Ecstasy (1933) User Reviews (47)

A Star is born

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 4 April 2008]

This was a very daring film for it's day. It could even be described as soft-core porn for the silent era. It was a talkie, but dialog was extremely limited, and in German. One did not need it anyway.

The young (19) Hedy Lamarr gets trapped in a loveless marriage to an obsessive (stereotype?) German and after a short time in a marriage that was apparently never consummated, returns home to her father.

In a famous and funny scene, she decides to go skinny dipping one morning when her horse is distracted by another. She is then forced to run across a field chasing after it, as she left her clothing on the horse. An engineer retrieves her horse and returns her clothing - after getting an eyeful.

They sit for a while and, in a zen moment, he presents her with a flower with a bee sitting on top. This is where she thinks back to her honeymoon and the actions of her husband and an insect. She knows this man is different.

She returns home and eventually seeks out our young fellow, and finds the ecstasy she was denied. You can use your imagine here, but his head disappears from view and we see her writhing with pleasure. Since he never got undressed, you can imagine... Certainly, an homage to women by the director Gustav Machatý, and a shock to 1933 audiences.

The only thing that mars this beautifully filmed movie is the excessive guilt, and a strange ending.

Superb poetry

[JohnSeal · 7/10 · 6 November 2004]

Dripping with symbolism and filled with marvelous cinematography, Extase is so much more than the erotic drama we've all come to expect. This is almost a silent film, with what dialogue there is in German, and highly simplified German at that. Perhaps the filmmakers intended the film to reach the widest possible European audience, as anyone with even a little high school level Deutsch can easily dispense with the subtitles. The story is of little importance anyway, with the film succeeding on a cinematic level, not a narrative one. Symbols of fecundity and the power of nature overwhelm the human characters--there are even scenes where flowers obscure the face of supposed star Hedy Lamarr--and there are moments here that will remind viewers of the works of Dreyer, Vertov, and Riefenstahl. If the film has any message to convey, I think it's a political one: bourgeois man is timid and impotent; working class man is a happy, productive creature; and woman is the creator, destined to be unfulfilled until she has borne a child. This blend of Soviet socialist realism and National Socialist dogma doesn't overwhelm the film by any means--it's a beauty to watch from beginning to end--but it does place it in a very distinct artistic era. And, oh yeah, Hedy does get her kit off.

Its sub-title "Symphony of Love" does not say it all.

[bbhlthph · 8/10 · 11 June 2008]

I cannot comment on this film without discussing its significance to me personally. As a child bad health prevented me from ever going to a cinema. I first encountered movies at the end of WWII through Roger Manvilles splendid Penguin book "Film", which brought me so much pleasure as my health began to improve that I wish I could buy another copy to re-read today. My introduction to many classics films such as The Battleship Potemkin, Drifters (Grierson's magnificent documentary), Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and Ecstasy; came first through this book and later at my University Art-house cinema. Ecstasy had incurred the wrath of the Vatican, for condoning Eva's desertion of Emil, her subsequent divorce, and the brief swim she took in the buff, but Roger Manville ignored these trivial matters and discussed the film as a triumphant, outstandingly beautiful, visual paean to love - a view echoed by many IMDb users. A very lonely young man, when I saw it, I willingly concurred. No further opportunity to see Ecstasy arose until the introduction of home videos - by then it had become a treasured memory not to be disturbed. Quite recently I finally added Ecstasy to my home video collection and found this assessment very superficial. Ecstasy is much more of a parable on the continuity of human existence, against which individual lives are insignificant - perhaps a tribute to what Bernard Shaw in his aggressively agnostic writings used to term 'The Lifeforce'.

Ecstasy portrays a young bride marrying a middle aged man whose sex urge is no longer strong. Disappointed, she returns home and divorces him. Soon after she experiences a strong mutual attraction to a young virile man she meets whilst out horse riding. She makes love for the first time and it is an overwhelming experience. Her former husband cannot face rejection and gives the young man a lift in his car intending that a passing train will kill them both on a level crossing. But the train stops in time and the apparently ill driver is taken to recuperate at a nearby hotel where he later commits suicide by shooting himself. After these exciting climacteric sequences, a bland, predictable and almost inevitable ending emphasises that whilst individual human lives exhibit both joy and tragedy, collectively life continues to carry us all forward in its stream and only through contributing to this stream can we be truly happy. This story is trite, the acting is no more than adequate; and normally such a film would have disappeared into the garbage, as did most of its contemporaries, long ago. What has given Ecstasy its classic status is exceptional cinematography, a continuous lyrical score and very careful loving direction, coupled with something fortuitous but in cinematographic terms very important - it appeared just after the introduction of sound and was probably planned as a silent film. It is sub-titled and its Director has exploited the impact of brief verbal sequences accompanying some sub-titles, and occasionally breaking into the score which so lovingly carries the film forward. This makes it not only almost unique but extremely rewarding to watch. The parable in the tale is stressed continuously but so subtly that only when reflecting after viewing does one become fully aware of it. For example, the names - Eva and Adam; the obsessive behavior of Emil on his wedding night which shows that triviata have become the most important thing in his life and predicate his eventual suicide since he has no adequate purpose to sustain him; the ongoing series of beautiful sequences showing erotic imagery (a bee pollinating a flower, a key entering a lock, a breaking necklace during Eva's virginal lovemaking sequence with Adam, etc.); and the final post-suicide sequences which could have been filmed in many different ways but serve to extol the importance to individuals of performing some type of work that contributes positively to Society, as well as of creating new life to sustain this society after we ourselves pass on.

