One forgotten film featured the first orgy and a same sex snog scenes in Hollywood history.
Manslaughter, a silent film released in 1922, is one of the first films released that depicted a group sex scene and other “debaucherous” activities. It is also often cited as the first American feature film to show an “erotic kiss” between two same sex characters.
The movie follows the erratic Lydia who is described as a “thrill-seeking, self entitled and wild woman”. Scenes show her dancing with men, despite her husband being close by, before things get out of hand later in the film.
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While filming, it is reported that many involved suffered some serious injuries. Actress Leatrice Joy, who played the main character, said that recording the car chase scene was terrifying as she had to drive the car by herself.
It is said that the vehicle was attached to a platform and the safety of two cameramen and the film’s director was dependent on her alone. Also during a prison scene, the actress burned her hand with hot soup as she acted out her role.
Elsewhere during filming, stuntman Leo Noomis is reported to have broken his pelvis and six ribs during an on-screen crash. Throughout the scene, Noomis had to crash a motorbike into a car which clearly went totally wrong.
Although it has gained notoriety in the over 100 years since its release, the film was widely regarded as director Cecil B. De Mille’s “lesser efforts as a director”. Historians of today have slammed the raunchy film, with Kevin Brownlow saying that Leatrice and Lois Wilson (who played Lydia’s maid) “gave far better performances than the film deserves”.
He even branded Manslaughter “crude and unsubtle” before going on to call it “amateurish”. Kevin also criticised the “crudely faked chase scenes” and “pantomimically acted” moments. Brownlow ended with: “[…] the kind of film that invites laughter at it rather than with it.” The film is reported to have had a budget of just $385,000 and runs at 100 minutes long, distributed by Paramount Pictures.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
