Thursday, May 16, 2013

Being the first...first nude scene in a motion picture




I really wonder if it the first? Her name is Audrey Munson and the film is Inspiration [1915]. Wikipedia said that "All copies of the movie are believed to have been lost." If so, where did the still photo originate?

Nevertheless...

From the beginning of the motion picture industry we have had various expressions of nudity in film.  Several films of the silent era and early sound era included nude scenes, which were presented in a historical or religious context.  In 1915, actress Audrey Munson appeared nude in the film Inspiration.  It is believed to be the first film to feature nudity from a leading cast member.  In 1934, American studios passed the Hays Code, which forbid scenes of nudity in American films.  The ban was not lifted until the 1960’s.  Many documentary, foreign, and pornographic films featured nudity during this era.  After the ban, Jayne Mansfield became the first mainstream American actress to appear nude in the 1963 film Promises! Promises!

Rovi at allmovie wrote...

Actress Audrey Munson, whose chief claim to fame was her voluptuous figure, was the star of the Thanhouser five-reeler Inspiration. Munson was appropriately cast as a feckless country girl who achieves fame and fortune as an artist's model. A sculptor falls madly in love with her, and after several standard complications he manages to marry her. Obviously, there was no "mystery" between sculptor and model, since it is implied that Munson does most of her posing in the nude. In fact, according to the reviewer for the trade magazine Variety, the actress displayed more on-screen epidermis than any previous female performer, including the actress who played "The Naked Truth" in director Lois Weber's notorious Hypocrites.

Wikipdia...

Inspiration is a 1915 American silent drama film written by Virginia Tyler Hudson and directed by George Foster Platt and starring Audrey Munson. It is notable for being the first non-pornographic American film to feature full nudity of a woman. On reissue in 1918, the film was called The Perfect Model. All copies of the movie are believed to have been lost.

Plot...

A young sculptor searches for the perfect model to inspire his work. He finds a poverty-stricken girl who he thinks is the one he has been looking for. When she wanders off, he visits all the famous statues in Manhattan hoping to find her again.

Audrey Munson

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