Ecstasy

Director: Gustav Machatý
Year Released: 1933
Rating: 2.0

"Innocent" Eva (Hedy Lamarr) weds an older, wealthier man but their marriage goes ... um, unconsummated ... so she leaves, unsatisfied; back home, while casually skinny dipping, she meets a stud construction worker and you can pretty much figure out how that goes (much to her husband's dismay). Machatý isn't exactly dealing with the most intricate script and the over-reliance on obvious symbolism (a broken necklace following sex, a horse representing "masculinity," an actual bee handed back and forth) is pedestrian - also grating are the needlessly belabored shots, which often feel like they're in slow motion and add little of value to the tale. It's notorious, of course, because of Ms. Lamarr's nude swimming (and "orgasm" scene) - she claimed later on that she had no idea the audience would see her 'in the flesh' (she said she didn't know about zoom lenses) but as someone who helped design the very technology I'm currently utilizing to post this on a web site, I can comfortably admit I'm not buying that explanation.