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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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Ecstasy (1933)

Rating: 3 Stars (out of 4)

In a Nude Mood

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Ecstasy on DVD

Ecstasy was directed by Gustav Machaty in 1932 but wasn't released in the U.S. until 1940. It starred a young Hedy Lamarr (called Hedy Kiesler at the time) as a young woman who gets married and realizes on her wedding night that her husband is too orderly to indulge in messy sex. She runs away, meets a younger man and discovers passion for the first time. But of course her past catches up to her. Hedy has a pretty good nude scene, swimming in a lake and then chasing her runaway horse. It caused a huge stir at the time, and none other than Henry Miller wrote a rave review of the film. It's a little dull today but it's still interesting from a historical perspective, and the movie looks great on Image Entertainment's restored DVD ($24.99).

Starring: Hedy Lamarr (a.k.a. Hedy Kiesler), Aribert Mog, Leopold Kramer
Written by: Frantisek Horky, Jacques A. Koerpel, Gustav Machaty, Vitezslav Nezval
Directed by: Gustav Machaty
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 89 minutes
Date: August 1, 2002