I’ve probably seen this move a dozen times, including several times on the screen, once when I was only 11. It’s been on my top 10 list since I’ve had a top 10 list.
I didn’t learn until a couple of months ago that no one knows exactly how old Brigitte Helm was when this was filmed, but it’s possible she was 17, because she turned 18 during the filming. If you look up her birth year, and the year of Metropolis’ release, it looks like she should have been older, but the movie was a long time in production, and then it took a longer time to actually get released. Her scenes were filmed early in the process.
Would a 17-year-old be allowed to film a scene like this now? I doubt it. I think probably the latest it could be done was maybe 1975.
But is that reactionary, or a response to the fact that there’s no real need to use a 17-year-old, and is this scene actually even borderline pornographic?
And is someone going to step in and try to get this film censored if word gets out?
I have to confess, I’m a little creeped out, watching it and knowing that she is that young-- even if she’s 18. I always thought she was older-- she looks maybe 23. And now I sound like a creepy old man, but I saw the Giorgio Moroder version when** I **was 17, and she looked older to me then.
Does anyone else who has seen the movie feel a little weirded out by how young she is playing this character?
And is this child porn? Please tell me I’m over-reacting, because I love this movie.
Britney Spears was 17 when she filmed the clip for “Baby One More Time”, which IMHO isn’t any less provocative. So yeah, your clip’s a bit weird, but only in that it’s 70 years ahead of its time.
What the woman is doing strikes me as, at best, somewhat comical. It’s the excessive leering of the audience characters that makes the scene unsettling for me.
Anyway, what’s the big deal if she’s 17? What was the age of consent in Germany at the time? Was there one? If you’re going to classify this as child porn using modern standards, you may as well do the same for Romeo and Juliet.
It still passed various censorship boards, including the US and UK. When the film was re-released on DVD in 2006, there was a actually some consideration by the British censors to decrease the rating from 18 to 15. They ultimately decided against it.
Olivia Hussey was 17 when she filmed her nude scene in Zeffirelli’s 1968 Romeo and Juliet.
Much more recently, Dean-Charles Chapman was 16 when he did his shirtless immediate-postcoital scene in Game of Thrones.
Oh, and Brooke Shields was 14 in the 1980 film Blue Lagoon, and Michelle Johnson was 17 in Blame it on Rio in 1984. There seem to be quite a few slightly-underage actresses who’ve appeared in R-rated movies.
All of these seem to be basic nudity/sex scenes of some sort rather than exotic dancing performances; I don’t know if that makes them less or more daring than the Metropolis scene you’re talking about.
Also, I’m not really sure how creepy it is to see a 17-year-old actor in a somewhat sexualized role in a movie. I mean, it would probably not be illegal for them actually to have sex with an adult at that point, right? Age of consent and all. Hell, Demi Moore was first married at age 17.
17 year olds aren’t considered children in Europe, including the UK where the age of consent is 16. What I consider far more creepy is the Americans treating 16 and 17 year olds as prepubescents.
In most states the law doesn’t treat 16 and 17 year olds as children. Very few states have a concrete 18 years old age of consent. The age of consent in my state is also 16 with a 4 year Romeo and Juliet provision. One thing that is universal across the country are laws prohibiting sexually explicit photos under the age of 18. This clip would not fall under that category.
Controversial at most today. And not that big a controversy either. Other cases of young women under 18 have been mentioned, they weren’t considered child pornography of the illegal kind and neither would this. I don’t understand what’s creeping you out about her being not quite 18 at the time. Would you be creeped out if she was already 18? I don’t know what the laws were at the time but she probably would have been considered a minor until age 21 if there were any applicable laws.
And I’ve watched this movie possibly seventeen thousand times since I was 12, and NEVER found the “Whore of Babylon” dance to be remotely erotic. I knew it was SUPPOSED to be erotic to the onlookers, but I never got personal wood over a 17 year old Helm. So I’m still cool with it.
IMHO, yes, you are overreacting. I guess I am surprised there’s even a need to ask. No offense intended!
For me, I know I am watching a very old film and the exaggerated leers, the cool Eye special effects and her herky-jerky moves just keep me from ever really seeing anything squicky about it.
Labelling something like this as (potential) “child porn” seems very counterproductive to me, damaging the credibility of the accusers (not referencing you, RivkahChaya) and diminishing the destruction caused by true child pornography.