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French Blue -- The Full Story French Blue -- Ads and Reviews Classic LB "loops" added to French Blue DVD Sensations -- Ads and Reviews Classic LB "loops" added to Sensations DVD |
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| Click on LB-Biography for info about LB's life adventures prior to the shooting of Sensations |
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"SENSATIONS" is the direct consequence of the success attained in the USA by LB's prior movie "FRENCH BLUE." Without that achievement it would have been impossible to raise the funds needed for such a lavishly produced 35mm European masterpiece of Erotica. As a matter of fact, low-cost film ventures such as French Blue can be successful sometimes and even culturally necessary, but, without higher budgets, real movies with real sex cannot be made. That's a fact. Today, nothing of that sort is even remotely feasible. Rampant censorship and unrelenting anti-sex propaganda has turned masses of filmgoers into uninspired consumers of repetitious, idiotic stories made even more idiotic by the absence of real sexual events or any exploration/development of the characters' sexual personality. Evidently, censorship is reaching its goal, which is the moronization of the masses. On the adult scene, the situation is of total collapse. There are virtually no more adult theaters in the USA or anywhere else; no minimum guarantee; no budgets for any acceptable real sex movie; no guts and no vision to support any such project. Sensations was and will forever remain an unrepeatable feat--a precious, unique "solitaire" studded with grace and love in the history of the 20th century. |
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In order to comprehend the complete story of this movie, it is necessary for you to go back a few years. From the beginning of the 1970s, LB had established a tremendous business relationship with an American entrepreneur from Cleveland, Ohio, called Rueben S.--a well-educated, honorable man of great means and class who admired LB and became not only the first distributor of LB's 8mm sex movies in the USA, but also his strongest supporter and a good friend. Prior to meeting LB, Rueben had the great idea to manufacture a number of newly designed "peep show machines" with the purpose to place them into hundreds of bookstores he was supplying with "regular" magazines from his national distribution company. Each "machine" was made by fixing an 8mm projector and painting a small screen into a 4' ft. high wooden box equipped with a viewing snorkel on the top. By sliding a quarter dollar into the machine, any viewer could watch for a couple of minutes a sex "loop" running with no end on the small screen from the 8mm projector inside the box. After the given time, the machine automatically shut out the projector and the client had to insert another quarter to see more. Considering that until 1973 there were virtually no adult cinema, no adult industry and no explicit sex productions in the USA, Rueben's machines were the only source from which the American people could discover and enjoy the excitement of pornography for a small price and close to home. In the beginning, as Rueben couldn't find any valuable hardcore product in the USA, he turned to LB who was becoming known for his richly-produced 8mm movies of highly original sexual content. Between 1971 and 1973, LB sold to Rueben the rights for Super 8mm distribution in the USA of 45 of his classic "loops," for $450,000 in cash. Since it was virtually impossible for Rueben to import this kind of material into the US, Braun took care of the shipment and US custom duties of the 45 cans of 16mm inter-negatives, and delivered the goods. Shortly thereafter, Rueben's peep-machines began showing LB "loops," and business boomed. |
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Within 3 years, the number of machines grew from the initial 60 prototypes to 60,000, which Rueben placed (still quite illegally) in most of the 50 States of the Union. Since every machine was generating an average, tax-free revenue of no less than $20.00 a day--to be equally shared between Rueben and the shop owner--LB's American friend was making no less than $600,000 a day, in quarters! Of course, Rueben S. had to face continuous harassment from a number of DAs and tax authorities. He had to pay no less than $2M a year to his head attorney to keep out of legal troubles as long as possible. But that continuous afflux of quarters, for which Rueben paid hefty percentages to have them turned into bills, became the building blocks of the whole American Adult Industry, involving a multitude of clients, retailers, technicians, attorneys and salesmen who virtually began their career by dealing with LB's famous loops. |
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After the Festival of Cannes 1974, when Daniel B.-- the Greek-American filmmaker who loved Penetration in Cannes and re-titled it "French Blue later on--came to Breda, Holland, to visit LB's headquarter, he knew that LB had been involved for a number of years with Rueben's peep machine business, and that LB "loops" were very successful all over the States. So, before talking about Penetration's theatrical distribution in the US, Daniel understood very well that LB had first to offer the movie to Rueben. The latter admitted he was too busy with his peep-machine ever-expanding empire, but sent right away one of his men to see the flick in Holland, just to please LB. The man didn't like the uncommon satire, and the mixing of humor and sex. He gave Rueben a negative response. Having no experience in theatrical distribution and no time to getting involved in new ventures, Rueben gently declined the offer. That opened the way for Daniel who became instrumental in the success of the movie in the US. |
