In 17th century England? Out of wedlock, with the priest's knowledge and blessing?
Outrageous! Im all for moving with the times but this was disgraceful and the priest should be ashamed of himself. As for that brazen hussy of a niece...tut tut!
Jaaaaack!...I aint putting decent villians inside for a lousy oner from the police fund!
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Tapender wrote: "As for that brazen hussy of a niece..."
Sara Lowes (played by Hilary Dwyer) did not seem like a "brazen hussy" to me.
She seemed like a young lady who's deeply in love with a man who might soon
be killed in the war and thus never get to enjoy her intimately as a woman.
Giving herself to him in bed seemed to me like her act of tender romantic
generosity rather than an act of brazenly unbridled lust.
I also would not regard Sara as promiscuous (which calling her a "hussy" could
insinuate) simply because two other men enjoyed sexual intercourse with her.
In the first case, Sara submitted to Matthew Hopkins's advances only because,
by appeasing his lust, she hoped to save her uncle from being put to death.
In the second case, Sara was taken by force and raped by John Stearne.
Sara did not willingly "lose her virtue" to these men.
Sadly, after retiring as an actress, Hilary Heath (nee Dwyer) was raped.
Her rapist was convicted of raping sixteen other women in Barbados.
They were pretty wild back then. Not as conservative as today (tongue firmly in cheek)...
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Was the priest aware that they were sleeping together? Anyway, the film was made in the late 1960s when audiences had come to demand more explicit content. There is a similar scene in "Frankenstein Created Woman" where the good girl heroine has sex with her boyfriend.
That said, I believe people in the past tolerated (if they did not altogether approve) of premarital relations between engaged couples.
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In heaven everything is fine.