Back to the Sun
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Synopsis
A foreword states that the purpose of this film is to help men to understand better, and thereby, love women. A narrator states that woman was created so that man might have responsibilities, pleasures and problems, and then people of the desert who have harsh attitudes toward women are shown. At bars frequented by the Arabian men, professional dancers gyrate for the sheik's pleasure. Similarly, men of the Polynesian islands are entertained by professional dancers. In Siam and Java, too, women tempt men through the art of dance. In jungles of Africa, a mother paints her daughter's face in preparation for a ceremonial dance in which strange contortions emphasize her near-nakedness. Japanese geisha girls ply their trade through demur dances. In the Montmartre section of Paris, a French Apache dancer chokes and beats a young lady in a mock ballet, while at a nudist camp just outside New York City, a nude doctor examines three nude children. Meanwhile, other nudists receive corrective orthopedic treatments. The nudists must wear clothing during all meals, although they are completely naked at all other times. As a young woman reads a book, other nudists do calisthenics. In an art class made possible by the efforts of noted Hungarian artist, Adolph Bacchus, a class full of nudists paint a nude model. Young female nudists play tennis, box and sand ski. As daylight begins to fade, the female nudists perform modern dance routines under automobile headlights. Before retiring for bed at their nudist haven, the women of the camp enjoy a moonlit swim in the lake.
Film Details
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Notes
The plot summary was based on a dialogue continuity at NYSA. No reviews were located for this film. The running time listed above was calculated from the footage in NYSA records. The film was rejected by the New York State censors on October 17, 1933. In a letter dated October 24, 1933, Irwin Esmond, the censor board director, stated that some of the dances of the various nations and tribes in the first two reels were "indecent." In addition, he described the apparel worn by the "nudists": "In the scenes of the nudist camp, the men and women usually wear what is apparently a strip of cloth placed between the legs, barely sufficient to cover the sex organs in front, and about the same size in the rear. This seems to be rather loosely held in place by elastic cords passed around the body. The women (except for the few scenes where they appear in bathing suits) wear brassieres apparently made of gauze or net, leaving the breasts clearly visible. The children, for the most part, wear no clothes." Esmond considered these scenes "indecent," according to the meaning of the law and noted that "any attempt to eliminate the offending scenes would destroy the picture." The film was rejected as both "indecent" and "tending to corrupt morals."
The film was copyrighted on November 17, 1933 under the title The Nudists; or, Back to the Sun. On June 12, 1934, the president of Josmin Productions, Sam Rosen, who received credit for photography in the dialogue continuity, wrote to Esmond, stating that a film entitled Mr. Adam, which had been awarded a license in New York State and had been playing in theaters, contained a number of scenes from Back to the Sun, which the producers of Mr. Adam bought from Rosen's company. Rosen requested that a permit for his film be issued and noted that his attorney, upon examining his film, declared it was a newsreel, and as such, would not require a permit for exhibition, as it was portraying "news of the day." Esmond responded by stating that Back to the Sun "is not in fact or in law a newsreel, and was not presented as a newsreel" and warned Rosen, "You could not lawfully exhibit said picture in this State in any place of amusement, for pay or in connection with any business, without having first obtained a license." Esmond, in his letter, did not mention Mr. Adam, which, in fact, was a two-reel comedy produced by Educational Films Corp. of America in 1933 and starred Ernest Truex as a clothing manufacturer who, following his doctor's orders, goes to a nudist colony.
