All comments, captures and collages by Brainscan. He also did the accompanying film clips in the members’ section.

The previous installments are:

Part 1, 1932

Part 2, the other years 1929-1934

The Silent Years

1927

On-screen nudity did not begin with Pre-Code cinema. Just look at the offerings from 1927 silent movies and you find the wonderfully cute Clara Bow in Hula, It and Wings.

She is caught topless for a couple of frames in Wings

and spends time bathing in Hula
(the stills are infinitely better than any screen grab from the surviving prints)

and she shows off her undies in It.

Jacqueline Gadsden also looks sexy when wet in It, and you just have to love how the director and DP set up the scene so the camera stays on Ms. Gadsden caboose as she gets out of the water.

Brigitte Helm also appears topless, sort of, in the highly regarded Metropolis

But for real exposure you need to watch the short, Forbidden Daughters, in which Clarice Conwell hunts down her philandering husband and wins him back by getting all nekkid.

Along the way, she spends time observing the shenanigans in a harem,

with Gladys Delores

and Kathyn Kay running around, suitably unclothed.

All captures, collages and comments in this post are by Brainscan. He also created the accompanying film clips in the members’ area.

The first four parts of the series are found as follows:

Part 1: 1932. Peak Pre-Code Talkies.

Part 2: 1929-1934. The Other Pre-Code Talkies,

Part 3: 1927. The Swan Song of the Silents

Part 4: 1900-1926. The Silent Era

The Dry Years

1935-1951

From July 1934 through the early 1960s, enforcement of the Hays Code kept American movie screens safe from the tyranny of nude scenes, or just about anything even mildly risqué.  Well, not entirely safe.  Left was an occasional scene,

in China Seas, when for a frame or two, something no one intended made it onto the screen.

There was scene of what is supposed to be Jane Wyatt from Lost Horizon (1937) swimming nude in a Himalayan paradise, but it was shot with a camera so far  away it might as well have been in the Alps.

And Rita Hayworth, in Gilda, wears a wonderfully thin blouse (something she would duplicate in still photographs).

But the rest of what might be seen in the late ’30’s and throughout the 40’s were foreign productions.  Lucrezia Borgia in 1935 was the best of its time.  Edwige Feuillere played the infamous Ms. Borgia, complete with what has to be the first full-frontal scene by someone who was or would become a true star.

A second actress goes topless when mauled by Cesar Borgia (played as though he were nothing more than troglodyte).  I think she is Jeannine Fromentin, but I cannot be sure.

From there until the early1950’s, French cinema keeps alive our hopes and dreams with

Brainscan once again takes a deep dive into the history of film nudity. In this presentation, he focuses on the exploitation master, Harry Novak, who filled the drive-ins and grindhouse theaters of America with some of their most memorable moments. All of the comments and collages below have been created by Brainscan.

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We are up to the 1970’s when producer Harry Novak pretty much invented a sub-genre that has been dubbed “hicksploitation.” These were not the first exploitation films populated by a bunch of country bumpkins; they were not even the first to show a bit of skin – that honor belongs to 1939’s Child Bride – but they were the first to grab the idea by the throat.

Beginning with Tobacco Roody in 1970, Novak ran the same play he had run with Cleopatra and Romeo & Juliet. He hired a lot of attractive women, including Dixie Donovan again.

He had the screenwriter put the beautiful women in ridiculous situations and made sure the director shot all of the women while they wore nothing. Competition with hard-core movies had begun and a few seconds of full frontal would not keep the grind house customers happy, so Harry gave them more, a whole lot more.

In fact, all you need do is look at the way Debbie Osborne

and Wendy Winders

pose in Tobacco to see what Novak intended.

Also naked in Tobacco Roody:

Gigi Perez

Maxine Deville France

Country Cuzzins, another 1970 production, is much tamer, but did have Susan Westcott.

Here is the place to mention the original source for all the frames in these hicksploitation collages. Those who have read the Funhouse from the beginning or who have dived into the deep archives know that once upon a time, an artist named Tuna captured one movie a day, every day, for many years. He was a friend, who taught me how to do this sort of thing. And among the many great things he did was to post frames of actresses he could not identify, including those who appeared in Novak films. Well, in the time since Tuna posted his work, people have figured out the names of these previously unknown actresses. That is true for Ms. Wescott.

Novak followed with Midnite Plowboy in 1971, with Debbie Osborne again,

but it was an actress named Christy Anna who shows the camera every square millimeter of herself.

And he produced Southern Comforts, with a scene by Judy Angel that Sharon Stone would copy 20 years later in Basic Instinct. Well, that’s not fully accurate. Ms. Angel’s performance is Ms. Stone’s performance on steroids, huge quantities of steroids.

In 1972, Novak did the world a great favor and cast Barbara Mills in Sweet Georgia.

She was a slim brunette beauty who had some ability to act, and she was not the least bit shy, no she was not. But hey, if I were the male equivalent of her, I would never wear clothes.

And in 1972, he gave us Peggy Church in an immortal classic, The Pigkeeper’s Daughter.

Ms. Church played what was the same role as the one Dixie Donovan played in Tobacco Roody, so it is no surprise she had many of the same, uh talents, as Ms. Donovan.

1973 brought us Tallie Cochrane and future pornstar Colleen Brennan in Sassy Sue

The choice of an actress who starred in hardcore movies would be a recurring theme in the rest of Novak movies, as seen in his choices for Country Hooker (1974), the last of his hicksploitation movies. The three principal actresses,

Rene Bond,

Maria Arnold

and Sandy Dempsey,

spent more time in triple X-rated films than in the softer fare that Novak produced for most of his career.

Part 1 of this series, The Sixties, can be found here.

Tomorrow: Part 3.

Here she is from tonight’s (April 19) episode (s5e9)

Evan Rachel Wood naked in Westworld, s3e6 (April 19)

It’s a cheat on the breasts – the ol’ long hair trick – but there are a few decent looks at her ass crack.

This is a new erotic thriller from Poland. The nudity is supplied by Anna Maria Sieklucka, who has discussed the erotica frankly and has stated that she used no body doubles.

K-Stew in Personal Shopper

This was #5 in the Top Nude Scenes of 2017.

Thomasin McKenzie did full rear nudity in a new Aussie film called The True History of the Kelly Gang.

Here are some stills:

Estella Warren in Treats #3 (2012)

Here is the whole photoshoot in somewhat poor quality.

Godsend was an awful horror film from 2004. I kidded recently about Robert DeNiro’s performances in Dirty Grandpa and Rocky and Bullwinkle, but at least he seemed to be having fun in those films while picking up his paycheck. The one he is really embarrassed about is Godsend, where he showed up for a very few days of shooting, but got his face plastered over most of the ads and trailers/teasers.

Anyway, we don’t really care about that. What interests us is that there was an R-rated pre-release version of Godsend, the existence of which produced a situation like the one I discussed with Cider House Rules. In this case Rebecca Romijn did a topless scene that nobody has seen because the film was cut to get a PG-13 theatrical release, and the extended version has never appeared as deleted or extra footage in the “special features” of the home releases.

Sadly, as with the Cider House Rules captures of Charlize Theron, the only available images (that I know of) picturing Rebecca Romijn’s topless scene in Godsend are very poor in quality.

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And as for the Sienna Miller nude scenes in “Hippie Hippie Shake,” I have become resigned to the fact that we will never see them at all. It has been ten years now, and no secrets have emerged. At least we have some idea what those images might have looked like, thanks to a pesky photographer who secretly shot the cast and crew during filming. (Samples below)