Sex in Cinema: Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes

Sex in Cinema: In the following collection, excerpted from the Mini-History of Sex in the Cinema at this site, here are some of the most significant milestones, and most influential and memorable sexual/erotic scenes and films on the big screen through cinematic history. Most of these films, with portrayals of sex and/or nudity, were considered quite erotic, groundbreaking, unique and/or controversial at the time.

Sex in Cinema: In the following collection, excerpted from the Mini-History of Sex in the Cinema at this site, here are some of the most significant milestones, and most influential and memorable sexual/erotic scenes and films on the big screen through cinematic history. Most of these films, with portrayals of sex and/or nudity, were considered quite erotic, groundbreaking, unique and/or controversial at the time. HISTORY OF SEX IN CINEMA - INDEX (chronological by film title) Intro \| Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4 \| Part 5 \| Part 6 \| Part 7 \| Part 8 \| Part 9 \| Part 10 \| Part 11 \| Part 12 \| Part 13 \| Part 14 \| Part 15 \| Part 16 \| Part 17 \| Part 18 \| Part 19 \| Part 20 \| Part 21 \| Part 22 \| Part 23 \| Part 24 \| Part 25 \| Part 26 \| Part 27 \| Part 28 \| Part 29 \| Part 30 \| Part 31 \| Part 32 \| Part 33 \| Part 34 \| Part 35 \| Part 36 \| Part 37 \| Part 38 \| Part 39 \| Part 40 \| Part 41 \| Part 42 \| Part 43 \| Part 44 \| Part 45 \| Part 46 \| Part 47 \| Part 48 \| Part 49 \| Part 50 \|
Sex in Cinema: Part 4 Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes (chronological by film title) Milestone Films With Scenes That Were Especially Notorious, Infamous, Controversial, or Scandalous
Movie Title	Brief Scene Description	Example
Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, 1931), aka Girls in Uniform	This landmark lesbian film from Germany with an all-female cast was the first movie to portray forbidden lesbian love - it was based on the play by Christa Winsloe about a lesbian relationship in a Prussian girls boarding school; US censors banned the film for its depiction of lesbianism between 14 year-old student Manuela Von Meinhardie (Hertha Thiele) and teacher Fraulein Elizabeth von Bernbourg (Dorothea Wieck); during a bedtime ritual in the dormitory in which all the schoolgirls were kneeling at the end of their beds and anticipating a goodnight kiss, the teacher kissed all the girls on the forehead, except for Manuela who received an intimate lip-kiss; an edited version left the plot's sexuality vague; it was remade in 1958 as a W.German/French co-production with Romy Schneider as Manuela and Lilli Palmer as the Fraulein
Mata Hari (1931)	In this early talkie film, a fictionalized historical melodrama, Greta Garbo was showcased as the dangerous and seductively-exotic and sexually-alluring courtesan and femme fatale spy Mata Hari - a German secret agent (aka Margarite Gertrude Zelle) working in Paris; in the film's trailer, the infamous woman was called "the Most Notorious Temptress of the Twentieth Century!", and in one of the film's earlier scenes, she performed a sensual dance for the god Shiva at a high society party
Monkey Business (1931)	As in earlier films, some of the sexual innuendos of the pun-filled dialogue of Groucho Marx in the Marx Brothers' films were either eliminated or edited from the script -- i.e., after Lucille Briggs (foil Thelma Todd) asked: "I didn't know you were a lawyer, you're awfully shy for a lawyer", it was followed by Groucho's reply: "You bet I'm shy. I'm a shyster lawyer. And who are you, he countered roguishly, his beautiful white body aching to be held" -- the second part of Groucho's line (after the word lawyer) was cut from the script; also, in a section of this line delivered to Lucille in her stateroom offering to polish her frame and oil her joints was also truncated: "Well, we can clean and tighten your brakes, polish your frame and oil your joints, but you'll have to stay in the garage all night"
Night Nurse (1931)	This notorious Warner Bros. pre-Code film from director William Wellman, later considered salacious and too sexually adventurous, used every imaginable excuse to have Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Blondell -- as trainee nurses/roommates Lora Hart and Maloney -- frequently and liberally undressing to their silky, lacy underwear
Public Enemy (1931)	Released before the Code was strictly enforced, this seminal gangster film portrayed the lead anti-hero character Tom Powers (James Cagney) as a sexually magnetic, cocky, completely amoral, emotionally brutal, ruthless, and terribly lethal individual; its most famous scene - the startling misogynistic grapefruit-in-the-face scene (with Mae Clarke) - crudely transformed all previous norms, although the studio added this cautionary postscript to punish his transgressions: "The end of Tom Powers is the end of every hoodlum...."
