Adão e Eva

Easily Alberto Gout's worst film. Not only had he Miss Universe Christiane Martel and fleshy Carlos Baena wear skin-colored tights, but he made the Biblical tale as verbose as possible. Surely there was not much to talk for this couple, but it does not have the slightest combination of what were goin on in the old house. All this is the more strange, because it was Gout who guided Ninón Sevilla in the classic erotic fantasies "Aventurera" and "Sensualidad". At least the next Mexican attempt at telling this story was sexier and funnier, with hunk star Jorge Rivero in the beginning of his career, and an American starlet that time forgot.

This is a religious" drama that was a landmark exploitation release in the US. The dialogue-free film is narrated (in Spanish in the version I watched) with passages from Genesis as we see nature footage representing the creation of the world. Eventually Adam (Carlos Baena) appears. He wanders around Eden, which consists of a very small pond and some poorly laid out greenery, and plays with the animals, including a deer and some lion cubs. He gets bored, though, so God rips out one of Adam's own ribs for him to play with. It helps that the rib takes the form of Eve (Christiane Martel). The two then wander around the Eden set, smiling and walking, and occasionally sitting. Eve notices an apple hanging in a tree, and although Adam (and God) say DO NOT TOUCH, we all know what happens next. They end up in the desert wearing over-sized fig-leaf loin-clothes, starving until Adam manages to strangle a wild dog. Then there's an earthquake. Thanks a lot, Eve!

The Catholic League of Decency was always quick to condemn any displays of nudity in film. However, American exhibitor David F. Friedman convinced them that the near-nudity in this film was acceptable due to the film's religious nature. The League agreed, and therefore this film played more widely than nearly any other film up to that time featuring "nudity". The skin on display will seem tame to most viewers today, as Eve's hair is always positioned to maintain modesty, and conveniently placed foliage hides both of their nether regions (as well as noticeable flesh-colored G-strings). However, there's far more flesh on display than in any other movie at the time, guaranteeing a healthy box-office and a continued exhibition of the film into the mid 1960's! Despite the shoddy production values and turgid direction, this movie remains an interesting and amusing relic from a simpler time, and a must-see for exploitation-film historians.

When the film opened in theaters in Mexico city, in 1957 I was a 10 year old kid, so the censors put me out of the line outside the theater. Then the film disappeared for more of forty years, because the leading lady Christianne Martel, former 1953 Miss France, after a very short career in Hollywood ended in the Mexican cinema and became very popular. Eventually she married a prominent Mexican politician, that baned all her films from exhibition, even in television. Suddenly last year, the film appeared in DVD. so I run to buy it. No nudity at all, all the time some plant or animal gets the closeup to protect the "private parts" from the camera. Some times Adam and Eve look like martians due to the rubber "leotards" that the couple wears in some scenes where no bush or object protect them. Bad taste, bad acting (If there is any) even car bored eastmancolor. Pedro Almodóver or John Waters will love the film if they had the chance to see it.