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Nevertheless, during the summer of 1974, which LB spent as usually on his yacht in Ibiza, Spain, he began thinking of a new movie to be shot with a highly erotic purpose and no obvious humor. And that because variety was the basis of his philosophy. As a matter of fact, from 1970, Braun was spreading his erotica in its numerous aspects through his various 3-title series of "loops". Moreover, by character, he was easily bored by repeating something he had done before. Even with girlfriends, he needed to get new women quite frequently because of that trait. In Ibiza, LB began thinking that he needed to write a script, something he had never done before, but he knew he especially needed a great title to convey a different, more sensuous/erotic feeling than Penetration. Following that line of thought, he put sensuality into penetration and came out with "sens-ation," to which he added an "s" at the end because he thought that sex involves multiple sensations. He said nothing to anyone and when he returned to Breda he kept in touch with Daniel in NY, knowing that the success of French Blue could become the springboard to the great international movie he had in mind. As you've perhaps read on French BlueThe Full Story, in December 1974, LB went to NY to watch over the distribution of his first full-length movie in America. His Greek-American friend Daniel B. who was very proud of the successful debut of French Blue, was very happy with its financial projections, but he had exhausted the funds of his company and couldn't ask his partners for more before recoup. When LB told him he wanted to shoot a new $300,000 film for Cannes 1975--only 5 short months away at that point--Daniel had sadly to decline. |
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LB called Rueben in Cleveland. The great man was well aware of the success of French Blue in NY. LB sensed he was even sorry for not having been able to get involved in its theatrical distribution, and was perhaps a little jealous that LB had made new friends in America. Braun told him he had a new venture in store for a real breakthrough in the movie industry but needed a couple of days to talk about it. Rueben invited LB to spend the weekend in his mansion on the Cleveland hills. Despite the snowy winter, the atmosphere at the mansion was very warm. Braun told Rueben how Daniel organized French Blue's distribution and how important it was to have already a chain of national theaters who knew LB from French Blue and could advance money for any new LB movie. Rueben understood that basic point. LB told him that the new movie would be totally and unmistakably erotic to the highest degree. Then he told his friend the secret title of his new flick: SENSATIONS! Rueben eyes lit up. He was sold to that title right away. "How much?" he asked. "300,000," answered LB, straight-faced. "Okay, 250,000," replied the great man. "Only for the US, Canada and Puertorico. Only theatrical. No loops," said Braun with no intention to give up anything more. "I want world premiere rights and you must be ready for Cannes," demanded Rueben. LB agreed in exchange for a full-page ad on the NY Times and all Cannes expenses on Rueben. In less than five minutes, without any script or even a short synopsis, the deal was done by handshake. Both men knew that their handshake was worth more than any signature on any piece of paper. They also knew that all the important issues had to be discussed in absolute secrecy, face-to-face, between the two of them and no more. |
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On the flight back to Holland via Switzerland, with the entire budget in 100-dollar bills in his briefcase, LB realized that he needed more than $250,000 to produce a real movie. He began calling Sensations "an experimental project" because, even 25 years before the year 2000, the budgets of real movies were in the order of millions of dollars. Considering that real movies were LB's ideological competition, he wanted to prove to all possible investors in major revolutionary ventures yet to be realized, that real sex was more profitable than anything else. That was only possible by comparing box-office results. If a real sex real movie made with the same budget of let's say "Emmanuelle #1," budgeted for about $1M, would gross more than any other made with analogous budget, the doors of the Sex Revolution would open up right away and the world would never be the same again. |
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In Breda, Braun began a race against time. He had absolutely to start shooting by the first days of February 1976 if he wanted to have any chance to complete post-production and screening copies for the beginning of May. Brigitte Maier was of course the American star of choice. She would play Margaret, a beautiful yet naïve Minnesota girl, traveling to Holland on vacation, getting involved with strange sex situations before her total surrender to pleasure. LB's idea was to engage actors and actresses of as many nations as possible to stress the international appeal of real sex. As for the sex itself, Braun decided for the fetishistic, subliminal, symbolic, yet as hard as it gets, do-it-all-with-gusto, and full sensuous involvement. For the second lead Braun cast a high-spirited French girl he had used before in a loop, Veronique Monet, perfect for the role of the young, uninhibited temptress who takes Margaret into her world of endless sexual agonies and ecstasies. And then the superb Frederique Barral, another French beauty, playing the femme fatale, the mysterious Liza, who acts in the first sex scene of the film with the Hungarian violinist, the handsome, well-endowed Pierre Latour. LB contacted his old time friend from London, the sophisticated-liberated Tuppy Owens, a Phd in zoology and a great fuck who agreed to play a special role. Among the men, Braun engaged his top in-house sex actor and editor Bent Rohweder from Denmark for David, the photographer; the great lover, 75-year old Robert Le Ray from Paris for Lord Wetherby; and of course famous Italian playboy Claudio Russo, who performed Casanova with Braun four years before, for the role of Alonzo, the Spanish owner of the art gallery. The crew was hired from Holland and England. It was led by long-time LB lighting cameraman, an excellent friend and professional who had to keep anonymity because he was involved with a major Dutch production. |
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Some sets such as the photo studio and the dressing room of the boutique were built in LB studios; the bedroom for the last scene was actually Braun's personal bedroom in Breda. Yet, many scenes had to be shot on location. In Dover, England, and on the ferry from Dover to Ostende (the beginning;) Brussels (the boutique;) Amsterdam (the art gallery;) in the Belgian mansion of one of LB's friends (Liza's mansion, re-decorated by LB) and in a villa in the Dutch countryside. Memorable scenes of Sensations were indeed shot in this villa, which Braun rented for 3 working days. The insertion and pulling out of the green panties from Tanja's vagina; the game Tuppy Owens plays with herself with the cane on the round red sofa especially designed by LB; her sex scene on the monitors with her favorite Claudio Russo; Mexican actor Julio wearing the black knitted glove and caressing Joan Koehler's body before finding his way into her anus; Veronique's amazing clit, and Tania's pissing scene, the latter cut out from the DVD for US censorship reasons but available among the LB Video Streaming, have all been all shot in the huge, high-ceiling living room of the Dutch country villa. |
