American Nudie Classics

Vintage Erotica

Alternative Cinema

R1

It is good to see these older films being salvaged and restored (as far as possible) so we can see whate the current attitudes in erotic film have developed from. With the pro-censorship wowsers increasingly trying to control what we watch we should be able to turn back the clock and see just how bad (or otherwise) the current erotica really is. This compilation offers forty one films from the 1930s to the 1960s. The size of the compilation lets us compare trends and social attitudes over the forty-year period.

The films of the 1930s are surprisingly frank. In the guise of naturism, a political and social movement that promoted nudity in private or in some social occasions, films were able to depict nudity. Not just a flash of breast but full frontal nudity. The actresses in these films seemed happy and natural although some of the situations they faced were a bit contrived. Most of the films are short peep show types but there is one, “Nautical Nudes”, that runs for nine minutes – a massive epic that featured that rarity in erotica, a plot. There is also a “tableau” scene. These allowed seminaked women to pose “artistically” in a classic style.

During the 1940s people had other things on their mind, like World War II. The erotica of this period is mainly loops of on-stage costume acts of minimum titillation value. With a ready market to the war weary troops on R&R there was little demand for anything more elaborate. The development of colour film from Kodak and Agfa allowed some of the later clips to be made in colour, and even for sound to be added.

In the 1950s the “one-reeler” became popular. These were short films (around five minutes, the capacity of a reel of 8mm film) and most of those in the collection came from the coin machines of arcades once again. Mostly they featured young ladies rolling around on a bed or just standing there sort of wobbling enticingly. The ladies were unaccompanied – the population wasn’t ready for that sort of goings-on just yet. Unlike the films of the 1930s full frontal was uncommon. Were viewers becoming more prudish? The models were certainly wearing more, but not much more. In most of these films the panties stayed on. The first black actresses started to appear on the films, and that strange fetish, the suspender belt and stockings, began to make them look like the victims of a failed bondage experiment.

By the 1960s all the films were in colour. They still had a short one-reeler format since videotape was just coming onto the market in the professional areas. Some of their content was unashamedly pornographic – for the day. Sometimes the girls appeared (gasp !) without panties.

It is hard to see these films as pornographic. Most are quite tame, some are just silly. There is no arguing that they were intended to be the pornography of their day but as attitudes and preferences changed so did the content of the films. Now they are just fascinating aspects of the history of film.

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