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)	This early Ernst Lubitsch musical set in Vienna provided a sexy breakfast scene between Maurice Chevalier (as Niki, an officer in the Royal Guard) and Claudette Colbert (as violinist Franzi) - preceded by an off-screen scene of their night's love-making - in which the couple hungrily exchanged double entendres
Strangers May Kiss (1931)	In this pre-Code MGM melodrama, Norma Shearer (as free-spirited modern woman Lisbeth Corbin) engaged in short-term love affairs with men all over Europe ("I'm in an orgy, wallowing, and I love it") after she was jilted by her lover Alan (Neil Hamilton) (with a wife in Paris) when he left for China on a job assignment; she endangered her prospects of engagement/marriage to her true love when he returned after divorcing his wife, and then learned of her promiscuous indiscretions (it was rumored that "she changes her men with her lingerie, that girl")
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)	F.W. Murnau's lush tale (documentary-style drama) of ill-fated (star-crossed a la Romeo and Juliet style) native South Seas love and island life (and the breaking of a sacred tabu) included a sequence of girls swimming partly naked, and of flower-garlanded, bare-breasted native dancers Many other films followed in the wake of Murnau's Tabu in this popular and lucrative 'bare native' film sub-genre - there were a number of exotic Bali pictures released as exploitation films in the early-to-mid-30s, such as Balinese Love (1931), Goona Goona (1932) (aka Kriss), Isle of Paradise (1932), Virgins of Bali (Land of Love and Romance) (1932), Wajan (1933), and Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1935).
Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle (1932)	The character of Betty Boop was one of the few animated characters that was portrayed sexually; normally, she wore a strapless, thigh-high gown (and visible garter) and was based on a combination of flapper icon Clara Bow's 'It' Girl, Mae West's curvaceous figure, and popular Broadway star and 'Boop Boop A Doop Girl' Helen Kane; in this 1932 animation, the provocative, adult-oriented, cartoon vamp-character introduced 'sex' into animated films; she displayed a bit of breast with her hula outfit (a simple grass skirt and floral lei) and performed a sexy hula in this pre-code animation. She also had her dress blow up in another animated short; unfortunately, the cute, titillating 'boop-oop-a-doop' Betty was destined to be censored with the advent of the enforceable, conservative and puritanical Hays Production Code in 1934 that required her to be more fully dressed, and she would soon disappear from the screen altogether
Bird of Paradise (1932)	This sexy, violent, and exotic South Seas romance from director King Vidor (with dances directed by Busby Berkeley) was unseen for years due to its pre-code nudity; it was producer David O. Selznick's biggest work to date and one of the most expensive pictures of its time - a reworking of F.W. Murnau and Robert Flaherty's adventure-documentary Tabu (1931) (see above); it was shot on location in Hawaii at a cost of over a million dollars but was profitable due to beautiful Mexican actress Dolores Del Rio (as Luana - an alluring native princess fated to be cast in the flaming volcano to appease the gods by film's end); the controversial scenes included her nude (but tame) swimming scene, the scene of her wearing only two flower leis while dancing, and an extended sequence on a paradisical small isle with love interest Joel McCrea while usually topless (except for the flower leis)
Blonde Venus (1932)	This film was the most outlandish of the Dietrich/von Sternberg pictures, and a prime example of a film's script that was forced to be revised three times before production because of its alleged 'ridicule' of the sanctity of marriage; in the first scene, Helen Faraday (Marlene Dietrich) skinny-dipped with other playful women - her nudity teasingly obscured by tree branches when spied upon; Ned's (Herbert Marshall) glimpse of her led to their marriage and a son named Johnny (Dickie Moore); after an adulterous affair and engagement to playboy millionaire Nick Townsend (Cary Grant), she would have to suffer the consequences as a 'fallen woman' - which meant the loss of a glamorous career as a cabaret singer on the stage in Paris to become a prostitute in New Orleans to pay for her impoverished, ailing husband's radium poisoning treatments The film was highlighted by her bizarre gorilla-suited "Hot Voodoo" number, to the beat of an African drum, in which she first took off her gorilla head and suit to reveal herself, and then sang the throaty song wearing a blonde Afro wig while surrounded by archetypal 'black' dancers -- the song's lyrics included: "...That African tempo has made me a slave, hot voodoo - dance of sin, hot voodoo, worse than gin, I'd follow a cave man right into his cave"
Call Her Savage (1932)	This pre-Code Clara Bow and 20th Century Fox melodramatic film by director John Francis Dillon was the first Hollywood film to offer a view of a gay bar, with a scene in which two gay (and transvestite?) Greenwich Village waiters table-hopped while singing about sailors in pajamas; sexy "It" Girl Clara Bow played the part of wild half-breed Texas heiress Nasa "Dynamite" Springer in a story that included extramarital sex, attempted rape, out-of-wedlock pregnancy/birth, adultery, attempted child molestation, inter-racial liaisons, an S&M whipping, prostitution, wrestling with a large dog, and a bra-less Clara Bow
The Dentist (1932)	This W.C. Fields short was the first of four 20-minute shorts the famed comedian made in the early 1930s, with Mack Sennett as producer; this censor-baiting segment was censored for its depiction of the tool-wielding dentist (Fields) violating and mounting his prone female patient (regular Fields foil Elise Cavanna) in his dentist's chair as she wrapped her long, stockinged legs around his back; this provocative burlesque sequence was almost completely excised, and also cut from TV showings in the 1950s and 60s
Faithless (1932)	Tallulah Bankhead starred in this realistic, pre-Code "weepie" drama/soap opera (an adaptation of Mildred Cram's novel) as spoiled heiress/socialite Carol Morgan; she must sacrificially prostitute herself as the mistress of rich and repulsive businessman Peter M. Blainey (Hugh Herbert), and then as a streetwalker during the Depression era, to provide money for medicine for her ailing, class-fallen husband Bill Wade (Robert Montgomery) after he was injured on the job as a trucker during a labor dispute; in the unlikely ending, she was cautioned by a kindly cop to return to her husband when she was caught propositioning Tony Wade (Maurice Murphy) - her husband's younger brother!
