Friday, January 7, 2011

This Nude World (1933)

A look at nudism in the US, France and Germany.

This is an amusing time capsule film that really doesn't have much real nudity unless you consider the bare backside nudity. Its scrupulously cut to remove any hint of the male genitalia, however there are more than a few breasts. This is pretty much an academic look at nudism at the time the film was made.

Most of the film is a travelogue with bits shot in New York City, the upstate New York nudist camp, Paris, a "nudist" camp outside it, another French one and finally a trip into Germany. The narration is matter of fact and straight forward.

Erotic its not (The sole exception is a single shot of a beautiful oriental woman walking down a staircase). Its actually a pretty good documentary on the subject that is hampered by the limitations of when it was shot, so it lots of shots from behind or people sitting or doing exercises. For me the sole real flaw was that because they couldn't show anything the visuals become repetitive.

Still its worth a look for those with an interest in old documentaries or Mondo Cane style films but not necessarily nudism.

I'm not sure how long the film is suppose to be but Alpha Video just released a version of this that runs about 55 minutes. I don't know how complete it is because the film just stops.

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