SCHOOLGIRL REPORT VOLUME #11: TRYING BEATS STUDYING (1977)
Director: Ernst Hofbauer
Impulse Pictures

Impulse Pictures turns in another edition of the SCHOOLGIRL REPORT series with more naked hijinks.

The frame story of the eleventh installment of the series is a radio show in which the host (Hellmuth Haupt, SWINGING WIVES) asks his panel – police inspector Jenkel (Ulrich Beiger, THE GREAT ESCAPE), social worker Dr. Hammacher (Astrid Boner, VANESSA), "humanist school principal" Dr. Wolters (Peter Böhlke, TOTO THE HERO), and housewife Thea Berthold (Linda Caroll, DOORWAY TO SUSPICION) – if current laws to protect youth are too liberal and in need of reform. Jenkel takes the conservative position with his story of seventeen-year-old Martina whose school performance suffers until she gets tutelage from eighteen-year-old Rolf who demands payment in sex. Things take a turn more tragic than failed classes when he tires of her. Hammacher offers up a counter example in Regina (Jess Franco favorite Karine Gambier) who accuses her tutor of rape in a he-said-she-said account already used in the previous installment of the series (although this one has a more humorous ending).

During a cigarette break, recording assistant Gila provides a refreshing anecdote about her first time to demonstrate that some youths are all bluff when it comes to their supposed jaded carnal knowledge: a foursome with friend Gabi (Alexandra Bogojevic, SALON KITTY), "stud" Hansi and his nerdy friend Traugott (Claus Obalski, SCHOOLGIRL REPORT #10) in a barn with rickety floorboards and precariously-stored cans of paint. When the host asks about the influence of pornography, Principle Wolters offers up an example about the dangers of repression in loner Michaela whose grades have suffered since she has been caring for her ailing mother. Her lack of street smarts gets her roped into sexual exploitation by a gang of bikers. Housewife Thea, on the other hand, discusses the rush of young people to lose their virginity, including her daughter Susi (series regular Sandra Atia) whose friend Ulla gives her birth control pills for her eighteenth birthday and then locks her in a room with her cousin Achim (Heiner Lauterbach, LOVE CAMP) until they do the deed.

The eleventh installment is really more of the same with the writers struggling more and more to find themes of social significance on which to hang vignettes before petering out with the last story and no real closure other than a brief summing up narration. It does improve on the last two installments, however, with more explicit sexuality rather than just plentiful nudity, as well as some visual inventiveness. Those already invested in the series will want to grab this one, while newbies might start here just as easily as with any of the other installments.

Released here as NAUGHTY FRESHMEN and in the UK as CONFESSIONS OF A NAKED VIRGIN (in a cut that ran as short as 55 minutes), SCHOOLGIRL REPORT VOLUME#11 comes to DVD in a progressive anamorphic widescreen (1.66:1) that looks as rough as the other entries (but this seems to be the fault of the German rights owner since reviews of some of the German editions suggests the image quality is underwhelming). As with the other volumes, only the German Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track is included (presumably the rights owner does not have access to elements for the English dub track and the sources for the US and UK versions might not be complete, and possibly only survive as VHS audio), although a cleaner recording of the main theme may have been tacked onto the track. The optional English subtitles are error-free and amusing. There are no extras besides the static menus. (Eric Cotenas)

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