379:, the wonderplay of the season ... is startling, even bold in spots, but very, very nice. The picture has undeniable virtues and just as undeniable vices but they belong to the characters in the piece for 'Sex' has a 'soul.' ... A problem, beautifully presented and cleverly analyzed that leaves us with a sense of the infinite at the end -- which is distinctly unusual -- and which is entirely free from the sticky-sweet sentimentality of too many photoplays is the theme of sex. ... The art of the producer, applied with lavish, yet discriminating hand and the talents of the star make 'Sex' superlative entertainment and food for thought.
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Renault then sails for Europe. She ends up on the same ship with the reunited
Overmans, who are on a second honeymoon. The chastened Renault does nothing to disrupt the relationship, resigned to a life of solitude. The film's final intertitle reads, "The standards of morality eternally demand that
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Sex has an important part in life either for evil or good, and it is the producers' privilege to show the error of the former and the virtue of the latter. Anybody who would wish to ban sex pictures from the screen, would be simply eliminating a highly important, if not the most important phase of
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A Pennsylvania newspaper wrote: "We have heard a great deal in the past year about 'pictures with a soul' but we never quite got the significance of the 'soul-picture' until we saw 'Sex' with Louise Glaum as the star." A Chicago newspaper called it "a lesson to thousands of frivolous creatures who
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Glaum's performance as the "vampish" Renault drew extensive coverage. One reviewer called it "one of the most perfect vampire characterizations" ever given in a motion picture. Another review called
Renault "a dazzling, alluring home wrecker ... who never had a qualm of conscience about taking
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was the use of three cameras. One camera was used to produce the negative from which prints were to be made for use in the United States, and a second was used to be used for foreign prints. The third camera was "placed at an angle different from either of the others" and "was used in the
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produced and Fred Niblo directed a 1920 film called 'Sex', starring pioneering screen vamp Louise Glaum as a New York cabaret star, the mistress of a married man. What gives the film its edge is that in truth she is simply a blunt, honest woman who doesn't realize her own vulnerability."
271:), home alone in her empty mansion. Her suspicions persuade her to hire a private detective to follow her husband. Eventually, Mrs. Overman uncovers her husband's infidelity. She begs Renault to release her husband, but Renault refuses, and Mrs. Overman obtains a divorce.
282:). It was Renault who had coached Daisy in the ways of seducing wealthy married men. Renault begs Daisy to release Wallace, harkening back to the scene where Mrs. Overmire had pleaded with Renault. As Renault had done with Mrs. Overman, Daisy refuses to release Wallace.
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The film is a morality story on the evils of marital infidelity and the wild lifestyle of New York actors. At the same time, the film included scenes of seduction and debauchery that made it the subject of controversy over its prurient content.
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260:). Overman is in his private box watching Renault perform her seductive "Spider Dance". Renault comes on stage dressed as a spider, "clad in a translucent cloak of webs wrapped cloak-like around a body-hugging black sheath".
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is indubitably the greatest. The 'mystery' of the sex equation has given rise to innumerable pruderies and pruriencies but
Manager Thropp of the Colonial Theatre has come out flatly with the pronouncement that he has booked
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In another scene of debauchery, the film depicts a party at which "stage-door johnnies drink out of women's slippers and scantily clad chorines slide down banisters, their undergarments visible to all and sundry".
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The film's title and subject matter were the subject of controversy in some locations. Playing off of the film's provocative title, newspaper advertising urged readers to "SEE SEX SEE SEX SEE SEX".
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Edwin
Schallert (February 6, 1921). "READ STARTS NEW SEX PLAY: Recent Agitation Fails to Dismay Producer; In Fact, He's Declared War for High Principle; Fred Niblo to Direct Star, Louise Glaum".
196:. On its surface, the film was a morality story on the evils of marital infidelity. However, the film's producer, J. Parker Read, had made a series of pictures on sex themes. The release of
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fool themselves into believing that youth lasts forever, that pleasure is life's chief object and that one can violate the laws that regulate our domestic lives and get away with it".
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life from the pictures. Thus did J. Parker Read, impresario of sensational sex films, outline his attitude toward the present agitation against pictures on sex themes.
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refused to allow the film to be shown in
Pennsylvania under its provocative title. To appease the censors, the film was distributed in Pennsylvania under the title
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The film was a box office hit and received extensive coverage in the newspapers in 1920. A Massachusetts newspaper gave the film the following review:
200:, with its provocative title and explicit scenes of seduction and debauchery, made it the subject of controversy among censors and commentators.
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588:"Louise Glaum in 'Sex' Increases Her Popularity: Her Gowns are Gorgeous Creations". North Adams Transcript. June 22, 1920.
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reported that it had led to a war being declared in some quarters against "sex pictures". Echoing the response of
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the naked soul of Sex be stripped of its falsehoods – which can only be atoned for through bitter tears."
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The film opens with
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expectation that a unique angle might provide a more interesting view of the dramatic action".
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By this time, Renault has fallen in love with a new millionaire, Dick
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Kevin Thomas (October 28, 2004). "SCREENING ROOM; A flicker of cinema spirits".
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577:"Three Cameras Used". The Daily Globe (Ironwood, MI). March 3, 1921.
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American Cinema of the 1920s: Themes and
Variations, pp. 33-36
610:"Woodlawn Theatre". Suburbanite Economist. April 30, 1920.
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Of all the social problems that beset the world that of
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The film's plot centers on
Adrienne Renault (played by
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1920 American silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo
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The Apollo
Theater in Washington, DC in 1920 playing
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film critic, Kevin Thomas, wrote: "Six years before
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at the Royal Theater in Des Moines, Iowa (May 1920)
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1140:1920s English-language films
684:AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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1125:Silent American drama films
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940:The Woman He Married
932:The Three Musketeers
892:Her Husband's Friend
796:Happy Though Married
446:Hagerstown, Maryland
439:Sex Crushed to Earth
388:another's husband".
1092:Diamond Cut Diamond
1068:Young Donovan's Kid
1036:The Mysterious Lady
820:The Haunted Bedroom
423:Motion Picture News
298:as Adrienne Renault
190:C. Gardner Sullivan
177:is a 1920 American
55:C. Gardner Sullivan
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742:Films directed by
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77:Louise Glaum
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764:Officer 666
412:Controversy
405:Thomas Ince
280:Viola Barry
164:intertitles
100:Ralph Dixon
61:Produced by
41:Directed by
1115:1920 films
1109:Categories
1060:Redemption
1044:Two Lovers
744:Fred Niblo
487:References
333:Production
326:Jean Murat
186:Fred Niblo
182:drama film
143:87 minutes
127:1920-03-29
51:Written by
45:Fred Niblo
1028:The Enemy
346:Reception
162:(English
97:Edited by
884:Hairpins
696:AllMovie
397:Mae West
156:Language
73:Starring
1012:Camille
996:Ben-Hur
681:at the
148:Country
125: (
1095:(1932)
1087:(1932)
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783:(1918)
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420:Ad in
240:(1920)
179:silent
160:Silent
556:"Sex"
501:"Sex"
475:Times
707:IMDb
564:2009
513:2009
433:The
290:Cast
215:and
204:Plot
868:Sex
705:at
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678:Sex
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444:In
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174:Sex
24:Sex
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129:)
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