In the silent film days there was nothing to a bit of breast exposure. It was a commonplace of
epic and small-scale
production alike. In modern times, after a lapse lasting a decade or two, the battle had to be
fought all over again,
until the breast and other anatomical bits and pieces eventually won through! On 29 March
1965, a Negress in
"The Pawnbroker", also starring Rod Steiger, exposed both her breasts to the full,
thereby breaking Section
Seven, Sub-section Two of the Motion Picture Production Role - "Indecent or undue
exposure is forbidden."
A commentator wrote - "For the first time in the history of the Hollywood Production Code,
official recognition
has been given to the good taste and artistic merit with which a subject is treated, not only to
whether it hews
to the current standards by which the Code is interpreted." A headline in "Variety" noted,
more succinctly, "Film
Part requires no Bra." "The Pawnbroker" later became the official United States
entry in the 1964 Berlin Film
Festival.