| Shooting of principal photography was planned for 10 days. Before that, LB went personally to London to buy the most sensational women's shoes and clothes he could find. Elegance was mandatory. Every costume, lingerie, accessories had to be personally chosen by Braun upon suggestions from his young Danish girlfriend, Lykke Frandsen and his still photographer Ettore Castellano, a young Roman man of great taste. Anyone who saw Sensations agreed that the shoes, a primary fetish, were a show on themselves. Braun directed all aesthetic aspects of the movie because he wanted to make an experiment with the scale of colors and their effect on mass sexual arousal. Visual, non-verbal communication had to deliver an hypnotic sense of liberation from the boundaries of time and space, functioning somehow like a psychedelic drug, cleaning the brain from the crusts of sexual repression and the loads of pervasive bullshit accumulated on the human mind and soul for centuries and generations. |
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The biggest mishap happened when Braun prepared to shoot the first scene of the movie, the Dover/ferry scene, which was planned on the second day of shooting, after the boutique scene in Brussels. The Belgian production manager, Louis De Vits, had contacted the captain of a ferry who agreed to let LB shoot some sex and nudity in a public, exterior part of the vessel, which was quite empty during the about 3 hours necessary to cross the Channel in the winter season. Moreover, a young second officer had agreed to play a short scene in his uniform with a nude Frederique Barral. De Vits gave LB all ferry tickets and remained in Breda to keep manage LB plans for following shooting day. With crew and cast LB disembarked at Dover harbor at noon, but didn't find the English cameraman who was supposed to shoot some exteriors of the harbor. There were no cellular phones at the time, so LB thought he had an accident and decided to shoot something with his lighting cameraman from and on the ferry leaving for Ostende, Belgium. In the hurry, Braun didn't notice that there were actually two areas of the Dover harbor, both with vessels crossing the Channel. The ferry which De Vits booked for the shooting and the English cameraman were actually on the other side of the harbor. So, LB left Dover at 1pm on the wrong ferry. When he discovered the mistake it was too late. While paying the fare of that ferry, LB tried to no avail to convince the captain to allow him to shoot a short nude scene on the deck. Frederique Barral (playing Liza.) was supposed to be in the nude with boots and mink coat only. Since Barral had a great body and a terrific personality, which Braun really loved, she was supposed to have the ferry second officer making a pass to her. While hugging him, her mink coat would fall off and she would kiss the officer in the nude under the astonished eyes of Margaret (Brigitte Maier) and Veronique. If the captain had agreed to LB's request, the fact of not having the second officer at hand would have been a minor loss. Braun would have played the scene himself as simple passenger in search of attractive women. Nothing of that sort was possible to shoot because of the censorial attitude of that stupid captain. Moreover, LB had to improvise all the first dialogue with Liza because of her missing nude scene. These things happen during all sort of filmmaking. Braun thought to reschedule the scene on a later day, but the expense was too high and he had to skip it. |
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Another humorous anecdote refers to Rueben. Upon agreement by LB, he came over to the set with a couple of associates while Braun was working on location in the villa on the Dutch countryside. As he was full immersed in the shooting of a critical dolly scene, he greeted his American partner very warmly, but briefly. Then, he asked him and his two friends to remain inconspicuously on a dark corner of the large high-ceiling living room and got back to the dolly. The scene was a move on Veronique's laying on the black sofa all alone, nicely dressed, with a beautiful pair of glowing red shoes, with only her nude legs showing, up to her panty-clad crotch. According to script, she was asked to act as if she was watching some of her friends involved with sex in another part of the living room. The sex scene she was allegedly watching had been shot beforehand. So, there was no sex and no other actors on set for that shot. A special filter on the camera lens had to cause a slight diffusion of the light around Veronique's figure to convey a sense of magical anticipation. LB directed the dolly-shot to start on the shoes, move along her body and stop on her face. Since lighting, Veronique's position, her facial expression and the focus had to be extremely precise, the shot took almost two hours to complete. Ruben was amazed that LB would spend so much time to shoot a scene with not even a nude ass and no sex. He never forgot that, and told this anecdote every time someone asked him if he ever watched LB at work. BTW, that short dolly-shot came out beautiful; the best take has been kept in the final editing for everyone to see. Braun believes it was essential not only because it glued together a full scene, but because it was magically subliminal, and contributed to enhance the eroticism of the whole movie. |
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The final scene of the orgy on Braun's personal oversized bed, was shot in Breda on the last working day. The ending wasn't scripted as it came out. Margaret was to have a sudden surge of shame after having been fucked by everyone. She should have run in the nude out of the bedroom and disappear outside into the night. But time was short. But the whole sex scene, with the involvement of so many characters prior to Margaret's flight, took more time than planned. According to Braun's principles, everyone had to have at least a real orgasm on every sex scene. So, when he realized that he was going overtime, LB improvised the whole eating scene and the circling of the seven nude characters around the sensuous, liberated nymph, which became the most memorable scene of the whole movie. In that case, necessity provided for a better idea and a great piece of work. |
