Friday, April 2, 2010

Forbidden Images


In my fading-into-the-distance-life as a TV producer, one of my job duties was discussing appropriate content with the folks in Standards and Practices at whatever network we were working with. Among other things, Standards deals with what a network deems appropriate content for air. Some of these rules are dictated by the FCC/Federal Communication Commission and others are a general mandate from networks depending on the show’s viewer demographic, time of day that the program will air, and script context, among other things. It is not an exact science so it all made for some interesting discussions.

In the early days of film, movie theater projectionists were instructed to edit movie scenes according to the local moral standards of the day. This lovely short film, reminiscent of the beautiful scene at the end of Cinema Paradiso, is comprised of the snips deemed too racy for the time. Forbidden Images was made for the 2007 72 Hour Film Festival in Frederick, Maryland. The footage used in it came from a reel of 35mm nitrate found in an old theater somewhere in Pennsylvania. Thanks to my friend Spider for sharing it.

It's shocking in its loveliness.

9 comments:

  1. Not even a glimpse of side boob. There was so much lower leg, much of it looked like a shoe commercial.

    I loved the sound of the projector in the background. Those were the days. . .

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  2. Maybe it's because they're all strung together with that wonderful music in the background ~ this was the sexiest piece of film I've ever seen. Especially the scene that's starts around 3:30 into the footage.

    I have to say I replayed the footage from :44 to :48 over and over again because I thought she had a small dog biting her right boob at first!

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  3. Oh, goodness, that is so beautiful to watch. Just mesmerizing. It's that fantastic music that does it. It's always the subtle stuff that is way sexier than the in your face things. Maybe for females only?

    Thank you for something I never would've seen in my life otherwise.

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  4. that was fascinating. beautiful, sexy and a tad haunting with that music!

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  5. What a beautiful piece. Hard to imagine all of them being scandalous.
    (and just the mention of Cinema Paradisio makes me want to spend my Friday night curled up reading subtitles... I took an Italian Film class in college, and that was by far my favorite)

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  6. There is something to be said about subliminal messages. Although all covered up, I don't want my boys, especially my oldest, whose hormones are just starting to rage throughout his body, watching it. To a teenage boy, a girl all dressed up in ten layers of clothes and a snowsuit is sexy. It was fun clip for me to watch though, and the music really added an interesting atmosphere.

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  7. Oooooooh La La!

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  8. Ohhh how lovely! You have read the whole internet and found all the good stuff, huh?

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  9. Fascinating and beautiful. So many foot shots! Who knew feet were so forbidden?

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