Nell Shipman movie nude scene.
Nell Shipman Nude Scene — Complete Moving Picture World & Vancouver World Ads
WARNING: This page contains images of nudity. Some modern viewers may be amused, bemused or even tickled pink.
Is The Nude Rude? The Nude Scene Revealed…
Early in the silent movie Back To God’s Country, the heroine Dolores LeBeau (played by Nell Shipman, who had also written the screenplay) is swimming naked in a northern Canadian river, when she spots an unknown man approaching. After hiding under a waterfall, she climbs naked onto the rocky shore, attempting to escape. But she is spotted by the man, named Rydal, who has already taken part in the murder of a Mounted Policeman. Now Rydal rushes toward the naked woman…
When the motion picture was released in America, that scene brought hot demands for censorship from a number of civic groups. Hollywood producers eagerly supported a ban of the independent Canadian-made, successful, lucrative movie. Ernest and Nell Shipman began an expensive counter-attack by placing ads in film trade papers and magazines, including the influential Moving Picture World, asking “Is the Nude Rude?”
Tame by today’s standards, even the Moving Picture World ad of the July 24, 1920 issue shown above shocked some readers in the America of the early Nineteen Twenties.
The actual nude scene in the film was more hint than reveal. Nell may have been naked under the waterfall, but, as one reporter put it, “the flowing water hid her nether regions in the film, and her long hair covered the naughty bits in the Canadian newspaper illustration.”
In Canada, the promotional newspaper illustration referred to appeared in the Oct. 11, 1919, edition of the Vancouver World. More dramatic, the advert caught public attention, all right.
The panel showing a naked woman caused a sensation in Canada and drew attacks in American newspapers. Even the wording for that panel was described as “rude!” The caption read: “He had seen Dolores come dripping from the stream and tip-toed forward to seize her. Suddenly from a chasm in the rocks a great bear arose, growling fiercely, and the girl snuggled behind it.”
Note: the bear in the movie was actually Brownie, Nell’s tame cub, not the fierce full-grown monster shown above…
Filmed entirely in the Canadian northcountry, in the summer rivers and forests, and in winter conditions of often -40 degrees, it remains a stirring portrait of our beloved “God’s Country” and a tribute to Nell Shipman’s courage. She performed all of the action stunts herself.
And Nell’s 1919 Back To God’s Country took in almost 2 Million Dollars at box offices throughout North America (and that’s not counting European sales), selling more tickets than any other Canadian movie ever! Yes, it remains our most popular movie to this day.
==>> SEE: Canuck Movies – Mounties, Nell Shipman & the Canadian Spirit
And see Canadian Film Encyclopedia – Nell Shipman.
Famous Movie Nude Scene: Nell Shipman Nude Scene – Back to God’s Country Movie – Pioneer Woman