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Every night, after the shooting, LB watched the dailies and took notes. He wasn't happy with anything he had done, but that is quite common among all filmmakers. So, he left the film material to his faithful in-house editor Bent Rohweder and to an excellent English editor, Ian Rakoff, who was called in by a common friend in order to help Braun with the editing. Thereupon, LB went for a brief vacation to Somalia with a French girl he had used as an extra during the shooting in the Brussels boutique, in order to recoup depleted mental energies. In the beginning of March, he came back to Breda. Rohweder was in trouble with family matters and was unable to carry on the job. Ian Rakoff had fallen in love with Brigitte Maier. After a few days, Rakoff suggested to ship all the working material to a post-production company in London/Soho, and complete the movie over there. Braun went with him to London to make arrangements, and make sure the material could get in and out of England without problems. Rakoff hired two assistants, and around the 20th of March, he began the editing process. LB came over to London in the beginning of April. One of his English friends, who was already in charge of the original score, had various musicians at hand and a female singer for the title song and for the song "Turn me on" made for Liza's jukebox scene, which develops through the scissor-cutting of her fine dress into the first scene of the movie. Braun began working full-time with the musical director, and, with Ian Rakoff, on the editing, the additional dialogues, the English dubbing, the sound editing and finally on the mix. A few days before the end of April, with the decisive help of the ancient Gods, the whole work was done. Rakoff was so taken by the movie that he got LB to sign it with his Italian name, AGF. The work-copy and the various tracks were shipped to the Dutch lab in charge of the negative editing, the color corrections and the 35mm prints. In less than one week, under Braun' relentless pressure and personal supervision on each of phase of these works, the final, approved print was ready. |
| In a really electric atmosphere, the first showing of Sensations took place on May 8th, 1975, in the lab's screening room in front of a 100-people selected audience. Prominent members of crew and cast were invited. Rueben was there with his associates, wives and girlfriends. They had come to Amsterdam from Cannes where Rueben made all the arrangements for the public screenings of Sensations during the Cannes Film Festival, scheduled to open on May 10th. He couldn't believe Sensations was done in such a short time from that momentous weekend in Cleveland, 18 weeks before. He was almost speechless for the emotion, but kept telling the anecdote of the dolly-shot to feel better. He really trusted LB, but still The first private screening was a triumph. LB was amazed to see and hear that almost every aspect of his movie produced the effects he planned. At the end, everyone was in shock. Then they applauded and cheered. Rueben hugged LB. "You son of a gun," he said with tears in his eyes. The Dutch lighting cameraman came over to LB: "I cannot believe I shot this movie," he said. "It looks so fabulous, the colors and everything" A NY man called Phil P. who was hired by Rueben for his new American distribution company, told everyone: "This is a masterpiece! That girl is so beautiful, so innocent" Brigitte Maier was complimented and admired by everyone. She was radiant with happiness. |
| Braun couldn't go to Cannes because a warrant of arrest for "obscenity" issued by the Tribunal of Paris was still pending. He arranged all the last payments for Sensations which was finally completed for about $30,000 less than $250,000, not counting Braun's work and the overhead of Lasse Braun Productions BV, which was the Dutch company producing all LB's movies. He kept in touch from Breda with Rueben in Cannes, and with Louis De Vits, who represented LB for possible negotiation with European distributors. The first public screening of the film was scheduled for May 15th, at the 800-seat Olympia Cinema of rue d'Antibes in Cannes--later turned into a multiplex called Les Ambassades--the same movie-house where one year before LB presented French Blue, the first hardcore sex movie ever shown at the Cannes Film Festival. De Vits was concerned that the only screening time Rueben had the chance to book for Sensations was between midnight and 2am--three consecutive nights booked solid and a few more available on later demand. Usually, at these late hours most people are tired of watching movies and scatter around the French Riviera in search of different kicks. Moreover, the only ad for Sensations was a B/W double-page on Weekly Variety, designed and paid for by LB Productions BV, which appeared just before the inauguration of the Festival, but carried no screening information. No local ads. The only way to let people know about where and when the late screenings were supposed to happen, was based on Bob, the French LB fan who did a great job the year before with French Blue, circulating the news in every café of the Croisette. Bob was optimistic about getting lots of people at the premiere, but De Vits complained that without local ads there was no chance to get a full house. |
| The first night, a documentary on polar bears was scheduled on the screening before Sensations. Usually, no more than 10 or 20 people attend polar bear screenings. But that night, hundreds of people crowded the theater. To the documentary producers' surprise, all that people watched the artic antics of beautiful animals, just because--as everyone found out later on--they knew they could get overheated by watching the sex antics of beautiful people, in Sensations! When Rueben and De Vits arrived on rue d'Antibes, shortly before midnight, they saw a large crowd on the narrow shopping street and they thought that some fire was possibly interfering with the screening. Then, they realized that thousands of people were trying to push their way into the Olympia Theater, now crowded with 400 people above its 800-seat capacity. A platoon of French policemen had been called by the theater owner to sedate the crowd and the people holding to no avail the invitation cards given out by Rueben, De Vits and Bob. Lasse Braun's masterpiece of erotica was screened for seven consecutive nights to delirious audience crowding every seat of the 800-seat Olympia in central Cannes. Every night thousands of people out on the street had to be contained by police to protect the lucky ones who got in ahead of time. Inside the theater, as the film was projected on the huge screen, the effect was unbelievable. It looked more like a time bomb set up for waves of explosions than a simple sex movie, never seen before. Before the start, and especially at every climax, people were screaming, applauding and cheering like crazy, someone masturbating or even screwing or jumping up and down. |
