Skin

As soon as there were movies there was movie nudity, and it's never stopped. That is the thrust of the documentary Skin; A History Of Nudity In The Movies, directed by Danny Wolf. It's a fairly straight-forward, if somewhat one-sided exploration of the topic.

Skin goes over the history of its subject from beginnings to the here and now. It has a host of experts, ranging from Peter Bogdanovich to the founder of the celebrity nude Web site, Mr. Skin. There are also several women who took it all off in the movies, and none of them express any regret at what they did, although a few have some unpleasant stories. While the film does put the subject in context of the MeToo movement, I wouldn't call it a feminist film.

What comes across is that nudity in films has always existed. There are bare breasts in D.W. Griffith's 1915 classic Intolerance, and a whole slew of films had peeks of nudity during the early sound period, what became known as the pre-Code era. One of the most notorious examples was a Cecil B. DeMille film The Sign Of The Cross, which featured a nude Claudette Colbert in a bathtub.

But then the motion picture industry hired Will Hays, a former Postmaster General, to implement a code of conduct for any film to be released by a Hollywood studio. He in turn hired Joseph Breen as his censor. For years, every film had to have the approval of Breen to get made. There were those who pushed the envelope, such as Howard Hughes with The Outlaw, which featured the busty Jane Russell.

Europe then became the wellspring of nudity. A film called Ecstasy starred Hedy Lamarr going full frontal nude (and also became the first film to likely show a woman experiencing sexual pleasure). In cities across America art-house cinemas popped up that showed films like this, like the French And God Created Woman, which showed off a nude Brigitte Bardot. There were also "nudie cutie" films, independent films on 16=milometer that showed those enjoying the nudist lifestyle. The courts ruled that nudity in itself, without prurience, was not obscene. As much as it tried, the Production Code couldn't stop people from watching what they wanted to see.

The Code crumbled, and was replaced by the MPAA raring system, which is still in place today. In the early days, mainstream and prestigious films such as Midnight Cowboy and A Clockwork Orange were rated X. But the adult-film industry co-opted the X rating, which was not trademarked.

Skin runs through the decades following the institution of the rating system by touching on women prison films (Linda Blair tells a nasty story about co-star John Vernon), slasher films (I Spit On Your Grave is a notable example) and teen sex comedies from Fast Times At Ridgemont High to American Pie. We are told that nudity will never leave films, but it's more complicated, as actresses are putting riders in their contracts to prevent doing nude scenes, and studios are hiring "intimacy coordinators" to oversee love scenes. (By the way, there is plenty of male nudity discussed--Malcolm McDowell is on hand to discuss his many nude scenes).

Skin is informative but has a bit of a winking attitude. I think it's notable that Paul Fishbein, founder of Adult Video News, is a producer and writer. As I said, the feedback from actresses who went nude is primarily positive, with many women proud of what they did, with one actress saying, "When would I ever look so good again?" I'm all for that, as if a story calls for nudity, let's dispense with the ridiculous scenes of people getting out of bed wrapping sheets around themselves. The film also makes the claim, which I think is correct, that those performing nude scenes do not hurt their careers as they once might have. An example is Julianne Moore, a highly respected Oscar-winning actress who has done several nude scenes, including a famous bottomless one in Short Cuts.

But after watching this film, I have to believe there are some women, or men, who regret going nude, or saw their careers ruined. But they didn't fit the thesis of Skin, and are not included.

I will give Skin credit, it has a ton of film clips. I can't imagine the process of getting all the rights. And it shows nudity.