Freaks (1932)	MGM's horror film by Tod Browning about a romance between a sideshow midget and a beautiful female trapeze performer was severely edited after initial preview screenings; the alarming film's most "offensive" segments (approximately 26 minutes) were excised including the original closing scene of an emasculated Hercules singing falsetto (after castration) in "Tetrallini's Freaks and Music Hall", and a happy ending was tagged on; MGM pulled the film from distribution a month after its release, and in 1947, exhibition rights were sold to exploitation filmmaker/distributor Dwain Esper for the next 25 years; inevitably, it was toured for an adults-only roadshow with alternative titles (i.e., Forbidden Love, The Monster Show, and Nature's Mistakes) and exploitative taglines, such as: "Do Siamese Twins Make Love?", "Can a Full Grown Woman Truly Love a Midget?", and "What Sex is the Half Man Half Woman?"
Frisco Jenny (1932)	Ruth Chatterton starred in this gritty, tear-jerking pre-Code WB "women's picture" as desperate single mom Jenny Sandoval following the 1906 quake - an event that forced her to become a prostitute (with a heart-of-gold) - and eventually the Number One "Madame" of San Francisco (in Chinatown); after engaging in many illicit activities, she survived into the era of Prohibition through bootlegging, but took the fall for a murder rap - in a plot twist that revealed that the crusading and prosecuting DA Dan Reynolds (Donald Cook) was her own son!
Grand Hotel (1932)	In this classic, all-star MGM epic masterpiece filled with high-powered stars of the early 1930s, the lives of five guests in Berlin's ritzy, opulent art-deco Grand Hotel intertwined for a two-day period; Joan Crawford starred as an ambitious, young, sparkingly beautiful, on-the-make, coquettish stenographer named Flaemmchen who wanted to be a movie star and live the good life, while Greta Garbo was featured as an aging, suicidal, isolated, fragile, and lonely-for-love Russian ballerina named Grusinskaya, who briefly fell in love with the noble, elegant, dashing - and financially-ruined Baron Felix von Gaigern (John Barrymore) - with whom she shared sensuous kisses
Night After Night (1932)	This early 30s film was known for its debut of the inimitable, wise-cracking sex symbol Mae West in her first talking film (in a supporting role); in her part as uncouth Maudie Triplett, West made a memorable first entrance on the screen, with what may be considered the single greatest opening bit in any film actress's career - she swaggered into a nightclub, well-dressed and covered with jewels, where the wide-eyed cloakroom hat-check girl, overwhelmed by her, admired her diamonds: Hatcheck girl: "Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!" followed by Maudie's suggestive response: "Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie"
Polly Tix in Washington (1932) and War Babies (1932)	This was a prime example of a 15 minute (one-reeler) child exploitation film, one of the Baby Burlesks shorts (with toddlers playing adult roles and wearing provocative clothing), featuring four-year-old Shirley Temple (in only her second film role) as Polly Tix - a high-priced call girl/prostitute (!) sent by corrupt officials to influence a backwoods politician; films such as this (War Babies (1932) with Temple accepting a large lollypop from doughboy little boys and Kid in Hollywood (1932) in which Temple was cast as Morelegs Sweettrick) and other similar ones led to an outcry for more wholesome films that didn't eroticize children
Red Dust (1932)	MGM's Jean Harlow starred as a flirtatious, earthy Saigon hooker on the run named Vantine; in the film's most notorious scene, she bathed naked in a rain barrel and requested both: "Gee, can't a girl take a bath in privacy?" and "Denny, scrub my back" while stranded on Dennis Carson's (Clark Gable) Indochinese rubber plantation; he became involved in a love triangle with upper-class adulteress Barbara "Babs" Willis (Mary Astor) - rescuing her in his arms from a rain-drenching jungle rainstorm and taking a kiss from her after reaching shelter; the film ended with Vantine reading Denny (wounded by a shot-gun blast from a jealous "Babs") a newspaper story about a rabbit that goes hippity-hop, hippity-hop, while he made little walking motions with his fingers up her thigh - with her vulgar wisecrack: "Hey, I wonder how this comes out?"