Movies - Legong: Dance of the Virgins

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	Movies - Legong: Dance of the Virgins

Legong: Dance of the Virgins was one of the last feature films shot using the two-color Technicolor process. An American exploitation film (of a type often referred to as a "goona-goona epic"), it was produced and directed by Henry de la Falaise for Bennett Pictures Corp., and was filmed entirely on location in Bali in 1933 using an all Balinese cast. The cameraman was three time Academy Award winner color specialist William H. Greene who also photographed the 2-color scenes in Ben-Hur
(1925). It was first distributed in the United States in 1935 by DuWorld Pictures Inc..

Original release

The film opened in New York on October 1 1935 at USD$5.00 per ticket. Reaction from some New York critics was positive; “exquisitely beautiful” from one, “Moments that touch the heart” from another, and “flaming splendor” from a third. The New York Times' reviewer found it "a pleasant venture in the filmic literature of escape... a pretty tale, and the photoplay recites it simply and with faith. Subduing his color camera to inviting browns and pastel tints, the Marquis sets his native lovers against the rice fields, the shadowy lagoons, the pounding surf and the mountains of that island of which Paul Morand has written that it is absolutely irresistible to college boys and women of 40." Variety, on the other hand, considered it to offer "nothing especially refreshing in the story... follows usual procedure for this type of native stuff" though conceding "A number of elaborate production scenes with oriental trappings are made doubly effective through use of color".

Ten weeks later Film Daily reported that Legong was still playing in New York. Part of the appeal was likely the bare breasted young actresses that appear throughout the film: American censors of the time tended to be more lenient with topless nudity in films purporting to be cultural studies, and the women were not white. Legong was successful enough that it was re-released several times. At one time advertisements promoted the film in large letters as “NUDITY WITHOUT CRUDITY: A FILM FOR ALL AUDIENCES!” “Bali... a garden of Eden with dozens of ‘Eves’! See the strange dance of Rongda, the Witch! Romance in the South Seas! Mass Cremation ceremonies!”

While nudity may have been part of the films appeal, it also received recognition at the time of its release for embodying "many details of anthropological interest, giving a record, in particular, of betrothal custom, traditional dances and mortuary rites." This is only partially true. The script writers, while basing the story on Balinese culture, gave it a decidedly Hollywood treatment. Despite its shortcomings, the film gives an unparalleled view of life in Bali in the 1930s.

In the course of the story there are several authentic performances of Balinese dance. One of these dances is "Legong", from which the film gets its name. While the film shows the traditional gamelan accompanying the dancers, there is no gamelan music in the original music track.

This silent film has a musical soundtrack but no dialogue -- rather it uses intertitles written by Hampton del Ruth. Poetoe Aloes Goesti played Poutou, the girl, and Njong Njong Njoman her unnamed lover.

Restoration and New Musical Score

The film was restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive and released on DVD in 2004. Legong was reconstructed using three surviving nitrate two-color Technicolor prints from the United States and Britain. Scenes of nudity had been trimmed for the U.S. release, whereas shots of cockfighting had been removed from the British prints. The DVD release includes an alternative soundtrack composed by Richard Mariott and I Made Subandi and performed by Gamelan Sekar Jaya and Club Foot Orchestra . The new score mixes Balinese and Western musical traditions. The new score was performed live at showings of the film at the Castro Theater in San Francisco in 1999, and at the UC Theater in Berkeley in 2000. There were also performances at the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center in New York, as part of the Silent Film/Live Music festival in 2000 and 2005.

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