The Immoral Mr. Teas

As a long time fan and admirer of the films of Russ Meyer I tried to seek out as many films of his I could find. All of his film interested me greatly with the exception of his early nudie-cutie films. The idea of watching women cavorting around nude for an hour with no plot seemed tiresome and thus I avoided them like the plague. Recently, however I decided to go back and see if I was missing something special. So, I watched the first nudie-cutie film, The Immoral Mr. Teas. Released in 1959 Mr. Teas was the first American made mainstream film to show female nudity since the pre-code era. The film was a gigantic success and created the nudie-cutie genre and launched the career of Russ Meyer. The film lacks dialogue and ambient sounds but contains witty, ironic narration and a lively, bouncy score.

The film follows the title character Mr. Teas (Bill Teas), a dental delivery man, over the course of four days. On the first day we see Mr. Teas at work where he encounters a shapely, sexy nurse, a curvy waitress at a café and a sultry secretary. Day two shows Mr. Teas at rest visiting a beach. The beach seems to be completely vacant with the exception of a beach bunny in a red bikini and her rarely seen male companion. It is here on the beach that we get the first glimpse of a bare breast, although it’s only a side view with no visible nipple. Continuing on day two Mr. Teas leaves the beach and heads to a lake to fish. While fishing the beach bunny shows up on a row boat and decides to sunbathe next to Teas. This causes him to run away in fright. Day three he returns to work and encounters the three earlier women again; however this time he imagines them completely nude. This causes him to visit a psychiatrist on day four. After his visit with the voluptuous female shrink he heads back to the lake to fish. While there he daydreams about his three working beauties running nude around the lake. They bathe, swing and rest on a hammock all the while Mr. Teas observes like a peeping tom. Upon awaking Mr. Teas heads to another spot to fish where he misses a real, not imagined, nude girl. This brings him back to the psychiatrist whom he imagines nude and happily comes to grips with his affliction.

Throughout the film we were given occasions to which the viewer was possibly meant to identify with Mr. Teas, most notably him cowering in fear of the sun-bathing beach bunny. Mr. Teas seems to be more comfortable watching women from afar and in the shadows rather than up close and personal, hiding behind umbrellas at the beach or behind curtains at a strip club. Even in his fantasies Mr. Teas prefers to hide from the women as seen in the lake dream sequence when he hides behind bushes and climbs trees to cover himself from the three beauties. One can only assume that most men seeking out films like The Immoral Mr. Teas in the 1959 felt more at home as a peeping tom always at arms length from a woman rather than getting more intament with her. I’m not sure what this says about Russ Meyer or his opinions on men interested in the nude female form but I believe he saw himself as a Mr. Teas type hiding behind his camera to catch a glimpse or two of a nude woman. He even goes so far as to cast himself as a cheering spectator at a strip club in the film.



Even with bountiful female nudity The Immoral Mr. Teas lacks several others of Russ Meyer’s trademarks, notably his rapid-fire editing and cinematography. Despite the fast paced pre-credit sequence and an assortment of other moments, particularly the dream sequences, The Immoral Mr. Teas looks and feels like most exploitation films of the period and not a Russ Meyer original. However, the film is still a good time. With its deadpan, ironic narration, numerous sight gags and plethora of nudity the film is enjoyable and funny. Because it lacks the sting of his later classics due to its routine plot and the derivative nature of nudie-cutie films The Immoral Mr. Teas never reaches above an amusing hour long diversion. End