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EDIT, May 2020: Purely a text edit to bring this part of Edinburgh's history in line with the other text about him.
Ecstatic was Hedley Lamarr Edinburgh's first big break in film. The sentimental plot of the movie features Edinburgh's character rising from humble beginnings to become a success in business, but discovering that his business and loveless marriage -- entered into for financial reasons -- have not given him what he wants in life. The character goes through a dissolute period, searching for the physical to replace the emotional that he's missing. He finally realizes what he wants in life when he goes back to his childhood home, encounters the friends and the past love of his life. During one scene, not at all controversial in Europe where the film was made, Edinburgh takes out the family horse, now quite aged (in real life, the horse would almost certainly have been long dead by then), and goes to the pond where he used to skinny-dip. He then takes off his clothes and tries to recapture his youth by engaging in the same activities. The scene, for all that it was renowned as one of the earliest to show male nudity on film (it wasn't -- an earlier edition of Ben Hur and one other film depicted both rear and frontal male nudity a few years earlier), was ultimately completely innocent. "Ecstatic", being a European film with a relatively downbeat ending, made no impression in the United States at the time. However, it was this film that brought him to the attention of the producers at Spyglass View Studios. They brought him over from Europe, tested him, and then put him into B-movies to see how audiences responded. When they responded well to him, Spyglass put him into some of their bigger budget films, notably the pulp thrillers "Murderous!" and "Murder After Midnight". Just as it seemed he would enter the top rank of Spyglass' stars, "Ecstatic" suddenly became a cause celebre, dragged in the wake of other similar scandals. Edinburgh was ultimately able to weather the storm by pointing out that he had done nothing untoward in "Ecstatic"; the film wasn't in any way indecent, and he hadn't been around any women or children on or off screen while naked. Eventually, the scandal blew over, the public distracted by other things. The progress of his career slowed briefly, but ultimately he survived to become the major draw for Spyglass View during its earlier years.
The very real issue that could have destroyed his career -- that he and the head of Spyglass View were engaged in a torrid affair with the knowledge and consent of the studio head's wife -- and, as it turned out, her active participation -- somehow managed to stay secret during his tenure at Spyglass View. It was only after his later marriage to Kirnberg's widow after the studio head's death, his later retirement and un-retirement and RE-retirement, and finally, publication of his memoirs -- notably after almost all involved were already dead -- that the truth of his scandalous life and his many affairs with men and women alike came to light. (Edinburgh lived to be 102, lasting longer than almost all of his lovers and other contemporaries.)
Even though the nudity in the film was ultimately deemed relatively innocuous, the Hays Code in effect at the time meant that "Ecstatic" could not be shown unedited in the United States until 1968, when the code was finally abandoned in favor of the MPAA Ratings system. When "Ecstatic" was finally shown, in New York in 1969, it received an X rating, which was not yet the commercial kiss of death it would quickly become. As a very old artistic curiosity, "Ecstatic" did tolerably decent business, making back its restoration costs. Nearly 20 years later, after the X rating itself was gone, Spyglass View -- which had purchased "Ecstatic" and its rights from its original producer -- appealed its rating, and it became one of the very few films to show a frontal naked adult male and receive a PG-13 rating.
Only that one print of the film, and very few of the posters, survive. None of the posters are in very good condition; the one reproduced here is the best of those found to date.
-- I. Noah Lott, professor of current history, comparative and modern mythology and modern media studies, Serenity Falls University, Hollywood Roars: scandals of the early days of film.
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A first attempt at the whole vintage film posters thing. Featuring Edinburgh by Danae, Rievel Hair 2 by AprilYSH (so well timed!), DAZ Horse 2. DAZ Studio render with a metric tonne of postwork in GIMP and Photoscape.
Inspired, of course, by the Hedy Lamar movie "Ecstasy" and the posters for it. (With apologies to Ms. Lamar, Mel Brooks and Harvey Korman, of course.) Seeing the posters and whatnot, it's not hard to understand why Lamarr regretted being involved with the film, at some level. The actual nudity in the film really was innocent, although the film itself was ... not. (It wasn't even vaguely pornographic, just very grown-up subject matter.) The posters made the nudity sound like the Big Scandalous Thing about the movie, as opposed to everything else (which really was scandalous). This particular version is inspired by a couple of different posters for the film.
In any event, just a first pass to get into the rhythm, so to speak. Hopefully another couple to come. (Including the poster for either "Murderous!" or for "Murder After Midnight". Haven't decided which one.)
Image size
1200x2400px 5.01 MB
Mature
© 2014 - 2024 vwrangler
Comments2
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My first impression when I saw this was that it was a movie from the 60s. But then I read the title and went "Huh?" Now I'm really glad I read the accompanying story, so now the 60s feel on a 30s film poster makes sense. 
Great job making it look aged, by the way. I love the ragged edge look.
Great job making it look aged, by the way. I love the ragged edge look.