Unashamed: A Romance

Unashamed: A Romance (1938)

** (out of 4)

Robert Lawton (Robert Stanley) is struggling with some health issues and everyone knows he works way too much. Rae (Rae Kidd) convinces him to check out a nudist camp that she belongs to. She hopes he gets better but she also wants him to fall for her. Everything is going good until Barbara (Lucille Shearer) enters the picture.

UNASHAMED: A ROMANCE is a pretty wild film and especially for 1938. The "nudist camp" movie would become extremely popular during the 1960s when all sorts of films would be released so that men could see some nudity. Directors such as Herschell Gordon Lewia and Doris Wishman visited the genre several times but this here is 1938 we're talking about. I've read that the film was banned throughout the country when it was originally released and most people would have had to seen it at midnight showings or ilegal showings.

So, how is the film? At just 64-minutes the film certainly doesn't overstay its welcome and for the most part it's entertaining for what it is. The "story" that is thrown in is pretty weak but I think we all know that the movie was made to show off the nudity. I'm not sure which camp they went to but there's no question that there were a lot of beautiful people who were willing to be nude on the camera. If you're expecting to see some less than attractive people you're going to be in for a shock.

The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this. If you go through the cast's filmmography you'll notice that most of them only had this film under their belt. Stanley did appear in a few bit role including one in John Ford's THE WHOLE TOWN IS TALKING. With that said, the performances are what they are but it's the nudity that's important here. I mean, that's what the producers were selling and that's why people were buying tickets.

For an exploitation movie, UNASHAMED: A ROMANCE is fairly entertaining and worth watching if you're a fan of the genre.