Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture
HomeForbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture
Posted February 7, 2019 05:47 PM by Webmaster
Kino Repertory has released a promotional trailer for Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture, a special event that will highlight early 'risky' films. The event, which will include a number of new restorations presented by Kino Lorber in association with Something Weird and the Library of Congress, will be launched at Film Forum in New York on March 1, and will then tour different cities across the country.
Official studios description: In the years when Hollywood was harnessed by the Production Code Authority, a new breed of mercenary impresario brazenly depicted every Hays Office taboo (primarily sex, drugs and childbirth), draping their films in a banner of moral uplift. More carny showmen than movie moguls, wily entrepreneurs like Kroger Babb and Dwain Esper exhibited these films "roadshow" style, with garish lobby displays, live lectures, and souvenirs. New restorations presented by Kino Lorber in association with Something Weird and the Library of Congress.
FILMS IN THE SERIES:
Narcotic
(1933, Dwain Esper) Dwain Esper's earliest surviving film is a delirious, almost avant-garde treatise on opium addiction. New 2K restoration includes 3 minutes of previously-censored footage. Plus the trailer (all that survives) of Esper's first film, The Seventh Commandment. DCP. Approx. 61 min.
Mom and Dad
(1945, William Beaudine) The brainchild of legendary showman Kroger Babb, the no-punches-pulled, sex-education film Mom and Dad played the roadshow circuit continuously for 30 years and earned an estimated (and not exaggerated) $40M at the box-office, not counting revenue from sex-education booklets peddled in the aisles. This special presentation revives the film in a new 4K restoration, complete with live medical lecture by Dr. Elliot Forbes. DCP. Approx. 97 min.
Child Bride
(1938, Harry Revier) In one of the most lascivious films ever made, an idealistic schoolteacher tries to reform some of the more unsavory traditions of rural mountain folk. Plus the world premiere of Dwain Esper's lost short How to Take a Bath. New 4K Restoration. DCP. Approx. 76 min.
Marijuana: Weed with Roots in Hell
(1936, Dwain Esper) Back-seat petting leads to ribald roadhouses, skinny-dipping, and of course, drug addiction in the most accomplished film by husband-and-wife team of Dwain and Hildagarde Esper. Plus the first chapter of Esper and Louis Sonney's graphic crime series The March of Crime (1936). New Restoration. DCP. Approx. 64 min.
Test Tube Babies
(1948, W. Merle Connell) A pair of newlyweds struggles with infertility, until they get a biology lesson from delightfully deadpan Timothy Farrell. Any remaining questions will be answered by a "square-up" reel featuring color footage of surgical childbirth. New Restoration. DCP. Approx. 75 min.
Sex Madness
(1938, Anonymous) A cult hit when it was revived for midnight shows in the 1970s, Sex Madness (aka They Must Be Told, Human Wreckage) graphically illustrates the wages of a variety of Depression-era sins. Plus Dwain Esper's How to Undress (1937), featuring John Barrymore's wife Elaine Barrie. New Restoration. DCP. Approx. 59 min.
She Shoulda Said "No"!
(1949, Sam Newfield) Actress Lila Leeds cashed in on the notoriety of her 1948 marijuana arrest (with Robert Mitchum) with this hard-boiled exposé of the narcotics racket. Plus gritty second chapter of Dwain Esper and Louis Sonney's The March of Crime. New Restoration. DCP. Approx 80 min.
Official studios description: In the years when Hollywood was harnessed by the Production Code Authority, a new breed of mercenary impresario brazenly depicted every Hays Office taboo (primarily sex, drugs and childbirth), draping their films in a banner of moral uplift. More carny showmen than movie moguls, wily entrepreneurs like Kroger Babb and Dwain Esper exhibited these films "roadshow" style, with garish lobby displays, live lectures, and souvenirs. New restorations presented by Kino Lorber in association with Something Weird and the Library of Congress.
FILMS IN THE SERIES:
Narcotic
(1933, Dwain Esper) Dwain Esper's earliest surviving film is a delirious, almost avant-garde treatise on opium addiction. New 2K restoration includes 3 minutes of previously-censored footage. Plus the trailer (all that survives) of Esper's first film, The Seventh Commandment. DCP. Approx. 61 min.
Mom and Dad
(1945, William Beaudine) The brainchild of legendary showman Kroger Babb, the no-punches-pulled, sex-education film Mom and Dad played the roadshow circuit continuously for 30 years and earned an estimated (and not exaggerated) $40M at the box-office, not counting revenue from sex-education booklets peddled in the aisles. This special presentation revives the film in a new 4K restoration, complete with live medical lecture by Dr. Elliot Forbes. DCP. Approx. 97 min.
Child Bride
(1938, Harry Revier) In one of the most lascivious films ever made, an idealistic schoolteacher tries to reform some of the more unsavory traditions of rural mountain folk. Plus the world premiere of Dwain Esper's lost short How to Take a Bath. New 4K Restoration. DCP. Approx. 76 min.
Marijuana: Weed with Roots in Hell
(1936, Dwain Esper) Back-seat petting leads to ribald roadhouses, skinny-dipping, and of course, drug addiction in the most accomplished film by husband-and-wife team of Dwain and Hildagarde Esper. Plus the first chapter of Esper and Louis Sonney's graphic crime series The March of Crime (1936). New Restoration. DCP. Approx. 64 min.
Test Tube Babies
(1948, W. Merle Connell) A pair of newlyweds struggles with infertility, until they get a biology lesson from delightfully deadpan Timothy Farrell. Any remaining questions will be answered by a "square-up" reel featuring color footage of surgical childbirth. New Restoration. DCP. Approx. 75 min.
Sex Madness
(1938, Anonymous) A cult hit when it was revived for midnight shows in the 1970s, Sex Madness (aka They Must Be Told, Human Wreckage) graphically illustrates the wages of a variety of Depression-era sins. Plus Dwain Esper's How to Undress (1937), featuring John Barrymore's wife Elaine Barrie. New Restoration. DCP. Approx. 59 min.
She Shoulda Said "No"!
(1949, Sam Newfield) Actress Lila Leeds cashed in on the notoriety of her 1948 marijuana arrest (with Robert Mitchum) with this hard-boiled exposé of the narcotics racket. Plus gritty second chapter of Dwain Esper and Louis Sonney's The March of Crime. New Restoration. DCP. Approx 80 min.
