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This Nude World
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This Nude World
Released by: Alpha Video
Released on: 5/31/2010
Director: Michael Mindlin
Cast: Leo Donnelly
Year: 1933
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The Movie:
Purporting to be an 'authentic trip through the world's most famous nudist colonies' and 'guaranteed the most educational film ever produced,' this quick fity-six minute exploitation oddity from 1933 does present an uncensored peek into the going's on at various nudist colonies from around the world. An opening text scrawl sets everything into context by explaining how it's going to educate us as to how and why nudists do what they do, hinting that these naturalists and health nuts might actually be pagans. Alpha's packaging notes that the film 'had 1933 censor boards fuming, protesters marching and police squads raiding theaters.'
There's really not much of a plot here, but the film does being with some interesting stock footage while the narration, courtesy of Leo Donnelly (who also narrated a few of the Ripley's Believe It Or Not shorts) discusses the puzzling phenomenon of nudism as it exists on an international scale. We quickly cut to the New York City of the early 30s and then visit a pair of nearby nudist camps. One is a private club, the other is open to the public. As we voyage north up the Hudson river, we find Camp Olympia, a resort nestled deep in the remote Catskill Mountains where red blooded American nudists exercise and swim.
From there we head across the Atlantic Ocean and travel to France, where we explore Parisian night clubs without actually managing to find any naked people but at least offering up some nice footage of night clubs with names like Folies Bergere or the more salacious sounding Club Lido. At an 'Artists' Ball' we do manage to get a look at some French breasts, but it's minor nudity at best. Surely there must be more to This Nude World? Let's head to the 'Ile Des Naturistes' at Villenes sur Seine, which is an island based nudist camp founded by French doctors. Here Parisians leave the confines of the hustling and bustling city of love to exercise in shorts and shirts. That's not really nudism, is it? We have better luyck when we visit Sparta Club, where the club's lead shows us the areas where nudist activity is allowed.
Last but not least, we voyage to nearby Germany where the nudist movement supposedly originated. According to the film, the general population is completely down with nudists and the film shows us a German nudist camp where loads of people from all ages and walks of life hang out in the buff. The end.
About as introspective as a kid taking a flip through a National Geographic looking for tits, This Nude World aspires to offer insight into why the concept of nudism took off to an extent but can't really be bothered to think all that much about it. The narration does succeed in putting things into context but this is basically an hour long travelogue that happens to feature naked people jumping into rivers and doing various stretches. In 1933 it probably provided all sorts of cheap thrills to the adult audience that it was marketed towards, but it really does play it pretty safe. Most of the nudists are shot from more than a few feet away so don't expect any pornographic gynecological close up shots, and half of the supposed nudists featured in the film are actually often times wearing shorts and/or shirts. If that qualifies as nudism, then I must be naked while I'm writing this very review. Interpret that as you will.
A bizarre relic of its time, This Nude World is worth seeking out for those with an interest in the nudist camp genre and early exploitation films simply because it's an early entry and as such, it has a bit of historical value. It's not really very good, but it's interesting and somewhat charming in its naivety.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1.33.1 aspect ratio appears to be correct for the film, so the transfer has that going for it, but otherwise this isn't anything to write home about. The image is watchable enough but often suffers from fading, softness and heavy print damage. Detail varies from scene to scene but more often than not is fairly poor. Keep in mind, this film is almost eighty years old and probably hasn't been kept in the best of condition.
The narration is easy enough to follow and understand and while there are instances where hiss and distortion are both evident, it's not enough to really ruin things. Does it sound great? Nope, not at all, but it's not horrible either.
Extras are slim on this disc, limited to a plug for Alpha's catalogue and trailers for unrelated DVD releases available through the company. Menus and chapter stops are, of course, also included. And dig that cover art! Too bad the naked ladies in the film aren't half way as alluring as the cartoon fox enjoying her cigarette!
The Final Word:
An interesting artifact of the early nudist film that would evidently go on to inspire the likes of Doris Wishman among others, This Nude World is pretty harmless, if slightly sensationalist, stuff by modern standards. It's not so much titillating as it is perplexing but it does offer a quirky look into the nudist camps of the 1930s alongside loads of unintentional comedy.Posting comments is disabled.
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