MovieChat Forums > The Master of Ballantrae (1953) Discussion > Gillian Lynne's see-through blouse

Gillian Lynne's see-through blouse

posted 17 years ago by hobnob53
19 replies | jump to latest

When I first saw this movie (which is a very enjoyable swashbuckler), I was astonished to see Gillian Lynne (who plays Marianne, the dancer/"girlfriend" of Mendoza) not only wearing a see-through turquoise blouse throughout her part in the film, but braless underneath to boot. Her breasts are clearly visible in all her scenes. I'm fine with this, but I can't understand how such obvious (only slightly obscured) nudity got past the censors in 1953 -- or, for that matter, how the filmmakers either missed it or got away with it in the first place!

Either way, it's certainly unique for a mainstream motion picture of that era, and Ms. Lynne is lovely to look at. I wonder if any public word-of-mouth about this unexpected bonus boosted the film's box office back then?

[Update/confession (11/19/07): I had erroneously stated in the original post (7/16/07) that it was actress Yvonne Furneaux who did this dance scene. The next poster has corrected my error. In homage to Orwell, I have in turn corrected my original mistake in this update. But as I don't entirely believe in the ethics of rewriting history, I make note of my initial error here.]

[–] fifibutton 17 years ago

It was Marianne (played by Gillian Lynne)who did the dancing in that infamous turquoise blouse. Its not that obvious, only if you're looking for it.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

My mistake -- you're quite right, it was Gillian Lynne. But I defintely disagree with you that her lack of an undergarment not that obvious. I watched her scenes again and it's extremely blatant, even in mid-range shots, especially the ones framed so that the light is directly on her. There's nothing subtle or "un-obvious" about it. Besides, who would think to "look" for such a thing in a 1953 movie to begin with? That's why Ms. Lynne's appearance is so astonishing. I noticed this the first time I saw the film -- but I guess some people (like the censors) weren't paying attention, though how anybody missed this is unfathomable.

[–] lemasque 17 years ago

I agree with hobnob53 that there's nothing subtle or "un-obvious" about those see-through breasts of Gillian Lynne. They jumped out at me! I couldn't believe I was watching a 1953 movie. By today's standards, it's no big deal of course--except that they come out of nowhere in a mainstream Hollywood movie of the '50s. Yet, it's not the only time this has happened. I recently noticed that a trailer for the US release of The 3rd Man has a topless dancer in one scene. It is also in the British version of the film, and I assume the US version also.

[–] fifibutton 17 years ago

Maybe as a woman it was not so obvious to me. It does seem shocking but strangely in silent era films, nudity was fairly commonplace. There's even a 1940's Arthur Askey film which shows the porn of period, uncensored by the stiff British.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Was that dancer (in the night club scene, I assume) in "The Third Man" topless? It looked to me as though she was wearing a very inadequately-sized bra, but not altogether topless. She was in the background so was not too blatant. The original UK version is the standard version now shown in the US; my recollection is that the US version did have this scene but in some edited form.

In any event, nothing like "The Master of Ballantrae", although it's true there were numerous topless scenes, not only in silents, but in pre-Code sound films such as deMille's "The Sign of the Cross" (1932), which not only shows Claudette Colbert revealing much of her breasts, including the tops of her nipples, in her infamous "asses' milk" bath scene, but has two naked (save for strategically placed thin strands of flowers or ivy leaves) women tied up for sacrifice in the Colisseum (one to be eaten by crocodiles, the other to be assaulted by a gorilla). Oh that Cecil!

[–] fifibutton 17 years ago

You're right, in the Third Man the dancer wears but a little "deocation" to cover her modesty. I don't think nudity was ever much of an issue in films. Take Errol Flynn's debut In the Wake of the Bounty. The native girls of Taihiti are butt naked, there aren't even any distracting lei flowers. That was 1933. In 1927 You had Metropolis showing the evil alter ego of the main female character and she dances for the men with ropes of jewelery to keep it all in good taste! In 1915 Les Vampires actress Musidora posed frequently nude and in 1897 Georges Melies Apres le Bal one of the first nude scenes was featured. I think the bigger issue was portraying sexual acts. That wouldn't get past the censors so easily.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Yes, nudity and sex really became issues in American films after the production code began to be enforced in 1933-34. People forget there was somewhat discreet but still evident nudity, or near-nudity, in Hollywood films in the silent era (the 1926 BEN-HUR had topless dancing girls in a couple of scenes), and as late as 1932 De Mille's THE SIGN OF THE CROSS had a couple of naked women, covered by only a couple of strands of leaves or something, tied up for two different sacrifices in the Colisseum (eaten by crocodiles, beaten to a pulp by a gorilla -- oh that Cecil!). In TARZAN THE APE MAN (1934) Jane (not Maureen O'Sullivan but her stand-in) swam completely nude with Johnny Weismuller. Nudity wasn't as blatant or obvious as what came along at the beginning of the 70s but without question not only nudity, but talk of sex, adultery, abortion, even lesbianism, lasted until the early 30s, when suddenly the studios clamped down tight. You couldn't even show married couples in the same bed, let alone an unwed couple, or even suggest it. Things were always more liberal in Europe. All of which makes Gillian's very obvious see-through blouse so much more astonishing. I just can't see how that escaped the censors, who were admittedly a pretty dim bunch, but even so....