As a 1933 film I would rate this at 9 - even comparing it with contemporary works I would not reduce this below 8. For me the film will always remain a "must see", (although you may feel that my background remarks above indicate some bias in this judgment). Unfortunately in North America contemporary assessments of this film have been distorted by the extreme 1930's reaction to Hedy Kiesler's very brief and relatively unimportant nude scene which she had difficulty living down in Hollywood (some critics, who have clearly not seen such classic films as Hypocrites, Hula, Back to God's Country, Bird of Paradise or some of the early works of D.W. Griffiths and C.B. deMille, have even erroneously referred to this as the first appearance of a nude actress in a feature film). This scene was probably part of the original novel, and the film would have been very little different if the Director had chosen to rewrite it.

Two further thoughts; firstly this is a Czech film, released there in 1933. Its final message about hard work generating positive benefits for society must have seemed very superficial to its viewers when a few years later their country became the first victim of Nazi oppression and was virtually destroyed for at least two generations (I do not remember these sequences being screened just after the war when I first saw this film - were they removed from the copy I saw then?). Secondly for me its main message today is that things of real beauty are often very transitory even though their memory may stay with one for a lifetime. We should all be thankful that today some of them can be captured on camera and viewed again at our convenience.

Prototypical romanticism

[Bobs-9 · 24 June 2002]

This is romanticism in the original 18th and 19th century sense of exalting human emotion and imagination, depicting the nature of sex and human relations in terms of powerful, elemental forces mirrored and symbolized in nature. It's prototypical also of European art cinema, which I've always had a weakness for. A romance, yes, but not in the sense of some smarmy "relationship" flick. All that aside, it's just strikingly beautiful, and a real treat for people who relish earlier styles of film-making. On reading some brief blurbs about the new DVD edition before getting it, I kind of got the impression that it was some cheap "shocker" in the manner of "Sex Madness" or "Reefer Madness," which couldn't be further from the truth.

As has been remarked, it's practically a silent film with a continuous musical score. Released very early in the 1930s, I have to wonder if it wasn't originally conceived and largely shot as a silent, and retrofitted for sound. Spoken lines are never more than a brief sentence or two, and most often just one or two words. This is at a time when American films were thick with dialog, taking full advantage of the new sound technology. I think much of the communicative power of cinematography was shoved aside or forgotten with the advent of sound. Had this picture been done in the United States at that time, quite apart from the demands of the sensors, a continuous patter of verbal exposition and just plain yammering would have been insisted-on by those financing it. Thankfully, it wasn't, and we still have this almost-forgotten gem to show for it.

The direction and cinematography isn't really revolutionary for its time, as it uses techniques, camera tricks, editing and points-of-view that had already been invented by earlier pioneers of silent film, but their presence still makes it stand strikingly apart from the vast majority of mainstream films of the era. There is visual sexual symbolism obvious enough to raise a giggle or two from some modern viewers (Eva pensively toys with her ring while lying on the bed on her wedding night, one drooping flower drips into another receptively open flower after a violent rainstorm). It's hardly out of place, as sex is at the very center of the film.

The musical score is extremely specific to the action, and is highly lyrical. It may strike some modern viewers as a bit too cloyingly sweet, but I find it appropriate to the style and powerfully effective for getting you into the spirit of the piece. It helps evoke the wide range of mood in the film, which at the very start almost looks like a whimsical romantic comedy. The mood darkens considerably as it moves on.

A story is told powerfully and with great visual artistry, without any superfluous exposition or jabber. For me, it's the essence of cinema. It was a big surprise for me, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to finally see it.

Ecstasy review

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 18 April 2020]

A free-spirited young woman quickly grows tired of her stuffy older husband and begins an affair with a young engineer. A lyrical, near-silent Czech movie which is chiefly remembered for the fact that 19-year-old future Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr briefly gives her pups an airing before treating us to mainstream cinema. The sparse dialogue means the plot is easy to follow even without subtitles, and allows plenty of time to admire Director Gustav Machaty's confident direction.

Hedy Lamarr Bares All

[m0rphy · 7/10 · 30 September 2003]

First, let's get the "hoopla" out of the way.Hedy Lamarr was regarded as one of the most beautiful of women and the movies were a perfect medium for the many to see her beauty on screen.Here we have Hedy as a young fresh-faced 20 year old speaking in her native Austrian.I recently bought a 1990 uncensored version of this 1932/3 classic.Yes we see a brief close up of Hedy bare from the waist up but although she filmed the swimming & runaway horse scenes naked, the director Gustav Machaty uses the cover of branches, reflections in puddles, medium and long shots to show her thus in this famous scene; so don't go imagining there are any lascivious close ups or clinches.Her boyfriend , Pierre Nay keeps his clothes on at all times.Yes, fairly daring for its day but how innocous it looks now through 2003 eyes.

As other learned reviews have stated this film should be looked at for the imagary, expressionism, and allegorical statements it makes with pictures of drops of water forming a ripple on the surface of a pale of water, farm machinery, landscapes etc.Sweet sounding strings run for most of "Extase's" length and the film has a "feel" of a transition between silent and sound in its direction and concept.The script is highly minimalist and economical the story being mainly imparted through the medium of facial and bodily gestures with just a few words of German spoken by the actors with English subtitles beneath.Even these few words seem almost superflous in the general lyrical vein which runs through the film.

