Forbidden Fruit

Introduction: In the first half of the 20th century, exploitation films with such taboo subjects as VD or drug abuse could bypass the censors under the guise that they were “educational”. As long as there was some kind of moralizing and preachiness about the prices paid for such sins or societal deviation, they could get away with such shocking images as skinny-dipping or playing the piano while stoned. Of course, the audiences were no fools. They’d flock the theatres or carnival tents because of the lewd content, and not because they needed a lesson. Either way, by the time the law or the censors got wise, these exploitation filmmakers would already have fled the county with their ticket money, to set up shop elsewhere. Today, these creaky, primitive films have marginal shock value (excepting a few scenes) but they offer an interesting “alternative” look at society not otherwise represented in the day’s mainstream cinema. So far there have been two excellent books written on these films: Eric Schaefer’s Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!: A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959, and Bret Wood’s Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Film.