In Germany, the film was banned and only released in 1935 with edited scenes. In the United States, the Catholic Legion of Decency found the film morally objectionable. It condemned the film in 1933, making Ecstasy one of the first foreign films condemned by the Legion. Beginning in 1936, the US distributor of Ecstasy lobbied the Hays office for ten months to get the film the Hays Code seal of approval which would allow it a wide American release. Joseph Breen called the picture "highlyeven dangerouslyindecent" in an inter-office memo to Will H. Hays, and told the producers: Curiously enough, it was Breen who later hired Machatý at RKO in 1940. Ecstasy was not released in the United States until 1935. It went on to limited run in America without the Hays seal, where it played in mostly independent art houses. Some state censor boards such as New York approved the film but most others either only allowed it with restrictions, demanded substantial cuts, or in the case of Pennsylvania, banned it altogether. Lamarr's first husband, the wealthy arms dealer Friedrich Mandl, reportedly spent $280,000 ($ in dollars) in an unsuccessful attempt to suppress the film by purchasing every existing print. Versions Austrian and Czech versions of the film were very similar. Only the scenes with supporting actors differed. The roles of Eva, Adam and Eva's father were overdubbed by Czech actors for the Czech version. Zvonimir Rogoz replayed all of his dialog in Czech. The French version featured actors André Nox as Eva's father and Pierre Nay as Adam. Machatý anticipated problems with censors, so he shot alternative scenes, that could be edited in the movie. The original versions were screened in Czechoslovakia, Austria and Venice Film Festival. In Germany censors allowed the film only after some of the naked shots were removed and two additional scenes were added: one scene making it clear Eva was already divorced when she met Adam, and a more traditional ending where Eva and Adam stay together. This version was the basis for the US distribution version. The US version also added songs by Denes Agay and Emery H. Helm with lyrics by Henry Gershwin and William Colligan. References Further reading Gardner, Gerald. The Censorship Papers: Movie Censorship Letters from the Hays Office, 1934 to 1968. Dodd Mead 1988 External links 1933 films Czech black-and-white films 1930s Czech-language films Czechoslovak black-and-white films Films