The celluloid sacrifice;: Aspects of sex in the movies

Jean Cocteau once called the cinema 'that temple of sex with its goddesses, its guardians and its victims'. That remark forms the theme of this three-part study by the Evening Standard film-critic of the role of sex in the cinema. Alexander Walker's goddesses include Mary Pickford, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. 'Why', he asks, 'was each of these so successful in projecting her sex appeal on celluloid?' His answers involve psychology, ethics, biography, film history and finance...and, of course, the 'guardians'. His guardians are simply the censors, British and American, whether as creators of taste or watch-dogs on morals. In his final section, devoted to victims, the author cites the fates of Mastroianni and Rock Hudson as evidence of the steadily falling graph of male supremacy in Italian and Hollywood sex-comedies.