MovieChat Forums > From Here to Eternity (1953) Discussion > Did 50s audiences get it about the sex?

Did 50s audiences get it about the sex?

posted 9 years ago by jgroub
11 replies | jump to latest

I'm talking about that that social club that Lorene works at, as well as the famous beach scene. My understanding is that in the book, at least the social club was a whorehouse, and Lorene wasn't earning enough money to retire on just by dancing, at least not vertically. When they go to the scene where Lorene is putting her earring back in, and Prewitt is lying back smoking a cigarette, looking at that scene with 21st century eyes, those two just had sex.

I don't know about the beach scene, but my guess is that it's supposed to be implied that they had sex there, too.

But would a 50s audience get it? I know the book was supposed to pretty profane, and that it was a bestseller, so certainly many of the people seeing the movie would be able to read between the lines. But was this earring/cigarette thing, the waves washing over them thing, was this like a secret code to get around the Hays Code? Would people who hadn't read the book understand that there was more than just dancing, more than just lying back on a blanket involved with those two couples?

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

[–] ncdwbmk6 9 years ago

As we all know, most people in the 50s didn't have sex, so they would have missed the implications of those scenes. ;)

Seriously, in older films, everything wasn't explicit and in-your-face like it is today. Audiences were expected to be intelligent enough to draw reasonable conclusions.

---
You got your mind right, Luke?

[–] TxMike 9 years ago

Your comment reminds me of the old joke, "If your parents never had sex chances are you won't get it either."

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.

[–] SayNoToRemakes 9 years ago

Ha! I was going to say that people in the 50s didn't have sex too! I was born in '58, so I guess I was a product of the stork.

You hit it right on, ncdwbmk6. Back then people could read between the lines and didn't need to see bedroom scenes to know what was going on. We're so dumb now they have to be explicit so we will "get it."

[–] woowoo-6 9 years ago

Yeah, the audiences of the 50's got all the sex innuendos. And so did the audiences of the 20's; 30's; and 40's. It wasn't until the 60's when directors started filming bedroom scenes that many movie viewers were fond of saying, "You know, I get it when they pan the camera away to the moon or to a light nighttime breeze blowing through the curtains. I don't need to have it shoved in my face!" I could be wrong, but regarding this particular film, I believe there was some notable Catholic Cardinal who banned all U.S. Catholics from seeing the film due to the explicit and implied adulterous and promiscuous sex this movie envisioned.

[–] RobbieCalifornia 9 years ago

Laughing at this question. Of course everyone got it! People are the same now as they've always been.

It's just the movies are so much more explicit. Sometimes unnecessarily so, IMO. Who needs to see people humping away, fake moaning, all that stuff?

[–] ck1-5 9 years ago

Hey, everyone knows that sex was invented at Woodstock.

[–] hansenmv2002 9 years ago

Dreadfully boring - I presume wondering if Herr Hitler would be going down 5th Avenue made a difference. Shocked this got Best Pic...

House: I have been on a date before.
Wilson: Not since disco died.

[–] jgroub 9 years ago

I presume wondering if Herr Hitler would be going down 5th Avenue made a difference.

Um, I believe the exact quote you're looking for from Herr Hitler is, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters."

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

[–] hansenmv2002 9 years ago

LOL - yeah I get that -- OH Herr Hitler is a LOSER in second place.

No im still watching this movie - trying to grasp why it was Best Picture - other than through outright bribery - which is my leading contender.

House: I have been on a date before.
Wilson: Not since disco died.

[–] steely3000 9 years ago

Well, it was the 50s when foreign movies started to be more popular in the US. So yes a 50s audience would get those scenes you mentioned.

[–] ricky_says_hi 9 years ago

Well anyone who read the book would definitely know. But the film isn't really going out of its way to hide it. Even I guessed that it was meant to be a brothel and I was 13 when I saw this film first.