Ecstasy (film)

Ecstasy
French theatrical release poster
Directed byGustav Machatý
Written byJacques A. Koerpel
Screenplay by
  • František Horký
  • Gustav Machatý
Story byRobert Horký
Produced by
  • Moriz Grunhut
  • Gustav Machatý
Starring
Cinematography
Edited byAntonín Zelenka
Music byGiuseppe Becce
Production
companies
Elektafilm
Gustav Machatý Productions
Kouzlo Films
Distributed bySlaviafilm (CS)
Eureka Productions (US)
Release date
  • 20 January 1933 (1933-01-20) (Czechoslovakia)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryCzechoslovakia
Languages
  • Czech
  • German
  • French
Box office$1.5 million (US rentals)[1]

Ecstasy (Czech: Extase; French: Extase; German: Ekstase) is a 1933 Czech erotic romantic drama film directed by Gustav Machatý and starring Hedy Lamarr (then Hedy Kiesler), Aribert Mog, and Zvonimir Rogoz.[2] Machatý won the award for Best Director for this film at the 1934 Venice Film Festival.

The film is about a young woman who marries a wealthy but much older man. After abandoning her brief passionless marriage, she meets a young virile engineer who becomes her lover. Ecstasy was filmed in three language versions – German, Czech, and French. It is perhaps the first non-pornographic movie to portray sexual intercourse and the female orgasm, although never showing more than the actors' faces.

  1. ^ "'Ecstasy' $1,500,000 in 10 Years in America". Variety. 3 October 1945. p. 13.
  2. ^ Paul Brenner (2013). "Ecstasy (1933)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2013.