Word: films
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...movie that moved the court to its far-reaching decision was a French version of D. H. Lawrence's notorious novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover. According to the New York State Board of Regents, the film was "immoral within the intent of our law," which prohibits exhibition of shows that portray "acts of sexual immorality, perversion or lewdness ... as desirable, acceptable or proper patterns of behavior." So the judges watched Lady Chatterley (played by Danielle Darrieux) make a cuckold of Sir Clifford Chatterley (Leo Genn) with Sir Clifford's gamekeeper (Erno Crisa). According to a dozen...
...garde," doubted that the picture would have offended even "Victorian moral sensibilities." Said Justice John Marshall Harlan, who felt that Lady should not be banned, even though he also felt that the Supreme Court had moved too swiftly in striking down the New York statute: "I cannot regard this film as depicting anything more than a somewhat unusual, and rather pathetic, 'love triangle...
...discussion of what constitutes rape ("Violation is sufficient; there need not be a completion ... on the part of the man"), of whether a doctor can or cannot "tell if a married woman has been raped." The Chicago police commissioner, at any rate, was so startled that he banned the film, and the moviemakers eagerly expect that other communities will follow suit...
...discussions are conducted with verbal propriety and legal objectivity, and every one of them is necessary to the development of the theme. But it is possible to object to the theme itself, and to suspect that the moviemakers picked it principally because it offered opportunities for sensationalism. Nevertheless, the film displays an attitude toward sex that is more wholesome than the merely sniggering spirit that prevails in many a movie; and for those who can stand the straight talk, it provides a memorable exhibition of legal bicker and dicker, infight and outrage...
After the war, Terrell tried his hand at a twelve-minute'film called Smellodrama -an odorously unsuccessful precursor of Mike Todd Jr.'s untried Smell-O-Vision (TIME, Nov. 17). Then in 1949, Terrell opened the nation's first musical arena-theater tent at Lambertville, although " 'tent' was one of the few four-letter words you didn't use in the theater." To Broadway's surprise, he cleared $20,000 his first season. This year Terrell tentacles will scoop...