into the toilet. He would slowly revive his reputation earning roles in crap like this. Oh, and as Uncle Fester.
Further in the background is Conway Twitty (Conway Twitty) who was properly embarrassed by his presence here, and Maila Nurmi, better known as Vampira. I had trouble spotting her because she wasn't in character. Further still in the background is Charlie Chaplin, Jr. and Harold Lloyd, Jr. Yea, I wasn’t going to search for them.
Dr. West has, we are to believe legitimately, fourteen degrees and is fully qualified for her role. Is there a subtle message for women's rights here? To not judge people by their appearance? Not actually. This is simply a sexy fish out of water and played for as many laugh-adjacent reactions as possible. Not sure if drive-in audiences of the day would have tolerated anything smarter. But they should have held out for something funnier. The chimp was the best part. AMRU 2.
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