In his latest film, In Harm's Way, precedent-busting producer-director Otto Preminger escalates his war against movie censorship with a contemporary variation on the classic cinematic clinch, with German-born beauty Barbara Bouchet (right) wrapped in warm unadorned embrace with ex–TV cowboy Hugh O'Brian on the sandy shores of Waikiki Beach. Although Playboy has featured other filmic highlights of natatorial nudity in the past—Susannah York (June 1964), Elsa Martinelli in the arms of Robert Mitchum (October 1963)—the beachside buss on the following pages establishes a precedent for U.S. cinemaphiles in that Preminger vows it will not he restricted to European consumption. The film, which covers the attack on Pearl Harbor, opens with an officers' party and an orgiastic dance scene between Barbara (who plays Kirk Douglas' wayward spouse) and O'Brian, followed by their adulterous luau-for-two and subsequent demise during the Japanese attack. Amidst a star-filled cast, which includes John Wayne, Patricia Neal, Paula Prentiss, Burgess Meredith, Henry Fonda and others, Barbara's brief debut adds appealing new dimensions (35-22-34) to American moviemaking.
Stripped for action, blonde and blue-eyed Barbara Bouchet, the latest in Otto Preminger's impressive procession of distracting discoveries (Jean Seberg, Carol Lynley, et al.), joins actor Hugh O'Brian (who donated his fee for this cameo appearance to charity) for an au naturel embrace in the shallows off Waikiki and a final take of their opening-reel love scene for In Harm's Way. The 20-year-old starlet balked at playing the scene ("I can't even swim") until Preminger unleashed one of his famous directorial diatribes. "I wouldn't have had the courage to do it," says Barbara, "if Otto hadn't gotten mad."
"I don't make different films for European and American audiences. I would never do that. If the nudity in this scene were not essential to the total effect of the film and, most important, handled in good taste, it would not have been included. To use nudity for its own sake would have been pointless. To have used it in bad taste—unforgivable. Could Playboy have remained so successful if it did not maintain certain standards of good taste? Of course not! As for Miss Bouchet, her performance needs no special justification. She can act—dressed or undressed.
"Naturally, there will always be those who object to any form of nudity unless, of course, it has been hanging in a museum for the past few centuries. I respect their right to express their opinions; but I will never allow them to interfere with my rights as an individual. I do not recognize such people as lawmakers or taste-makers, and I don't intend to cut my film just to please them. Censorship is the first step on the road to authoritarian government."