Put very simply this is the story of a young girl who marries a much older man (why we are never told and what did Eva see in him anyway?Money?), who is then trapped in an unconsumated and loveless marriage.She then returns to her father having left her husband and her father has to lie to his son in law.After a ride on her horse Eva decides to take a swim in the buff and loads up her clothes onto her horse's saddle.However her horse gets romantic notions itself and gallops off to greet its stablemate.Hedy rushes out of the lake naked and tries to recover her mount but an engineer at work sees and retrieves the horse then looks around for its owner.And so the romance is born.Her husband seeing that his rival must win Eva, later decides to shoot himself but I thought this was rather illogical and its main weakness bearing in mind his previous loveless relationship with Eva.

Despite being a 1990 reissue title on VHS, the sound being 70 years old, is a bit soft and with background crackles, in line with films of its age.After a period of mourning our handsome boyfriend obviously is so in love with Eva he imagines her as a mother with an infant so we have to assume they live happily ever after.Just let the imagary wash over you and disabuse your mind of the style of films even of late 1930's vintage.This is a lyrical piece that can be enyoyed for its own sake and not just for its eye catching title.I gave it 7/10.

the film is in need of a pressing restoration to reinstate its grandeur

[lasttimeisaw · 6/10 · 19 September 2015]

This early talkie notoriously brings a then 19-year-old Hedy Lamrr to the world cinema through its madcap depiction of female nudity and sex liberation, way head of time, directed by Czechoslovakian director Gustav Machtý, ECSTASY won BEST DIRECTOR in Venice in 1934. But it was not released in the United States until 1940.

Eve (Lamarr), a young bride marries a much older man Emile (Rogoz), who possesses an orderly manner but doesn't care to consummate their marriage on their wedding night, the film literally opens with Emile fumbling around with different keys, but cannot open the lock on the front door. Disappointed by the marriage, Eve returns to stay with her father (Kramer) and a divorce is issued by her, it is bracing to notice that this is the case where a woman is empowered to initiate the controversial step, and all the more, because of sexual dissatisfaction, a taboo too personal and embarrassing to admit, yet is pandemic in most marriages. Even in today's cinema, it is rarely given such a visible platform to manifest.

But, wait and see, there is something even more forward-looking in the picture, Eve, goes bare to swimming in a brook and leaves all her clothing on the horseback, her topless shots are quite a profanity then, and a chance meeting with a young foreman Adam (Mog, a strapping German actor who would meet his death in the battlefield of WWII) ignites her sexual impulse, although she is ashamed to be discovered naked by him and fends off his help at the first place. The same night, Eve, again, makes the first move to find Adam, together she finally achieves her orgasm, satisfactorily. No woman should be condemned for doing that, not ever!

Later, by chance, Adam hitchhikes with Emile, who has been rebuffed by Eve for his endeavour of reconciliation. After realises Adam is his unwitting rival, Emile drives in full throttle with the thought of perishing together, the white-knuckle experience comes to a halt in front of a running train, he is not a maniac, only despondent, or maybe more than that, like a fly trapped in the room, cannot run away from the sticky pad luring to the ultimate demise. One soul's departure effects many others, Eve, never hesitate to be a decision- maker, only leaves the discombobulated Adam to memorise her in his widest imagination.

The version I watched is post-dubbed in German, although, at the dawning of talkie era, the dialogue is scarce and awfully basic, it could have been better produced as a silent thanks to Machatý's expressionistic expertise and symbolic touches. Lamarr is such an emotive performer in front the camera, and deceptively mature in flaring up her repressed sexuality, stunning, brave and uncompromising.

Apart from being an innovation of its time regarding the thematic bravura, ECSTASY doesn't benefit from its bumpy narrative pace and grating sound effect, the film is in need of a pressing restoration to reinstate its grandeur, even it is solely for the sake of the dazzling Austrian beauty, Mrs. Lamarr.

Slow story, nice direction.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 28 August 2006]

There's nothing new about the story. Naive young Emma Bovary married older man, finds he's not very exciting, leaves older man, finds younger man, drops mescaline, smokes rainbow, paints political slogans on body, goes back to older man -- no, he dies, that's right, of a "self-inflicted gunshot wound" -- nibbles madeleine cake dipped in tea, broods over lost love who dumped her for cheerleader, meets movie mogul, is morphed into Hedy Lamarr, is busted for shoplifting -- and the rest you know.

I hadn't seen this for a generation. The last print I saw was chopped to pieces and was a lousy print. This one, which appeared on Turner Classic Movies, is about as good as we're likely to get now. And it's not bad either.

Definitely a chick flick though, rather like "Lady Chatterly's Lover" or any one of a number of stories with similar themes. The horny young man is not named Count Vronsky but he might as well be.

The director, whom I'd never heard of, does the best he can with this slightly shapeless script. I don't mean the nude scenes which by today's standards are dismissible. I mean the way he allows Hedy Keisler turn away from the camera and hide her face behind a door jamb when she must register shock and guilt. And -- good grief -- what he does with symbolism! When the young couple are developing the hots for each other -- let me think -- he's got a bee pollinating a flower, a male horse huffing and puffing around a mare in estrus, a rising wind, a burning lantern -- please, I'm trying to remember. Yes, when she is suddenly rendered virgo no-longer intacta, her pearl necklace breaks and the pearls roll around on the floor.

The old guy knows who the young guy is and gives him a ride in his six-cylinder convertible. The car picks up speed in a truly excitingly photographed and very tense scene as the old driver is deciding whether or not to kill them both by running into a train. He stops short, at the same time as the locomotive, and the locomotive boiler releases its pressure in a plume of steam and a terrifyingly exhausted hiss.