| Veronique's erected clitoris, shot with the macro lens in extreme close up while being titillated by the tip of Lord Wetherby's tongue, filled up the huge screen. People gasped. Nothing of that sort was ever even imagined. It delivered a blow, which could have made everyone believe the theater was collapsing, hadn't the liberation of all taboos already provoked the loss of the sense of space and time among the whole audience, just as Braun had planned for his erotic mass hypnosis. After that scene, since there was no more pause in the excitement of the senses until the end, the pandemonium reached every night the diapason. A survey made outside the theater as the crowd was leaving the Olympia after the screening of Sensations, confirmed to LB that most people didn't remember what time it was, where they exactly were in that moment, and had even forgot their names or town of birth. Naturally, despite that unprecedented and never again attained public success, such a provocative, "dangerous" sex movie couldn't even been mentioned among the various winners of the Cannes Film Festival. These kinds of official, self-gratifying gatherings are to the present days strictly reserved for "artists" who obey, submit and conform with the totalitarian, censorial, sexophobic rules imposed by the American and European Film Associations and by all governments of the world. It is a sad consideration, but frankly, Braun didn't give a damn about getting an award from such sclerotic representatives of the movie industry. No award could have ever been higher than what really happened in those seven nights. Nevertheless, on the day after the official award show, the French daily newspaper "Nice-Matin" wrote that Sensations was the moral winner of the Festival. |
| During those glorious nights, while Rueben used the striking success to boost his American distribution of Sensations with the adult theaters in the US and Canada, De Vits took an important French distributor to dinner and to a screening among the crowd. The Frenchman was impressed. He offered De Vits an immediate check for $100,000 as an advance for the exclusive theatrical rights of Sensations for France, plus a second check for the same amount upon delivery of the internegs--the whole $200,000 as minimum guarantee against 50% of the theatrical box office gross receipts in France and French speaking territories. De Vits called LB in Breda, introducing the French distributor as a honorable person. On the phone the man promised a tremendous business with more than 200 prints simultaneously delivered to a mass of "regular" theaters all over France. LB informed the enthusiastic Frenchman that the American distributor had the rights to the world premiere. The man understood. He had anyway to dub the movie in French, promising to hire the best writers and actors with Braun's approval. Moreover, the Frenchman preferred to plan Sensations for the most profitable fall/winter season than rushing it through the summer. He was convinced that he could share with LB a gross box office receipt of more than $2M from France alone, plus a hefty little revenue from French speaking territories overseas. The deal was done on the phone. A few days later the French distributor came over to Breda and completed the first transaction. |
| That year 1975, there were still no hardcore movies at Cannes besides Sensations. A documentary made by a French director with Claudine Beccarie, one of the French stars of Braun's Penetration (a.k.a. French Blue) shown at Cannes the year before, contained some nudity and some semi-soft, non-erotic sex, but virtually no hardcore shots. For the less informed, hardcore shots openly reveal specific sexual details of male or female sexual organs during a sexual event. The French flick was titled "Exhibition" in imitation of Penetration. It was much less successful and appealing than Sensations but by word-of-mouth these three titles were easily associated, to the great benefit of the French movie. As a matter of fact, Braun chose those titles for his movies because they come from Latin and have the same significance and spelling both in English and French. The producer of "Exhibition," a clever Frenchman whom Braun met a few years later in Paris, did the same also for that reason. |
| After Cannes, Rueben came to Amsterdam. He was extremely happy and threw a lavish party in honor of LB. In that occasion the two men talked about the shipping of the 9 cans with the 35mm inter-negative to America plus 9 cans containing a print of the movie Rueben wished to have in order to control the American lab operation. 18 cans all together. Due to the sexual content and to the inquisitive behavior of the US Custom, Braun proposed to take care by himself of that delicate move, of which he made successful experience through Daniel B. with the shipment of Penetration/French Blue the year before. Since LB didn't want to reveal to anyone the secret route he previously used for similar material, Rueben decided to show him that he could do the same and get the 18 cans through US Customs with no problem. Braun bowed to his friend's decision and didn't want to know any details on how Rueben would manage the move. Nevertheless, a few days after Rueben flew back home, LB discovered that his American friend had given the responsibility of the shipment to a notorious Dutch wholesaler whose brains were perhaps good for business but didn't have the necessary finesse to think and execute a complex plan, and especially what to do if things went wrong. Despite the frightening notion that such a character was in charge of Sensations destiny in the New World, Braun solaced himself with a well-deserved vacation in Ibiza, Spain. By mid-June, LB traveled to NY with Brigitte Maier in order for him to supervise the campaign and for her to promote the movie. As it was planned in advance and paid for by Rueben's new theatrical distribution company, Pic American Corp. = PAC, ran by Phil P. --the man Braun met in Amsterdam with Rueben at the private screening--they checked in at the St. Regis Hotel on Fifth Avenue, at walking distance from the PAC offices. The accommodation was lavish; a spacious two-room suite with all expenses charged to PAC and picked up by Phil P. Nevertheless, LB intended to complete his NY stay within no more than two weeks and go back to Ibiza. |
