Manina, the Girl in the Bikini (1952)

Original title

Manina, la fille sans voiles

Directed by

Willy Rozier

Genre

drama film, romance film, treasure hunt film

Country

France

Runtime

1h 26m

Rating

5.4 of 10 from 33 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young woman living in a lighthouse attracts the attention of a student during a treasure hunt on the French Riviera. The film follows their flirtation and the search for hidden treasure.

summeryromanticplayfulmildly scandalouslightheartedleisurelynostalgicsunny

What happens

Manina, the Girl in the Bikini (French: Manina, la fille sans voiles [Manina, the girl without veils]) released in the UK as Manina, the Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter), is a 1952 French film directed by Willy Rozier and starring Brigitte Bardot, Jean-François Calvé and Howard Vernon. The film is one of Bardot's first film roles, at the age of 17 and was controversial for the scanty bandeau-top bikinis worn by the young Bardot in the film, one of the first occasions when a bikini had appeared in film and when the bikini was still widely considered immodest. Though released in France in 1952 as Manina, la fille sans voiles, the film was not released in the United States until 1958 as Manina, the Girl in the Bikini and in the United Kingdom until 1959 as The Lighthouse-Keeper's Daughter. In other countries it was released under other names. The film was able to be screened in the United States notwithstanding the Hays Code prohibition of exposure of the navel, as a foreign film. The film was shot in Cannes, Nice and Paris in the summer of 1952. Brigitte Bardot's father had signed a contract, on behalf of his minor daughter, specifying that the film was not to show indecent images. When in the course of filming, a series of "highly suggestive" photographs of his daughter was released, he accused the producing company of not respecting the contract and demanded that the film not be projected without the permission of a court. He lost the suit. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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