Hypocrites (film)

Hypocrites is a 1915 silent drama film written and directed by Lois Weber 18811939.

The film follows the parallel stories of an early Christian ascetic and a modern minister, with most actors in dual roles. Gabriel Courteney Foote is a medieval monk who devotes himself to completing a statue of Truth, only to be murdered by a mob when his work turns out to be an image of a naked woman. The contemporary Gabriel is the pastor of a large wealthy urban congregation for whom religion is a matter of appearances, not beliefs. The hypocrisy of the congregation is exposed by a series of vignettes in which the Naked Truth, literally portrayed by a nude Margaret Edwards, reveals their appetites for money, sex and power.Hypocrites was a shocking and controversial film whose release was held up for many months by the difficulty of distributing a film with full nudity. Webers sincerity and reputation allowed her to use something that in the hands of a male director would have been considered scandalous and immoral. The film was passed by the British Board of Film Censors. However, because of the full and recurring nudity through the film, it caused riots in New York, was banned in Ohio, and was subject to censorship in Boston when the mayor demanded that the film negatives be painted over to clothe the woman. ........

Source: Wikipedia