Not much acting is called for, this being on the cusp of talking and silent movies at that time and in that place. Hedy Lamarr was only twenty and a little plumper and sexier than we are used to seeing her, though that description doesn't extend to her bosom, kind of a nice touch.

It's worth seeing. It's not just an historical curiosity. If you're in the right mood you'll be caught up in the story, sad as it is.

The world's first glimpse of a 19 year-old Hedy Lamarr...

[tccandler · 10/10 · 20 August 2004]

Ecstasy (1933) (USA 1940) Starring Hedy Lamarr (as Hedy Kiesler)

The world's first glimpse of a 19 year-old Hedy Lamarr occurs in the early moments of this 1930's treasure as she sweeps across the screen in an angelic wedding gown. This was to be the start of a legendary career. This was our glorious introduction to the most beautiful woman ever to grace the silver screen.

It is Eva's (Lamarr) wedding night and her older husband seems uninterested in her romantic advances. She retreats to the lonely bed and, in a beautiful scene, she fiddles with her wedding ring as the realization of her marital mistake overcomes her. The husband seems more interested in neatness and order than he does in love. Gustav Machaty uses gorgeous camera angles and pristine shot framing to capture Lamarr's considerable talent and beauty. With no words spoken in the early part of the film, she is able to grasp our sympathy, our hearts and our support. It is that combination that prepared the 1930's audiences for what they were about to see as the film unfolded. 'Ecstasy' was considered shocking for its time... Some thought it to be scandalous.

She returns home to her father's estate and files for divorce. The next day, she wakes with a complete sense of freedom and happiness. She just has to go outside and feel the freedom of the countryside and fresh air. Eva goes for a horseback ride and happens across a beautiful lake. And in one of the most famous scenes in film history, Hedy Lamarr became the first person to ever appear nude in a major film. Her frolic in the woods and her skinny-dipping adventure in the lake were legendarily scandalous. But the audiences couldn't stay away. As with many of today's movies, the controversy made it a must-see film.

Eva's mischievous adventure introduces her to a handsome young man who helps her find her horse, who had run off with her clothes. After an awkward meeting, they eventually fall for each other. Their first romantic rendezvous was almost as controversial as the nude scene, with its blatant waves of eroticism. However, Machaty does beautiful work in these romantic moments. Machaty creates one delightful moment, when Eva literally seems to sink into her new lover, using a gorgeous early camera trick.

It cannot be overstated how brave this performance was on Lamarr's part. Many might have presumed it was career suicide. Instead, it gained her worldwide fame and caught the eye Louis B Mayer, who signed her to a contract with MGM. There are some truly erotic moments in this film, even by today's raunchy standards. It is impossible to imagine how they were received in the 1930's. Again, Machaty was very clever with his imagery, leaving a lot to the imagination. But we all understand very well what we are seeing and it is supremely well done.

The meeting of Eva's former husband and her current lover is perhaps inevitable. However, the consequences of that meeting are not. The film takes a few unexpected turns in its final act and it all makes for a great story and a lovely debut on the grand stage of movie stardom for Hedy Lamarr.

I highly recommend this once controversial, now tame film and urge you to seek it out in its restored form on DVD. It is easily worthwhile, if only for the pleasure of seeing Hedy Lamarr. But the story is compelling too and the direction is ahead of its time. 'Ecstasy' is a memorable early treasure.

www.tccandler.com - TC Candler's Movie Reviews!!!

Hedy Lamarr In Mostly Silent Drama About Happiness

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 29 August 2016]

Famous for nude shots of young Hedy Lamarr, and its condemnation by the Pope and the U.S. Treasury Dept., "Ecstasy" is a mostly silent film that does contain some spoken lines in German.

The story starts with starry-eyed newlyweds who quickly settle into the quotidian routines of life. Eva finds herself married to a man who expresses no interest in her. Eventually, she has to make a decision to stay or leave.

The film is heavy with symbolism and injects countless images of nature and the elements, especially insects, to convey the concept of good (as opposed to evil or bad). Man's connection with nature, especially in terms of doing manual labor outdoors, is also portrayed as good or sacred.

The pace of the film might be considered slow, but a better term would be patient. The director painstakingly develops his tableaux and allows the camera to linger on small details.

The film is also filled with thoughtful framing and perspectives. Clearly the director was willing to take chances in order to elevate the film's artistic expression.

Though there are few words, the acting is solid. Not being long after the silent era, the film's presentation is based upon the silent approach without being overly expressive.

Now that this film is available for viewing, we can all see what the Hayes Code was designed to protect us from.

Much Ado About Wearing Nothing

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 26 October 2009]

Hedy Lamarr (as Eva Hermann) made a sensational splash in the Czechoslovakia-made "Ecstasy" by swimming and running nude, and appearing orgasmic while embracing hunky Aribert Mog (as Adam). In her autobiographical "Ecstasy and Me" (1966), the increasingly beautiful Ms. Lamarr revealed her passionate look to be the result of director Gustav Machaty jabbing her in the arse with a safety pin.

"You will lie here," Lamarr quoted Mr. Machaty as explaining, "I will be underneath, out of camera range. When I prick you a little on your backside, you will bring your elbows together and you will REACT!"

Moreover, Lamarr reported Mr. Mog (during the filming, a paramour) was a realistic, "Method" actor; "his vibrations of actual sex proved highly contagious." They do make an attractive couple. Alas, the notorious (and nicely restored) film is overbearingly symbolic, and surprisingly flaccid. Although it's considered a foreign language film, "Ecstasy" is a "silent" film with sound effects and dubbing.

