Ecstasy (1933)

[Mr. Arkadin]

Anyone staying up for this tonight? I recorded it when it showed several years ago. Most people are aware of HL's lack of wardrobe, but there's a lot more to the film. Lots of crazy camera angles and really cool shots. I look forward to catching it again.

[movieman1957]

I saw it when it was on last fall. The first ten or fifteen minutes is silent so I thought that it was a silent film. Parts are rather overtly sexual in a metaphorical way. I found it a bit odd.

[Moraldo Rubini]

Anyone staying up for this tonight? I recorded it when it showed several years ago. Most people are aware of HL's lack of wardrobe, but there's a lot more to the film. Lots of crazy camera angles and really cool shots. I look forward to catching it again.

I hope to. It's always been on my list, and I still have only seen clips of it. But my dish is "acting up" tonight, and tomorrow's a work day... so we'll see...

[moira finnie]

I thought that the film Ecstasy (1933) was a bit self-conscious but occasionally artful, especially in the more poetic silent portions when Hedy Lamarr is wandering through the woods alone. I couldn't help thinking about how cold poor Hedy must've been for some of the scenes in the woods when she became "a child of nature" once again. The theme of the effete, impotent, moneyed older man married to the young, fertile woman theme and her eventual liberation thanks to a stalwart Aryan man of the soil reminded me of some Nazi woolgathering via Leni Riefenstahl, but I'm probably reading too much into it. Besides this theme certainly can be found in much 19th and early 20th literature too, from Turgenev to D.H. Lawrence, so perhaps I see more political meaning in it than is intended.

A couple other things struck me too:
Hedy Kiesler/Lamarr certainly must've been subjected to one heckuva a streamlining and glamorising by MGM once they got their mitts on her contractually. She was a nice looking girl in this 1933 movie, but not exactly the stunning beauty of later appearances.

One thing that this film did remind me of...how few contemporary films since the '70s attempt to show simple sensuality on screen. It always seems to be accompanied by violence or some special effects, if attempted at all. So, apparently, the removal of censorship (or the threat of it), hasn't exactly inspired an exaltation of the human spirit, imagination or body, has it?

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Moira,

Hedwig was put on a strict diet by Fritz Mandel and nearly starved when he married her. It screwed up her metabolism, somewhat like anorexia and she ate sparringly everafter.
She was fond of hamburger and cooked hamburgers for her kids and me once in Acapulco, around 1952. She ate the hamburger but not the bun. She told us then about her Mandel eating troubles and that she couldn't eat much anymore.
I understand that she was grossly underweight in old age and died nearly a skeleton..... So sad; such a lovely person.

Larry

[MikeBSG]

Back in the 80s, the Cleveland Cinematheque showed "Ecstasy" as part of a series on "Czech Modernism," films from the 20s and 30s. "Ecstasy" ended up being one of my least favorites of the series.

In part this was because "Ecstasy" seemed like three movies cut together. It started out in alight, Lubitschian way, with an old husband and young wife, but then turned dark and brooding, and then ended up with a socialist realist type montage celebrating people at work in the countryside. At several times, I wondered if the projectionist hadn't slipped in a reel from a different movie.

"Virginity" was a terrific weepie from the late 30s that would have done MGM or Warners proud. Best of all were the comedies from Voskevec and Weyrich, who were as funny as the Marx Brothers. "The World Belongs to Us" deserves to be far better known.

[moira finnie]

Dear Larry,
Thanks for the fill-in on poor Hedy Lamarr's nutritional regimen. I've an aunt who was in the fashion business in NYC for years and the similar stories she tells about the things that people do to look good for the camera are equally unsettling. Women often don't realize that their self-discipline--while understandable, may sometimes be paid for later in life, since they're robbing their system of nutritional sustenance, (especially calcium). Miss Lamarr's marriage to armaments maker Friedrich Mandl sounds like a real nightmare. It must've taken courage and determination (and luck) to escape this guy before his friends among the Nazis made everyone's life a living hell.

