Five stars for this film of Nell Dunn's play set in an English council run Turkish bath on Women's day. There is some fine acting: Diana Dors steals the show of course for her sheer ability. Venessa Redgrave gives a stolid performance although there is nothing to stretch an actress of her abilities, and the rest of the cast give good performances. The whole film has an atmosphere of a BBC play for today and there is no real cinematic quality to the film as a whole. I really would not want to see this on the big screen. Perhaps this is due to the confines of the set: we see the plunge bath, steam room, hot room, exercise room, showers and rest room. And that's it. No exterior shots to establish the baths - all the action takes place in one location. The whole thing is simply a filmed play. Workmanlike but not inspired.The play however examines relationships between a number of women, mostly middle class.

As the last film of director Joseph Losey (a groundbreaking British filmmaker of the 1960's), this screen version of the play by Neil Dunn seems like a mash-up of all of those sadly realistic working class dramas of the 1960's as told by the women who lived them to their closest chums, none seemingly very happy. They are losing this spot too, a rather dowdy looking steam room that could use either a really good spraying down or just plain reconstruction, with the assistance of a wrecking ball. Diana Dors, in her last film, looks a bit like the mature Ginger Rogers, playing the attendant, pal to regular patrons Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Brenda Bruce and Patti Love.

The set is quite an interesting one, but the conversations aren't all that interesting to audiences in general, because their subject matter is really only of interest to the type of maturing women that this talented cast portrays here. Some of the women are seen stark naked, and for women of a certain age, that's pretty daring. The steam room is shown to be an old fashioned gymnasium with chez lounges pressed up against radiators, then saunas and steam baths, and eventually rowing machines. The women pretty much do nothing but complain about their husbands and children, but reluctantly admit that they wouldn't change a thing, so the question becomes, "So what's the point of all this?" Very stagey and bland, yet occasionally magical when the women finally say something profound. It's definitely an acting exercise for the three legends and lesser known actors, but I wouldn't want to sit through this as a play.

Though it belies its stage origins this character study of a group of women who find a camaraderie in the local ladies steam bath that isn't available to them anywhere else keeps you involved thanks to Losey's firm directorial hand and superior performances by the cast.

The showpiece performance is from Patti Love as the combative Josie but both Vanessa Redgrave and Sarah Miles score sharply in more muted roles. This was the final film for Diana Dors before her far too early death and it provides her a lovely opportunity to exit on a fine grace note. Her fabled beauty while not a memory had by this point softened into a mature softness filled with character. As the motherly Violet she shows that the stunning good looks of her youth weren't all she had to offer.