Better than almost all the erotica book covers I've seen lately. From a 1955 movie.

[AG31]

I was looking for the name of the movie that featured a song, and saw this graphic. I loved the movie, but don't remember ever seeing this. It's not "graphic," but I'm really impressed with the artful depiction of physical love. I can't think of anything except where her breasts are and what they're both feeling. Beats any of the erotica covers I've seen in a long time.
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[SinclairGroupLLP]

I think she’s just applying sunscreen to him so he doesn’t burn in the pool.

 

[Zootonius]

Kinda fun to think that Jennifer Jones' range was from The Song of Bernadette to this!

 

[Lifestyle66]

I was looking for the name of the movie that featured a song, and saw this graphic. I loved the movie, but don't remember ever seeing this. It's not "graphic," but I'm really impressed with the artful depiction of physical love. I can't think of anything except where her breasts are and what they're both feeling. Beats any of the erotica covers I've seen in a long time.
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The movie title is right there: "Love is a Many Splendored Thing."

IMDB.com and look it up. It shows that graphic.

 

[AG31]

Right. I wasn't posting to find the name of the movie. I was posting to share an arresting picture that works for me as more erotic than almost all current "erotica" book coveres.

 

[AG31]

"Better than almost all the erotica book covers I've seen lately." I added this to the title, in hopes it would get more views.

 

[NotWise]

"Better than almost all the erotica book covers I've seen lately." I added this to the title, in hopesit would get more views.

I think I'm coming around to your opinion on erotic book covers. There are a lot of them, but not very many are good.

The poster is probably from a scene in the movie. Do you know the context?

 

[lovecraft68]

A lot of great lurid covers from old Pulps, especially the True Detective Variety

 

[AG31]

I think I'm coming around to your opinion on erotic book covers. There are a lot of them, but not very many are good.

The poster is probably from a scene in the movie. Do you know the context?

Sorry, no. My memory's not that good.

 

[NotWise]

Looking at the official trailer and at still photos from the movie, it probably isn't directly from a scene.

There is an apparently long beech sequence when Holden is wearing swim trunks, as in the picture. In that scene, Jennifer Jones is also wearing a swimsuit, often draped so that she's not entirely visible. She often wears cheongsam as in the poster, but not in that scene. There's a hill-top makeout scene when she is wearing a cheongsam.

There are a lot of versions of that poster. Eroticism in the poster is probably an inference, and not the original intent of the movie.

 

[iwatchus]

Eroticism was definitely intended in the movie, but all the could do under the code was to infer in. Most movie posters of the era are not actual shots from the movies, but amalgams that could imply more than a single short could show.

 

[NotWise]

I like photos that are erotic without being completely explicit, but if I were to concoct a story cover now, I'd be tempted to go with the traditional brown paper. Writers are resorting to so much AI for their covers, and it wears very thin.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I love that book and the movie

 

[ChloeTzang]

An interview with Han Suyin

 

[AG31]

I like photos that are erotic without being completely explicit, but if I were to concoct a story cover now, I'd be tempted to go with the traditional brown paper. Writers are resorting to so much AI for their covers, and it wears very thin.

I couldn't agree more. All my book covers on Smashwords are plain maroon, with just the title and author. It may turn off a lot of readers, but it makes them stand out, for sure. And I think they may attract those who might like my writing.

 

[AG31]

Along with wondering about the sensations the two characters are experiencing, I find myself wondering about the artist. Did they think a lot about whether they were going too far?

 

[iwatchus]

Along with wondering about the sensations the two characters are experiencing, I find myself wondering about the artist. Did they think a lot about whether they were going too far?

I suspect most artists working on movie posters were trying to decide how far they could push it. Allegedly, a number of the original paintings for the posters have more skin underneath an extra layer of paint, where the studio made them tame it down.

Thinking about fighting the movie industry versus its own censorship. I heard a wonderful interview with Hitchcock somewhere talking about his fights with the Hayes office. There was a rule about how many seconds a kiss could last. I think it is three seconds. In Notorious, he has Grant and Bergman on the phone as they are kissing, every three seconds, on the dot, Grant would say one word into the phone and then start kissing again. Apparently, they had someone on set calling out the times so he knew exactly when to take a break.

 

[happyyy_]

Sounds like you might like 80s romance book covers? They are some of my favorites too.
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[AG31]

Sounds like you might like 80s romance book covers? They are some of my favorites too.
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Wonder where the artist on the left got their inspiration?
I gotta say, though, their understanding of anatomy looks a little more convincing.

 

[happyyy_]

Wonder where the artist on the left got their inspiration?

Haha I was thinking the same! A lot of the Fabio covers have pretty dramatic poses.

 

[Dearelliot]

Back in the early 50s, Just after HS I got a job working for a Surgical supply company, sold all sorts of hospital and medical needs and equipment.
A guy came in wanting to look at the material that might be used as a cover for a gurney that a hospital used to transport dead patients to the morgue...He showed me a drawing he was painting of a dead woman half naked of course on a hospital gurney. He was an artist, and he did the covers for a variety of True Detective type mags.

 

[problemagain]

Eroticism was definitely intended in the movie, but all the could do under the code was to infer in. Most movie posters of the era are not actual shots from the movies, but amalgams that could imply more than a single short could show.

It was a relatively big step to have Jennifer Jones play a Eurasian love interest for Holden. Interracial was simply not part of the culture at the time and it is still sometimes unusual even 70 years later

 

[problemagain]

Back in the early 50s, Just after HS I got a job working for a Surgical supply company, sold all sorts of hospital and medical needs and equipment.
A guy came in wanting to look at the material that might be used as a cover for a gurney that a hospital used to transport dead patients to the morgue...He showed me a drawing he was painting of a dead woman half naked of course on a hospital gurney. He was an artist, and he did the covers for a variety of True Detective type mags.

the lurid detective paperbacks where even the corpse is half naked if it is female...and the detective lives in his boxers, shoulderholster and fedora