Could you please mention if, in your experience, Hedy Lamarr seemed as interested in science as she must've been--or did you just know her as a family friend as a kid? For anyone who may not know, during WWII, Lamarr, while a movie star, with composer George Antheil, helped to develop the technology that we still use today to operate cell phones and other wireless devices. This sophisticated idea was not applicable during the war, though the actress and composer donated it to the U.S. government. Practical usage of the ideas of frequency hopping that this patent entailed began in 1962.

Did you know either of her previous husbands Gene Markey and John Loder since you knew her children?

Dear Mike,
Wouldn't it be great if TCM could explore some of the Czech Modernism films that you saw in Cleveland? It would be really interesting to see how vital and creative the non-German European cinema was before the war. Have you seen the great mini-series produced by Kevin Brownlow & Dan Carter called Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (1996)? It was shown on some PBS stations and on TCM several years ago. If you have seen it, I'm sure you appreciate how much it reveals about the beauty and innovations of European cinema. Thanks for the info about those other films. I'll look around for some of them on vhs/dvd.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Moira,

I did not know John Loder at all but knew Gene Markey fairly well as he was a friend of my grandmother.
Nell and he owned race horses and were intensely interested in "The Sport of Kings".. Markey also had a huge yacht that we all sailed on periodically.
He liked to be called 'The Admiral'...
His last wife was quite wealthy and he moved to Palm Beach in the 60's.
I heard he died there about 25 years ago.

Ironic that Hedy moved to Florida in later life too!!

No, Hedy never discussed science with any of us that I recall.
I never saw her after the Acapulco cookout!! After she divorced Teddy Stauffer and married Lee Howard, she moved to Texas.

Larry

[Sue Sue Applegate]

One thing that this film did remind me of...how few contemporary films since the '70s attempt to show simple sensuality on screen. It always seems to be accompanied by violence or some special effects, if attempted at all. So, apparently, the removal of censorship (or the threat of it), hasn't exactly inspired an exaltation of the human spirit, imagination or body, has it?[/quote]

I certainly agree, Moira!

Enjoyed your and Larry's posts about Hedley, I mean Hedy.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Does any one know exactly how many patents that she actually held? I was under the impression that she had more than one or two. She was so talented in so many areas, and I've always admired her.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I just found this great link that describes Miss Lamarr's inventions:

http://www.inventions.org/culture/female/lamarr.html

And her daughter is an artist who has created some lovely portraits of her mother at this site:

http://www.hedylamarr.org/paintings.html

[Moraldo Rubini]

Could you please mention if, in your experience, Hedy Lamarr seemed as interested in science as she must've been--or did you just know her as a family friend as a kid? For anyone who may not know, during WWII, Lamarr, while a movie star, with composer George Antheil, helped to develop the technology that we still use today to operate cell phones and other wireless devices. This sophisticated idea was not applicable during the war, though the actress and composer donated it to the U.S. government. Practical usage of the ideas of frequency hopping that this patent entailed began in 1962.

Greetings from Manhattan! A pal of mine is working on a show that opened tonight. He mentioned it in an off-hand manner and seemed to have no idea that I'd be fascinated with the show. You see, the play is all about Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil. Called Frequency Hopping and advertised as a dark comedy, it'll be playing for the next month. Here's some more information, for those who might be interested:

http://www.hourglassgroup.org/frequency.html

[mahlerii]

I was very interested in seeing this film because of its noteriety. I proabaly need to see it again to properly rate it, it certainly is interesting. With the mixture of silent and talk, it reminded me somewhat of The Jazz Singer. I would assume that a lot of the film is lost to censor's scissors because of the ambiguity and the jumping around of the plot. We should be pleased that it is still in existence, since later on her then husband wanted to destroy all of the prints!

[mahlerii]

Very interesting about the play! George Antheil was a celebrated but controversial composer starting in the 20's with his "Ballet Mechanique" which included many pianos and airplane engines. As he grew older, he wrote a handful of scores for pictures, including "The Pride and the Passion" with Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren which was recently shown on TCM and will be shown again, I think. His 4th Symphony is probably his best work.