| The 18 cans of Sensations were said to be underway from Amsterdam to PAC, New York. After a few days, the PAC secretary, a cute brunette with great long legs, told LB that the 18 cans had been air-shipped to NY by an international shipping agent specialized in films. LB figured out that this agent was able to get anything through the US Customs, and confidently waited for his movie to arrive. A day later, the long-legged secretary came back empty handed to the PAC office from JFK airport. As the agent didn't complete the paperwork, the 18 cans were scheduled for delivery the following day, a Friday. Alas, on that fateful day, she came back from JFK just before noon and reported to LB and Phil P. that the 18 cans had been seized by the US Customs, and moved to a vault, waiting for inspection and screening on the following Monday. She gave LB the copy of the shipping documents, which carried the US Customs information. LB found out from Phil P. that the NY shipping agent had no idea about the forbidden content of the film. As a matter of fact, the brainless, overoptimistic Dutch wholesaler rolled some film footage of soccer games on the beginning of every reel; labeled the 18 cans with the title "Soccer World Cup 1974," and just shipped the whole in a wooden crate from Amsterdam to NY with the idiotic belief that such a title and the initial soccer footage would fool the US inspectors. Now the shipping papers were undeniably clear: the US Customs would screen the material on the following Monday and would release the 18 cans against the payment of the Customs duty. Phil P. read the paper a few times; then he almost fainted. At that moment, the chances for Sensations to go through US Customs were nil. Within 72 hours the US authorities would find out about the criminal attempt to smuggle a forbidden movie into the US. The FBI would be informed right away. Phil P., the cute secretary and everyone involved with the movie would be arrested and prosecuted. Braun called his NY attorney. He didn't see how any legal action could stop the US Customs from carrying on their duty. Moreover, LB could get easily into trouble. Having signed the movie with his Italian name, which was the same name LB registered at the St. Regis, and being Brigitte Maier the real name of the leading lady of the forbidden movie, now living with Braun in the same suite, made the attorney quite nervous. He suggested that LB and Brigitte go back to Spain before Monday. Sensations was de facto DOA--dead on arrival. |
| On some breathless phone calls made by Phil P. to Cleveland, Braun heard Rueben getting seriously upset for the mishap made by his Dutch wholesaler. LB tried to calm him down but he had to admit that his friend had virtually lost the $250,000 he paid for the American rights of Sensations; plus all what he spent at Cannes; plus the attorney fees he had to pay to defend himself and his distribution company from judicial prosecution; plus the cost of defending Phil P. and the cute secretary. From his side, the European filmmaker had lost the chance of scoring a striking success in America. Despite the catastrophe, Braun kept his proverbial coolness. But how could anyone prevent the US Customs from screening Sensations immediately after the weekend was over? Could the 18 heavy cans be taken out of the well-guarded vault of the US Customs before the disaster? Could he use some of his connections with the Diplomatic Corps like he did in the past? Hmm.The situation looked quite desperate. Only the Gods and Goddesses of Sex and Love could salvage LB's future in America. That same afternoon, with a rescue plan slowly forming in his head, Braun moved out with Maier from the St. Regis. But the idea to go back to Europe as a loser was too hard to swallow. He had to keep faith at all costs. So, instead to go back to Ibiza, he and his girlfriend took a night fly to Barbados, the independent Caribbean island where LB had been a few times before. They rented a large three-room bungalow with private beach at the St. James Resort on the west coast, the most luxurious accommodation of the island. |
| The following day, Saturday, Braun got early on the phone with Rueben from Barbados. He told the dismayed American that an attempt could be made right away to prevent a major loss. "Anything you want, Lasse," answered Rueben when LB told him that some cash was necessary even though he couldn't possibly promise any success. Rueben cursed his Dutch wholesaler; he now trusted LB like he never trusted anyone before. Then he credited Braun's Swiss bank account with $100,000 to cover the expenses. LB's father, a diplomat who retired for age limits in 1968, couldn't possibly be helpful; but LB knew how to reach a man called Vincenzo S., the most trusted of his father's former diplomatic agents, now working at the Italian Embassy in Brazil. He exchanged with him a series of phone calls in order to conceive and organize the rescue operation. As the plan became clearer to LB and Vincenzo S., they wrote the texts of two messages to be sent via telex to the US Customs at JFK airport, one from Holland and one from Brazil. Braun called De Vits, his loyal Belgian production manager, explaining him about the Dutch wholesaler's stupid smuggling attempt and what could be done to try salvaging the future of Sensations in the USA. De Vits should drive early Sunday morning to the LB Productions BV in Breda, Holland. There, on the LB company telex machine he would find the texts of a message to be sent via telex to the US Customs at JFK airport, on the name of the Dutch sender of the crate. De Vits understood his role in the rescue plan and did exactly as asked. The first message, carrying the original shipping info and airway bill number, notified to the JFK authorities that the crate with the movie "Soccer World Cup 1974" had been mistakenly shipped to PAC, NY instead of being shipped to the Italian Embassy in Brasilia. The telex continued by asking the US Customs to deliver it to another NY shipping agent, who was charged by the Italian Embassy to forward it to Brazil. An hour later, Vincenzo S., sent his telex message with the shipping number and complete info from the Italian Embassy in Brasilia to the NY the US Customs. He explained the mistake of the Dutch shipping agent, and requested that the crate be delivered to a NY shipping agent in charge of forwarding the crate with "Soccer World Cup 1974" to the Italian Embassy in Brasilia. As the request was made first by the Dutch sending company and confirmed by an Embassy, it all looked like an ordinary mistake. The rescue worked as planned. On Monday, the crate was picked up intact from the US Customs by the new shipping agent contacted by Vincenzo S. Once the crate was safely out of danger, the shipping agent sent it with air cargo back to De Vits c/o LB Productions Breda, Holland. Neither the first shipping agent nor the Dutch wholesaler ever knew what really happened to the crate. LB and Brigitte remained at the St. James Resort waiting for De Vits to confirm reception of the film material. |