***** Ekstase (1/20/33) Gustav Machaty ~ Hedy Lamarr, Aribert Mog, Zvonimir Rogoz, Leopold Kramer

Lyrical Masterpiece! Films Transcends Language

[wndlz · 10/10 · 18 December 2002]

This film could have been a silent movie; it certainly has the feel of one. I was extremely, extremely lucky to see this very rare version of this film. Extase, is a 'symphony of love', and transcends all language versions. French, which is the ultimate romantic language, seems quite suitable for this very sensual and lyrical version.A young Hedy Lamarr lights up the screen, in this film which, in a way is almost like a sex fantasy; but definitely far from being pornographic.Tech qualities may have been a little crude; but that does not detract from the magical spell this film exudes.Many lovers of early cinema, would absolutely adore this film.

It's pretty good but no masterpiece

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 7 September 2007]

Young beautiful Eva (Hedy Lamarr) marries an older man (Zvonimir Rogoz). Unfortunately he can't satisfy her sexually and ignores her. Frustrated she goes home and plans to get a divorce. Then, one day, she's skinny dipping in a lake in the middle of the woods. Her horse gallops off with her clothes...and she runs after it! She meets young and very handsome Adam (Aribert Mog). They make love and she realizes this is the man she wants.

ENDING SPOILER!!!! Naturally, since this was made in 1933, she has to be punished for her sin so it leads to a tragic finale. END OF ENDING SPOILER!!!!

This horrified people in 1933 but it's pretty tame by today's standards. Lamarr's nude swim shows nothing and when she runs after the horse totally nude, it's either shown in extreme long shot or is covered by branches and such. There's only a few minor shots of her breasts. Also when she has sex with Mog, nothing is shown but her face but you see her achieving an orgasm. These scene were considered pretty extreme in their day and were cut out completely of the American release. Now today they're back in. This film would get by with a PG-13 easily now.

Shock episodes aside this is just OK. It is beautifully filmed and there's next to no dialogue. Except for the music score this could be a silent picture. Luckily all the actors are good--Lamarr and Mog especially and they're so attractive that they just take your breath away watching them. Also the sequence where they make love is easily one of the most beautifully shot and acted sequences I've ever seen in a movie. The scenes with the sexual symbolism (there's quite a few of them) are unfortunately pretty obvious today. I actually started to giggle during one!

So, great direction, beautiful imagery, attractive actors, good acting all around--but I wasn't exactly bowled over by it. I found the movie slow-moving (beautiful imagery does not make a picture for me), somewhat dull, obvious, static and had a negative ending. I can live with the ending but it doesn't excuse the other problems I had with it. Also the final sequence is REALLY strange--and out of place. So I admire this film more than anything else. It was well-done and I'd recommend it but with caution. Many people seem to love this movie so I'm in the minority. Use your own judgment.

Staccato snapshots of nature in bloom more interesting than the humans or the horses...

[moonspinner55 · 2/10 · 22 October 2010]

Hedy Lemarr shot to prominence in this scandalous Czech production filmed when her name was still Hedy Kiesler. It's a relatively simple and plodding extramarital affair between an engineer and a newly-married young woman whose husband has turned cold towards her (though we are never told why). Director Gustav Machatý has a terrific eye for details and little bits of business (such as the husband crushing a fly while reading his newspaper), yet the filmmaker is unable to use his imagery to propel the story, which takes forever to get going. The elongated opening--with the blushing, seemingly-happy newlyweds arriving to their honeymoon suite--is so coy, it puts the audience in the uncomfortable position of expecting (or, indeed, hoping) something lascivious will happen. The girl's background as the daughter of a horse rancher is sketchily drawn, and her initial meeting with smitten hunk Aribert Mog has the awkward feel of silent-movie melodrama. Still, Lamarr is quite beautiful (especially when tousled), and she has a touching early moment wistfully watching lovers on the dance-floor. "Ecstasy" clearly isn't much of a movie, but at least it gave us one of the cinema's most attractive leading ladies. * from ****

More Than a Romp in the Woods

[dougdoepke · 8 September 2006]

(No need to recap the plot, since others have done so already.)

It's understandable that many viewers find fault with the film, raised as we are with the slam-bang sensurround of today's cineplex experience. Against that background, a movie like Ecstasy appears to have wandered in from another planet. I think there are several worthwhile reasons why.

Most importantly, the film unfolds poetically, as the camera pans slowly over surrounding hills, trees, clouds, etc., providing a serene and lyrical sense of a natural world that integrates the man and woman into its fold. Together these reveal a style and dimension almost totally missing from today's technology-driven cinema, where rapid-fire editing works to divert audience attention and not to concentrate it. Additionally, the story is conveyed by eye and not by ear, with almost no dialogue to explain what's happening. This amounts to another extreme departure from today's very literal fare, where visuals only seem to count when they excite the audience. But perhaps most unsettling-- the movie is sometimes eerily quiet, not in the sense that silent films are quiet since we expect them to be. But in the sense that the characters seldom speak when we expect them to. Thus, the burden of the story is shared between the film-maker and the viewer. The former must choose his visuals artfully so as to convey the narrative, while the latter must think about those visuals, since they're not going to be explained.

