Hypocrites (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hypocrites

Margaret Edwards as "Naked Truth" in Hypocrites.
Directed by Lois Weber
Produced by Bosworth Company
Written by Lois Weber
Release dates January 1915
Running time 49 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent

Hypocrites is a 1915 silent drama film directed by Lois Weber (1881-1939).

The film contained several full nude scenes of an uncredited Margaret Edwards (1877–1929)[1] as Naked Truth, including a sequence with her posing nude as a statue. The film is regarded as anticlerical, and the nudity was justified by its religious context.

Plot

The film follows the parallel stories of an early Christian ascetic and a modern minister, with most actors in dual roles. Gabriel (Courteney Foote) is a medieval monk who devotes himself to completing a statue of “Truth,” only to be murdered by a mob when his work turns out to be an image of a naked woman. The contemporary Gabriel is the pastor of a large wealthy urban congregation for whom religion is a matter of appearances, not beliefs. The hypocrisy of the congregation is exposed by a series of vignettes in which the Naked Truth, literally portrayed by a nude Margaret Edwards, reveals their appetites for money, sex and power.

Reaction

Hypocrites was a shocking and controversial film whose release was held up for many months by the difficulty of distributing a film with full nudity. Weber’s sincerity and reputation allowed her to use something that in the hands of a male director would have been considered scandalous and immoral.[2] The film was passed by the British Board of Film Censors. However, because of the full and recurring nudity through the film, it caused riots in New York, was banned in Ohio, and was subject to censorship in Boston when the mayor demanded that the film negatives be painted over to clothe the woman.[3]

Hypocrites and the technique was widely admired at the time for its extraordinary use of multiple exposures and intricate editing, and propelled Weber to the front ranks of silent directors.[2] The use in the film of traveling double exposure sequences of the woman is considered impressive for 1915.

Most of the film has survived, though some scenes have suffered from some serious nitrate decomposition in places especially at the beginning and can't be restored. A print of the film is kept in the Library of Congress.

Cast

References

  1. ↑ Margaret Edwards, Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kino International
  3. ↑ Hypocrites at the Internet Movie Database

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hypocrites (1915 film).


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.