| The impossible had become not only possible but a total success. LB informed Rueben of the end result. He couldn't believe it! "You son of a gun!" he said on the phone when he understood that the heavy crate was safely under LB guard in The Netherlands. Braun asked Rueben to say nothing to anyone and wait for the next move. Rueben didn't ask for more; he had now total faith in LB. Now the problem was how to get at least the 9 cans with the inter-negs legally into the US in a short time. The organization of that delicate move took another two weeks which Braun and Maier enjoyed in Barbados at Rueben's expenses, with Braun often on lengthy phone calls with Europe. The route to be taken to get Sensations into the US was the same as for French Blue, but LB wanted to make things very properly. No smuggling. Therefore, he conceived a better plan. First, he called two young, clean cut guys, an American and a Dutch one living in Holland, who've been working for LB several times before. As he knew both of them as trustworthy persons, he bound them to secrecy and proposed them to do a "little trip" to NY via Canada, with all expenses paid and a cash bonus of 1,000 dollars each. They agreed. Then LB explained his plan in all details and raised the bonus to $5,000 each if they were successful. Since the title Sensations could be actually used for a medical/neurological film, LB called De Vits and told him to design and print two sets of letter paper and envelopes, two sets of labels and two rubber stamps. The first set had to carry the logo of a (real) Belgian University of Medicine, Dept. of Neurological Research; the other one the logo of a real Canadian University of Medicine. As the move had to be done in two different phases, LB instructed De Vits to type letter #1 on the Belgian University letter paper, addressed to a (real) Montreal University of Medicine and letter #2 on the Canadian University letter paper addressed to a (real) New York University of Medicine. The letters introduced the two LB guys with their real names as assistant professors in charge of delivering the film cans of Sensations and explaining to the faculty the scientific purpose of it. The letters were signed by De Vits as the president of the Belgian and Canadian Universities and properly rubberstamped. |
| For the last and most delicate phase, Braun and Maier flew back to New York. Then they drove to Montreal on a rented car, not only to enjoy the scenery, but to leave no traces of their entry into Canada. Meanwhile, De Vits labeled the 9 inter-negative cans with the Belgian University labels and wrote the title Sensations with the caption "A Study on Human Neurological Reactions" on each one. He packed the cans in a box; he glued some very visible labels printed with the logo of the Belgian University, addressed to the Montreal University. Since the freeway border between Holland and Belgium was always unguarded, De Vits took the box to Brussels. Amsterdam was not considered as a port of departure because Holland was known as a liberal country with plenty of "illegal" drug business and could raise some suspicions among Customs inspectors. The two guys engaged by LB, were requested to dress properly and they met De Vits at the Brussels airport. He gave them the box, the two letters, the labels of the Canadian University, some cash and the air tickets Brussels-Montreal-Brussels. Braun went to the Montreal airport to watch incognito the two guys going through Customs. Having taken care to all of the minute details like a pro, LB was sure that the chances of failure were virtually nil. At the Canadian Customs baggage area, the two guys had been previously instructed to take the "hot" box directly to inspection. While the Dutch guy explained what was the content of the box, the American guy just began to open the envelope with the Belgian University letter, that the Canadian inspector cleared the box. The first phase was over. The two guys weren't supposed to meet LB in Canada. They went directly to their hotel. As planned, they destroyed the Belgian letter. Then they opened the box; they covered the Belgian University labels with the Canadian ones on every can; repacked the box; replaced the exterior labels on the box with the Canadian ones; and happily went to have dinner. The reason for choosing that particular route via Canada, was due to the fact that the US Customs for the flights between Montreal and New York is located at the departure gate on Canadian soil, whereupon these flights become interior flights with no US inspection whatsoever in New York. The following day LB went to the Montreal airport and watched incognito the two guys going through US Immigration and US Customs. As they did the day before, they took the box to the US Customs inspector. The American guy showed the Canadian University letter and asked to pay the custom duty. The inspector didn't even look at the letter. He wrote a receipt of $26.75 for the film Sensations, took the money and cleared the box. The movie was now legally imported into the USA. The plan had worked out beautifully! |
