Alan Parker, Joe Leitel and Bruce Reed Ben-Hurry (1959) dir. Richard Fontaine
You’re telling me this was made during the Hays Code
This is what’s known as a physique film, and it is vintage gay porn. Actual gay pornography was illegal in the 50s, so people created short films like these that existed in a legal gray area - the (paper thin) excuse is that they are about bodybuilding and fitness. No sex happens in physique films, nor any full-frontal nudity, just a lot of the kind of thing you can see in these gifs. The film reels would be ordered by people through the mail (via physique magazines - which were magazines of homoerotic photography along the same lines as these films) and would not have been screened in theatres, so they would not be subject to the Hays Code. These were extremely legally dubious nonetheless. Physique films and magazines were dangerous to make, distribute, and consume because of obscenity laws, and most of the important figures in the industry were arrested at least once.
