SCHOOLGIRL REPORT VOL. 9: Filling The Generation Gap With Sex And Car Crashes

1975 saw the release of the ninth Schoolgirl Report film.  You might think a film series would be out of steam by that point but producer Wolf C. Hartwig had a few things working in his favor.  The first is that sex has always and will always be a commercial movie subject that savvy filmmakers can exploit.  The second is that Hartwig had a skill for finding clever new ways to present the familiar carnal hijinks to his audience.In the case of Schoolgirl Report Vol. 9, the film starts with action of an unexpected kind: a group of partygoing youngsters drunkenly pile into two cars the morning after a big all-night booze, dance and sex session.  They decide to race each other and things get chaotic, leading to a double car-crash.Police and parents try to sort out the specifics of what led to the accident afterwards and this leads into a series of sex-laden vignettes that define the Schoolgirl Report series.  There's a young lady who gets married too young and learns the error of her ways, a free spirit whose embarrassment over her square parents intensifies when they decide to get hip and a young man who finds a clever way to disrupt a would-be orgy that threatens to claim a girl he loves.  There are also a few stories with a darker, more dramatic element, like one girl who has to deal with a lusty stepfather and another who can't go all the way with a willing boyfriend due to a past sexual trauma.The plot threads don't all add up - in fact, the abrupt end leaves a number of storylines dangling in the breeze - but Schoolgirl Report Vol. 9 is never dull.  Gunther Heller, a veteran scribe of this series, covers everything from romance to melodrama to slapstick comedy in his scenario and makes sure to pepper each subplot with at least one sex scene.  In one memorable case, he's able to have a sex scene within a sex scene as a young lovely tells a female friend the story of her first time as she seduces her - leading to a scene where lesbian and hetero sex scenes are lustily intercut.Schoolgirl Report Vol. 9 also benefits from a sense of retro charm that it has acquired since its original release.  Gert Wilden's score mixes campy lounge elements with a studio musician approximation of rock to give the goings on an appropriately groovy yet goofy feel.  Walter Boos directs with an exploitation pro's eye, making sure each reel contains one showcase carnal coupling while weaving in other fun touches, like a scene with parents trying to dance like "the kids" that plays like something from a Jerry Lewis movie.In short, Schoolgirl Report Vol. 9 is every bit the sexed-up quickie that it sounds like but its unusual setup and its range of storytelling styles might surprise you.  It doesn't strain to do anything too different from its contemporaries but at least it has a good work ethic - and this aspect makes it a fun artifact for fans of '70s sexploitation.DVD Notes: this entry was recently released by Impulse Pictures as part of their ongoing Schoolgirl Report reissue series. It boasts a suitably colorful and sharp anamorphic transfer: despite the occasional age-related defect in the source material, the results are pretty impressive.  It's presented in its original, uncut German language version with English subtitles.