None of this is intended to belittle today's film-making. It's simply to point out that a movie like Machaty's comes out of a very different aesthetic from the one we have today. I don't claim either to be any better or worse. However, I do claim that Ecstasy represents a perspective sorely missing from today's movie-going experience, where such 'contemplative values are routinely dismissed as slow and boring.

The film itself is no masterpiece, though at times it reaches artistic heights, as in the beautifully composed beer-garden scene with its final crane shot rising to reveal the exquisite tableau below. The slow pans of the countryside with its pantheistic celebration of life, nature, and regeneration are also wonderfully expressed. These are the kind of scenes that don't overwhelm you, but instead-- given half-a chance-- accumulate quietly into an experience as memorable in its own way as the spine-tingling variety of a "Jaws".

On the other hand, the film is sometimes heavy-handed, as when Machaty piles on the imagery, particularly in the final, ode-to-labor sequence. It's hard to know what to make of this rather disruptive presence. Perhaps the symbolism has to do with the heroic dimension that hard work holds for the love-lorn hero and people in general-- a theme then being promoted by the influential Soviet cinema. Still, its presence here is rather tediously over-done.

Anyhow, I've got to admit that I tuned in initially to see the gorgeous Hedy LaMarr in the buff. But now I have to admit that in the process I also got a lot more than just a peek-a-boo romp in the woods.

What Was All the Fuss About?

[bsmith5552 · 6/10 · 10 January 2018]

"Ecstasy" has long been famous for scenes of the teen-aged Hedy Lamarr (as Hedy Keisler) scampering through the bushes sans clothes. Racy enough for the time, these scenes are comparably mild by today's standards.

The film opens with newlyweds Eva (Lamarr) and Emile (Zvanimir Rogaz) crossing the thresh hold of their home. Emile is much older than Eva and is set in his ways to the point of falling asleep on their wedding night. Emile has little time for a passionate relationship. Eva over time, becomes increasingly frustrated with the situation and returns home to her father (Leopold Kramer).

One day while riding in the countryside, Eva stops for a skinny dip leaving her robe upon her horse. The horse wanders away and Eva is left in the lurch as it were. A young construction worker Adam (Albert Mog) catches the horse and searches for its owner. Eva meanwhile has also been searching for the animal. Adam finds her cowering nude behind a bush. He chivalrously throws her her clothes. While fleeing the embarrassing situation Eva trips and injures her ankle. Adam goes after her and the two become attracted to each other.

During the night, Eva becomes uncontrollably drawn to Adam's home and the two become lovers. It turns out that Eva's husband is Adam's boss and somehow, has learned of the affair. He takes Adam on a seemingly suicidal car ride which ends with the older man falling ill. Later Emile goes to Eva's father's home to plead with her to return to him. She refuses. Later, a tragic event occurs which greatly upsets Eva and...........................................................

The celebrated nude scenes are shown mostly in long shots with only glimpses of Ms. Lamarr running between the bushes. The swimming scenes culminating with Hedy emerging from the water showing all, are similarly shown in grainy long shots. The shot of Eva experiencing passion or if you will, ecstasy is well done but suffers from the grainy print from which the DVD was struck. Apparently Ms. Lamarr's husband of the day (she was married 6 times), tried to buy up existing prints of the film but failed.

The Ecstasy of Gold.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 29 June 2019]

When reading up about actress Hedy Lamarr in connection to the praise for the doc Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017),I was surprised to learn that Lamarr had appeared in a Czech film,which is credited as the first non-"Adult" title to feature a (simulated) sex scene and a woman having a orgasm on screen. Having been interested in viewing the movie for ages,I decided during ICM's Eastern European viewing challenge to drop ecstasy.

View on the film:

Part-Silent Movie/Part-Talkie, co-writer/(with Frantisek Horky and Jacques A. Koerpel) director Gustav Machaty makes both formats hold together with a refined Expressionism style spun from evocative close-ups on Hermann's face with eye-catching shards of light illuminating the disintegration of Hermann and Emil's marriage. Going on only a five page script (!) Machaty makes each snippet of dialogue count, by using it to open up Hermann's innermost feelings in crisp outdoor sequences, and to also unveil the drained state Emil and Hermann share.

Adapting Robert Horky's novel into a really short and sweet script, the writers do very well at drawing a silky smooth Melodrama by holding Hermann as the key to it all,who hands out the wish fulfilment in this "Women's Picture" of falling passionate in love with a strapping young woodsmen,met at a time when Hermann's psychological sexual desires are reaching the surface. Lying that she was older than 17 when production started in 1932, Hedy Lamarr owns the film as Hermann,thanks to Lamarr taking left-field choices with her expressive performance, such as playing scenes when topless not as sexual, but joyfully free and liberating,and bringing a frustrated, downcast withdrawn state to Hermann on her marriage lacking any feeling of ecstasy.

This was A Shocker Film

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 26 March 2008]

This picture was banned from American movies houses in the 1930 because of nudity by Hedy Lamarr, (Eva Hermann) which caused all kinds of problems among the ladies in the 1930's but not so much for the male population. This story concerns a young woman named Eva Hermann who gets married to an older man and is carried over the threshold on the wedding night and the husband never consummates the marriage and worries about all kinds of very petty things like his shoes and killing bugs. Eva leaves her husband's house and lives with her father and tries to explain her situation. On a hot Summer day Eva takes a ride on her horse and decides to go for a swim naked in a lake in the woods. Her horse runs off and she runs after him and is observed by a young man who finds her clothes and returns them to Eva. These two people become very acquainted and there is a romance that starts to bloom. There are many more interesting problems that arise as you view this film to its very end. Enjoy a great Classic film which was a Shocker Film in 1933. Enjoy.

