With the feminist movement in a growth spurt, the 1970s became a period in which films explored those concepts. 1972’s Class of ‘74 offers an example of this mini-genre, albeit in a sex-related manner.

College student Gabriella (Barbara Mills) lacks romantic experience. This means she lacks confidence when it comes to male-female relationships.

To help push her along, older co-eds Heather (Pat Woodell), Carla (Marki Bey) and Maggie (Sondra Currie) share advice. Along the way, Gabriella pushes herself to become more assertive.

Though the movie’s Blu-ray notes tout it as an example of the pro-feminist era, that doesn’t play out quite as one might expect. It seems to me that a true “feminist movie” would focus on how women can compete with men in their careers or similar domains.

Instead, Class becomes much more about the sexual revolution and how women could pursue men more aggressively than in the past. While that does exist as a subset of feminism, it means Class tends to pay lip service to societal advancement for women.

If you want to know how “feminist” Class will be, you’ll get your answer during the movie’s opening stroll through the college campus. The camera concentrates on all the lovely female students and accentuates shots of boobs and butts.

From there we get a montage that includes ample shots of Gabriella as she swims nude. We get no context about this, but she suddenly winds up a pool in the altogether.

Now maybe I can’t accurately judge the climate of feminism circa 1972 given my age. I was only five so none of this registered for me at the time.

However, Class feels like an excuse to use the then-current liberation movement as an excuse for sex and nudity. Class forms into a collection of soft-core sequences without any real narrative.

On the positive side, Mills – here billed as “Barbara Caron” – gets naked a lot. An absolutely gorgeous woman, she looks amazing.

On the negative side… well, pretty much everything else. Essentially a plot-free affair, Class just tromps from one character scene to another without coherence or flow.

Though ostensibly about Gabriella’s journey, Class often detours to focus on others. This means it grinds to a halt so we can hear these stories.

All of this probably seemed daring in 1972, but I can’t imagine it came across as a compelling story. The filmmakers appeared to believe that some frank talk about sex and a little nudity would overcome the film’s thin characters, silly dialogue and general lack of narrative momentum.

Nope. As much as I enjoyed the shots of a naked Barbara Mills, these can’t compensate everything else wrong with this turgid clunker.

Class of ‘74 appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though a mixed bag, the image came with reasonable positives.

Really, the biggest drawback here came from occasional instances of edge haloes, as these cropped up occasionally. Still, they didn’t turn into a consistent nuisance.

General definition seemed good. Some softness appeared at times and I’d never refer to this Very Early 1970s Production as rock solid, but it still exhibited fairly appealing delineation.

No signs of jagged edges or shimmering manifested, and grain seemed natural, albeit a bit heavy. Print flaws remained essentially absent.

A Very Early 70s Production came with an earthy Very Early 70s palette, so warm browns and reds dominated. These leaned a little heavy at times but usually felt pretty vibrant.

Blacks could be a bit inky but they showed reasonable depth, and shadows seemed acceptable, albeit a little chunky. Nothing here dazzled but it image felt good enough for a “B-“.

Don’t expect much from the movie’s mediocre DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack. The end result tended to feel somewhat dull.

Early on, the mix came with some background noise. These issues largely dissipated over time, but I got the impress some noise reduction came along for the ride.

This made dialogue a bit flat, and music and effects worked about the same. Those elements could also appear a little rough and shrill. For a 53-year-old low-budget flick, the audio felt adequate and not much more.

On the movie’s disc, we get an audio commentary from film historian Heath Holland. He delivers a running, screen-specific look at the combination existing footage and new material, story/characters, cast and crew, music, sets and locations, and his view of the film.

Overall, Holland offers a good look at the production, especially when he gets into how the filmmakers adapted existing footage from 1970’s Gabriella Gabriella into Class. Because so many participants barely worked in movies, Holland butts up against obstacles in terms of how much production info he can provide, but he still makes this an informative and enjoyable chat.

The package also provides a booklet that includes photos and an essay from film historian Amanda Reyes. This adds value to the set.

Essentially a collection of sex-related scenes in search of a story, Class of ‘74 goes nowhere. Even with some appealing eye candy, the movie drags and turns into an incoherent mess. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture, acceptable audio and a good commentary. Dated and silly, Class flops.