Rent Ecstasy (1932)

Mog and the Kitten - Ecstasy review by CH

Hitler hated it. Mussolini gave it a place in his own collection. Many others have heard of Ecstasy; fewer have seen it, and they veer between those Thirties dictators' views of thrse eighty minutes. Some admit to being attracted by the prospect of its early instance of unabashed wild swimming, that scene in which teenage Hedy Lamarr plunges into a lake only to leap from it , no time to dress, as her horse, inspired by a similar sense of freedom, takes the opportuntiy to bolt across the land. Lo and behold, this flight leads to well-fit Aribert Mog who, with others, is at work on a nearby road. Clothes and horse restored to her, Hedy finds that all this amounts to an unusual meet-cute, something of which she is in great need as she has recently married an older man (Jaromir Rogoz) who, preocciupied with tidiness, so failed to deliver earthier pleasures that Hedy had returned to her father (Leopold Kramer).

That sounds melodramatic, and it will take similar wild turns - including some intimate gasps - which led the New York Times to greet its belated American release as "so much cinematic porridge". It is better than that, although it could be called lumpy. Made as sound was coming to the fore, it is more a silent film with audible additions as part of its array of montage: heads and figures against expansive backgrounds, deeply focussed half-lit interiors, every detail - a speck on the carpet - replete with the possibility of significance. Moments are when viewers themselves might hanker for a cool dip.

All of which leads to a conclusion - a tool-wieding montage against bright skies to extol work - which, at some length, might be lauding a need to serve the Fatherland rather than seclusion of satisfying private desire.

How many would now wish to have a copy themselves of Ecstasy - or even to stream it onto a device in tribute to Hedy's part in the invention of cellphone technology? Almost a hundred years on, there is, whatever the cavils and caveats, so much here that it is closer to essential than curiosity. A fragile medium, film survives tough-it-out politicians.