One of the best ever made

[zetes · 10/10 · 30 August 2003]

Famous for introducing the world to Hedy Lamarr and full frontal nudity, but it's oh so much more. In fact, this is one of the pinnacles of cinematic poetry, up there with some of the seminal works of 1930s art cinema, in the same prestigious group as Under the Roofs of Paris, Tabu, Olympia, and even L'Atalante. It's nearly a silent, relying mostly on its miraculous images, and also its fantastic, symphonic score by Giuseppe Becce. It's a masterpiece of cinematography and music, yes, and also of editing, direction, writing, and acting. A good 90% of the film moves along perfectly. Machatý seems an expert at using motifs. Perhaps not as subtle as it could be, and perhaps a bit overused, but the appearances of objects like insects, lights, and horses carry the story forward beautifully. The small snatches of dialogue are, thankfully, unintrusive. They don't jar as much as one would imagine. The final bit is odd, to say the least. Reminiscent of Russian silents, we have a montage of workers. This barely makes sense in the course of the narrative, but it's so gorgeously done that I refuse to harp too much on that flaw. Ecstasy is a film that is desperately in need of rediscovery. It belongs amongst the best films ever made.

The movie that made Hedy Lamarr change her name

[Bored_Dragon · 4/10 · 11 January 2020]

In its time, this Czech drama was banned for obscenity. The controversy went so far that Hitler and Pope personally spoke against it. In addition to the story of adultery and nudity, which at the time was enough to cause controversy, it is considered the first non-pornographic film to show sexual intercourse (simulated, of course) and a close-up of a woman's face during orgasm. The lead actress changed her name after this movie to distance herself from it. I support. She should be ashamed, but not for obscenity. I wish it was half as good and interesting as it was controversial. With the best will, I have nothing to praise in this movie.

4/10

Symphony of Love= appropriate title

[Wen-2 · 10/10 · 28 May 1999]

The alternate title of Ecstasy, is Symphony of Love; a title which appropriately describes the mood and feel of the film. Ecstasy is an early talkie, and could have very well been a classic film, if released during the silent film era. This film is a visual treat, and is deliberately paced so the viewer can savour its sensuous lyric quality, which is presented in an artistic low-key fashion. The director's style is distinctly European. The subject matter and approach to sexuality was far more sophisticated, than what was being produced in Hollywood, at that time. Consider the censorship code in the US, during the 30's, that pretty much sums it up. Hedy Lamarr, one of the great beauties of all time, was a perfect choice for this 'Symphony of Love.'

Silent cinema technique and loads of artful symbolism...

[Doylenf · 4/10 · 29 August 2006]

It's unlikely that anyone except those who adore silent films will appreciate any of the lyrical camera-work and busy (but scratchy) background score that accompanies this 1933 release. Although sound came into general use in 1928, there are no more than fifty words spoken to tell the story of a woman, unhappily married, who deserts her husband for a younger man after a romantic interlude in the woods.

The most vividly photographed scene has the jealous husband giving a lift to the young man for a ride into town, proceeding to drive normally until he realizes the man is his wife's lover. In a frenzy of jealousy, he drives at top speed toward a railroad crossing but changes his mind at the last moment, losing his nerve. It's probably the most tension-filled scene in the otherwise decidedly slow-moving and obviously contrived story.

HEDY LAMARR is given the sort of close-up treatment lavished on Marlene Dietrich by her discoverer, but her beauty had not yet been refined by the cosmeticians as they were when she was transported to Hollywood. Her performance consists mostly of looking sad and morose while mourning the loss of her marriage with only brief glimpses of a smile when she finds her true love (ARIBERT MOG), the handsome young stud who retrieves her clothes after a nude swim.

The swimming scene is very brief, discreetly photographed, and not worth all the heat it apparently generated. The love-making scene, later on, is also artfully photographed with the sort of lyrical photography evident throughout most of the film--artfully so. More is left to the imagination with the use of symbolism--and this is the sort of thing that has others proclaiming the film is some kind of lyrical masterpiece.

Not so. It's disappointing, primitively crude in its sound portions (including the laborious symphonic music in the background) and certainly Miss Lamarr is fortunate that Louis B. Mayer saw the film and on the basis of it, gave her a career in Hollywood. He must have seen something in her work that I didn't.

It's apparent that this was conceived as a silent film with the camera doing all the work. The jarring "workers" scene at the conclusion goes on for too long and is a jarring intrusion where none is needed. It fails to end the film on the proper note.

That Workers Scene

[Charlot47 · 10 October 2010]

Reviewers have struggled with the lack of dialogue and the lavish use of symbolism, both of which force you to interpret the film as a visual experience. Most seem baffled, embarrassed or bored by the long wordless finale.

Consider what has happened to the principals: the husband Emil, after failing to drive into a train on a level crossing, has shot himself; the divorced wife Eva, after failing to throw herself under a train like Anna Karenina, has disappeared; but her lover, the surveyor Adam, still has his road to build.

So it's back to the job for him and his team, stripped to the waist under the summer sun. We get a celebration of physical work in the open: breaking ground with picks and drills, moving spoil, sawing timber. Even the respectably covered gypsy woman with her children is chipping stone. After an introverted and tragic story of thwarted passion among the rich, here are ordinary people doing an honest day's labour.

And the final shot of a happy and sexy Eva with a baby? If it's meant to be real, or just Adam's fantasy, we're left to guess. But isn't it a celebration of fulfilment and of new life?

