To avoid censure the camera and the model must remain immobile.  This rotating stage is an ingenious system to present nudes from every angle. Oskar Messter (1866-1943) re-used the tableau vivant technique, which allows the public to observe nudity without it being wrong.

Oskar Messter indeed experienced an unfortunate experience. "Only one "racy" film was attributed to him", explains Martin Loiperdinger, author of a book on the film director. It's called La Belle Miranda after the horse riding lesson, this gentlemen's film from 1899 is kept in the Bundesarchiv Berlin. Censorship banned it."

However in this version of Akt-Skulpturen, the model couldn't resist doing a few dance steps or graciously changing pose. "I don't remember those saucier final scenes, the German version may have been partly censured, cautiously explains Mr Loiperdinger. Jugoslovenska Kinoteka of Belgrade would probably have a longer version."

The rights of all its films are claimed by the F.W. Murnau foundation in Wiesbaden.

“The item No. 1 in the famous Lamprecht’s Filmography of German Silent Cinema 1903 – 1930, is a short film made by cinema pioneer Oscar Messter, Akt-Skulpturen, which was wittly translated to Serbian as The Ballet in Eve’s Costume.  According to description, the film had seven intertitles corresponding to seven scenes (tableaux).  Messter engaged a couple of the most prominent art models of the time from Berlin, who performed nude on a rotating stage, presenting various scenes from mythology, history and literature.  Two naked, well formed human bodies symbolized a “cult of human body and beauty”, which was so charasteristic for the Germans.  On the other hand, Messter’s commercial motivation was also obvious – these erotic scenes were intended to draw as many viewers as possible to a newly-born atraction – the cinema theatres.

The print owned by Jugoslovenska kinoteka is considerably longer than the one mentioned in filmographies.  Instead of seven, it contains as many as fourteen scenes (but the final one – The Parting, hasn’t been preserved).  That is why it came as no surprise when Lobster Films made a suggestion that this unique print of Akt-Skulpturen should be presented at Europa Film Treasures website, the suggestion which was gladly accepted by Jugoslovenska kinoteka.”

Extract from From The Nitrate Picture Postcards (Catalogue of the XI Nitrate Film Festival, page 20), Jugoslovenska Kinoteka of Belgrade, Aleksandar Sasa Erdeljanovic.

The original music for this film was composed in 2010 by Martin Loridan in the context of the 2009-2010 partnership with the CNSMDP (Paris Conservatory of Dance and Music).