(Frank Capra claimed that in a long shot of Jane Wyatt climbing out of a natural pool in 1937's LOST HORIZON, she was naked -- she does look it -- and that the censors at first wanted the shot cut because of that. Capra said that they reran the sequence a couple of times, each time Capra pointing out the lines of Wyatt's non-existent swimsuit, until finally the censors agreed they could see it -- a neat trick!)

[–] frantickitten 13 years ago

What is this obsession with women's breasts? Is this the eighth grade?

[–] Xcalat3 16 years ago

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

[–] hobnob53 16 years ago

Heavens! :) :) :)

[–] evilbastard9 11 years ago

Just watch the Jimmy Stewart movie Cheyenne Social Club. Elaine Devry has a see through blouse and her boobs are most prominent!

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Yeah, but that was in 1970, when nudity was coming back into films (and pretty soon filmmakers went overboard displaying toplessness whenever they could get an excuse). It's seeing this in a film made in 1953, when censorship of such things was in full swing, that's really amazing -- or, rather, the fact that they got away with it.

[–] evilbastard9 11 years ago

What was interesting, before cable, I would see The Cheyenne Social Club run on the Sunday Afternoon Movie on local TV with that scene intact.

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Same with The Master of Ballantrae -- and that was in the 60s! I suspect by the time you saw The Cheyenne Social Club on TV it was probably the 80s and things were just so liberated. Still, even today TV censors a lot, even on cable. (The brief topless scene in The Godfather, for one example, is always cut on basic cable.) It's kind of bizarre, to say nothing of totally arbitrary.

[–] musicbytes 11 years ago

Sexism prudishness and censorship simultaneously !

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Who says morality is dead in the 21st century?!

[–] Majuro 10 years ago

I saw this movie first when I was in the 8th grade, and her see-through blouse was the only memorable scene to me, it really was shocking to see in an older film! I later forgot the name of the film, or any of the actors, but I still remembered this woman in a blue see-through blouse surrounded by men, in my mind she was running around in circles angry, I forgot she was dancing. For the next FORTY years, every time I saw a Technicolor pirate film, early 50's, I watched a bit to see if she'd reappear. I started to think I dreamt it, til last night when TCM had this on. It sounds silly, but it was a bucket list item, to find this film again. And it was worth the wait, in an 8th-grade boyish sort of way, it's as obvious as the original poster says, very surprising it passed censorship.
**** Btw, "The Man Who Came to Dinner" was the only other post-code film that I can recall with a similar issue, Ann Sheridan's nipples are quite prominently poking through her thin blouse in one scene.
Its director? The same as here: William Keighley!

[–] hobnob53 10 years ago

William Keighley must have been a dirty old man!

Isn't it neat when entirely by accident you suddenly run across a film or TV show you hadn't seen in years and couldn't remember what it was? Congratulations on finding TMOB again. (I forgot it was on last night -- damn!) If you're interested, the standard DVD is out of print but still available, and it's now also available on the Warner Archives MOD label. It was Flynn's last swashbuckler.

I remember that scene in The Man Who Came to Dinner (and good catch about Keighley), but there are a few other examples of I suppose inadvertent shots of an actress's nipples visible through her clothing from the 40s and 50s. The only one that comes to mind at this moment is a brief shot of Ava Gardner dancing in the gypsy camp in The Barefoot Contessa (1954), but I have seen a few others. But Sheridan's scene in TMWCTD was pretty prolonged compared to other such scenes.

Still, there's a huge difference between a glimpse of a woman's nipples visible beneath her clothing, and completely seeing an actress's breasts in full, no bra, beneath a flimsy blouse. I wonder if Gillian Lynne realized this when they were filming, or cared? But again and again, I just cannot fathom how her scenes got past the censors. There was nothing the least subtle or disguised about Miss Lynne's breasts, and no way anyone could miss them.

[–] Satan2016 (25577) 2 years ago

Found it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-qGpexYcsU