Also, isn't the end a reprise of the old story in the book of Genesis? After their disobedience, Adam and Eve are both cursed. He must toil at the ground to make his living and sweat before he can eat. She will suffer the pangs of childbirth, but will still want to be with her man.

Daring, Dated, Poetic and Metaphoric Love Story

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 15 January 2005]

Eva (Hedy Lamarr) has just got married with an older man and in the honeymoon, she realizes that her husband does not desire her. Her disappointment with the marriage and the privation of love, makes Eva returning to her father's home in a farm, leaving her husband. One afternoon, while bathing in a lake, her horse escapes with her clothes and an young worker retrieves and gives them back to Eva. They fall in love for each other and become lovers. Later, her husband misses her and tries to have Eva back home. Eva refuses, and fortune leads the trio to the same place, ending the affair in a tragic way.

I have just watched "Extase" for the first time, and the first remark I have is relative to the horrible quality of the VHS released in Brazil by the Brazilian distributor Video Network: the movie has only 75 minutes running time, and it seems that it was used different reels of film. There are some parts totally damaged, and other parts very damaged. Therefore, the beauty of the images in not achieved by the Brazilian viewer, if he has a chance to find this rare VHS in a rental or for sale. The film is practically a silent movie, the story is very dated and has only a few lines. Consequently, the characters are badly developed. However, this movie is also very daring, with the exposure of Hedy Lamarr beautiful breasts and naked fat body for the present standards of beauty. Another fantastic point is the poetic and metaphoric used of flowers, symbolizing the intercourse between Eva and her lover. The way the director conducts the scenes to show the needs and privation of Eva is very clear. The non-conclusive end is also very unusual for a 1933 movie. I liked this movie, but I hope one day have a chance to see a 87 minutes restored version. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Êxtase" ("Ecstasy")

Weird film has some merit but ultimately fails

[Qanqor · 5/10 · 22 June 2008]

This film contained both good and bad. Probably more bad than good. But let's start with the good: Yes, the nude scenes. Definitely fun. I mean, there's not enough there to be any kind of big deal by today's standard, but it really is something seeing a 1933 film with no-question-about-it-she's-definitely-completely-naked star. They don't flaunt the nudity but they don't shy away from it either. It was actually handled quite tastefully. And in generally I very much liked the whole theme of unabashed support for female sexuality. Very refreshing for 1933. And the scene in the car was pretty exciting.

But the film had three major flaws. First, on the whole, the pacing is just *leaden*. This movie DRAGS. It is extremely self-indulgent in its wallowing in endless artistic shots and heavy-handed symbolism. There's about 30 minutes of story here crammed into an hour-and-a-half.

Second, the whole practically-a-silent-movie thing, with just a couple sparse lines of dialog here and there, just didn't work for me. It made things just too *weird*. People just wouldn't behave that way, it ends up seeming *very* contrived. I mean, come on, a guy stumbles upon a beautiful woman naked in the woods; he ogles her, gives her back her dress and horse, gets slapped by her, goes to her aid when she falls and hurts herself, gives her a flower-- and through this whole thing says *not one single word*???? It was just too surreal. I defy anyone out there to tell me with a straight face they could meet a naked stranger in the woods and have an extended encounter with them without either of you saying a word.

But the biggest problem for me was just the ways in which the story just didn't make sense. Here is a list of questions I'm *still* groping with after seeing the complete film:

1) Why on *earth* did she marry Mr. Disinterested in the first place? She HAD to have known what he was like before she married him!

2) Why on *earth* did *he* marry *her*? He carries her over the threshold and then has ZERO interest in her whatsoever. And I don't just mean sexual interest. He utterly and completely ignores her.

3) Given his COMPLETE indifference toward her when she's his wife, why the sudden all-consuming interest in her once she leaves him? I mean, he had no time to even look up from his newspaper when he was with her, but once she's gone, he's so distraught he *kills* himself? What on *earth* is up with that????

4) After the suicide, why does Mr. Very-Interested suddenly decide 'Ok, let's go to the train station!' Huh????

5) Why, why, why, why, why does she *leave* him at the train station!?!? This more than anything else made ZERO sense to me, and that one point COMPLETELY ruins the film for me. She FINALLY found someone who made her happy (and not just sexually happy either. Just look at her face when she meets him there at the inn, and they're just dancing and enjoying being together. These two definitely have feelings for each other beyond just hormones. Their joy at being together is complete), and, *boom*, for no apparent reason, she just leaves him. WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? As Bill Cosby would say, "That's brain damage!"

6) What the HELL is up with the last scene??? Suddenly for no reason this turns into some kind of Happy Worker's Paradise quasi-soviet film???

7) And then the final shots: HUH???? I don't even understand what it was *trying* to portray. Was the guy fantasizing that maybe she had his kid, or did she really have a child? Or was the little boy that he was looking at actually the same child and this is now years later? Did he somehow come into custody of the child? Or did he actually somehow end up getting back together with her and they're both raising the child? I DON'T GET IT AT ALL!!!

I didn't even know how to grade this film. No movie that leaves me with "I DON'T GET IT AT ALL!!!" at the end can possibly get a good grade from me. On the other hand, no movie that looks at sex without either snickering or moralizing, but instead portrays it as a beautiful, healthy, natural thing, no such movie can get too bad a grade from me. So I cut it right in the middle with the 5-star vote. An odd film. I'm glad I saw it, but truthfully I have little desire to ever see it again.