| LB returned the rented car at the Montreal airport, then he flew with Brigitte to NY. The two guys checked in at the Mayflower Hotel. LB went to their room to hug them and congratulate them. Braun picked up the US Custom receipt, kissing it with joy, toasting to the success of the "neurological" Sensations. The following day, LB paid the two guys their well-deserved fees and got them to deposit the box with the Mayflower Captain. They placed the receipt ticket into a closed envelope addressed to Phil P. and left the envelope with the Concierge. LB called Rueben in Cleveland asking if he was available in the afternoon, but didn't say anything about the success of the rescue mission or anything else. "Well I'll call you at 4pm to tell you a few things," said LB to Rueben when the latter asked what was going on. He had no idea about all what had happened, or where LB was in that moment. LB left Brigitte Maier at the St. Regis; then he called Phil P. at the PAC office telling him to go at precisely 3:45 pm to pick up an envelope at the Mayflower and get a box deposited over there. After these arrangements, LB took a flight to Cleveland. At 4 pm, to Rueben's surprise, Braun was showed into his friend's office. Within minutes, while LB was being quite mysterious about the reason for coming to Cleveland, Phil P. called from NY. He just picked up the box with the 9 cans and saw the title Sensations on the labels. "You did it!" exclaimed Rueben to LB when he understood that the movie got in. The two men hugged for a while. "You're the greatest smuggler in the world!" said the American to the European. "No smuggling, my friend," answered LB with a smile. Then, he slowly showed off the US Customs receipt. That was the icing on the cake. The movie was freed from any hassles, any prosecution, any possible legal costs present and future. The whole US rescue operation was accomplished with only about $70,000--$20,000 for personal compensations to Vincenzo S., De Vits and the 2 guys, and about $50,000 for LB's expenses, Barbados, hotels, shipping and flights. The campaign was quickly decided in NY. Rueben paid for the full-page ad, which appeared on The New York Times, Sunday, November 2nd to advertise the World Premiere scheduled in several NY Theaters starting on November 4th, 1975. |
| Back to Holland, LB approved the French dubbing of Sensations. The French distributor paid to Braun the second half of the total $200,000 minimum guarantee. More than 220 major cinemas, 23 in Paris alone, were scheduled to open Sensations in France. Despite or perhaps because of the success of the French movie "Exhibition" in the summer, the hunger for a real erotic turn on was enormous. By word-of-mouth everyone knew that Sensations would deliver big time. In Germany, the law against pornography had changed. LB's old friend Joerg R. was granted theatrical distribution of Sensations for German speaking territories against a minimum guarantee of 300,000 DM. With all the biggest markets opening up to his movie, LB became involved with a scientific research on the immune defense system carried on by Dutch Foundation "Documents of Evolution." By the beginning of September 1975, Braun traveled to central Sweden with his own 7-people crew. He began right away shooting a documentary on a Swedish doctor who was curing people from cancer and other degenerative diseases with some inexpensive injections of THX--the abbreviation of a thymus extract he discovered since the 1950s. Being busy with this new endeavor in a small country village, LB was unaware of the shameful stain of intolerance and chauvinism, which the French government was about to bring upon itself. On October 31st, 1975, just about 10 days before the opening of Sensations in 220 cinemas all over the French Republic, the government passed the following unprecedented decree into law: No foreign movie with one or more explicit sexual scenes was allowed to be imported or shown in the territory of France. National movies were allowed to show anything they wanted, but foreign sex movies were banned. As there were no other real sex movies beside Sensations scheduled to open at that time, it was obvious that the decree was particularly aimed at Braun's masterpiece, which was seen as a threat by the sexophobic religions of France. After initial scandal, the French distributor, the 220 theaters and the liberal press, were discretely silenced with hefty payments, either to cover the losses occurred as in the case of the $200,000 paid to LB by the French distributor, or to get public approval from the media. Braun kept the $200,000 but had to renounce to the widely anticipated success of his movie. The French people were forced to miss the opportunity to see it. |
| The law that decriminalized pornography in Germany was voted by the Parliament of the Bundesrepublik in 1973, but had to wait two years before becoming fully applicable. In any way, the German people were kept at a distance from real sex with the same artifice employed in the USA. Besides a number of idiotic limitations on a variety of sex related scenes, all German cinemas had to chose between showing either conventional movies or X-rated, hardcore-sex movies. They couldn't just decide their own programs according to supply and demand. Once the decision was made, it had to be observed for at least three years. So, in order to avoid losing the Hollywood blockbusters, the big cinemas chose conventional movies, while only the small ones located in small streets or on the fringes of the big cities, chose to show adult movies. This clever restriction, which was adopted more or less all over the world, had a double advantage: (a) defend the production/distribution of conventional, super-censored movies propagating sexophobic ideology, and (b) defend small cinemas from possible bankruptcy wherever major houses would show real-sex movies. Despite this bias attitude, which brought the Golden Era of real-sex-real-movie production to an end within a few years, Sensations grossed in Germany more than the combined box office of "Emmanuelle" and "Deep Throat." |
| Wherever allowed by law, Sensations played with striking success. In Montreal, the movie was showcased in the same cinema for six consecutive years. Among well-educated public Braun's highly sophisticated filmmaking style did very well because of the blend of European eroticism with hardcore sex. In 1976, just before LB decided to retire from the adult business in order to pursue a more important endeavor, the original materials of the movie were moved to a German lab and placed under control of Lasse Braun's German company. Between 1977 and 1980, while LB was busy elsewhere with another kind of business, several illegal deals were made behind LB's back by people who gained control over the original materials of Sensations or by people who just found a 35mm print of the movie and named themselves the owners of the copyright. In that way, some markets such as Italy and Japan obtained illegal distribution contracts signed by people who had no right whatsoever over the movie. Eventually, the German lab went bankrupt and the original materials were lost. Nevertheless, it was possible for LB to recoup an excellent 35mm print. He kept it well protected until the new DVD technology became available for a new, much more attractive re-edition of his famous movie. On LB's 1977 decision to retire from the adult business, read the last paragraphs of French BlueThe Full Story. |