Do people still know about this? It seems like I read about it more than once in the 1970s, that Hedy Lamarr had a lengthy nude scene in the 1933 European film Ecstasy. I guess that after going through years of nudity-free cinema in the 1940's, '50's and much of the '60's, Americans were startled to learn that there was such a thing as nudity way back then. Nudity is no longer a novelty and I don't know how many people know who Hedy Lamarr was anymore, so her big nude scene is no longer interesting trivia.
So I finally watched Ecstasy. It was listed in the "silent films" section of a Roku channel. It was essentially silent with no intertitles. It was completely nonverbal except for some muffled German dialog.
I've heard that, in the silent era, that was how films were judged----the fewer intertitles it had, the better it was as a movie.
It looked pretty modern, good quality print. Had a lovely crane shot.
Hedy marries an older man. She's disappointed on their wedding night. They don't consummate their marriage. Unhappy with their sexless union, she runs home to her parents. She rides horseback to a river where she swims naked. She unwisely leaves her clothing draped over the back of the horse which runs off forcing her to chase after it naked. This is how she meets a virile young engineer she starts sleeping with.
It wasn't the first movie with a nude scene, not by a long shot. But it's believed to be the first mainstream movie with a simulated sex scene and female orgasm.
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