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Legong: Dance of the Virgins

Legong: Dance of the Virgins. Henri De La Falaise, 1935.
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Edition screened: Milestone DVD, released 2005. English intertitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 55 minutes.

Summary: Mild cockfighting scenes.

Details:
1) A bird owner handles his roosters in preparation for fighting, 7:50-8:08.
2) A real cockfight takes place 13:15 - 14:23. We see birds charging and grappling a bit, but most of that time is spent on scenes of the village men cheering and betting.

Introductory screens explain that this restoration marks the first time since theatrical release that Legong has been available in its entirety, restoring the violence immediately removed in British prints and the nudity immediately censored in American prints. The ‘violence’ is just the mild cockfighting scenes mentioned above, deletion of which wouldn’t effect the film except possibly for viewers specifically interested in that topic who probably would be disappointed either way. The ‘nudity’ is merely topless women depicting daily Balinese life, with absolutely no sexual content or implication in the film. The bare breasted scenes are frequent, however, and deletion would have shortened the film and removed much of its meager plot.

The Milestone DVD also contains Henri De La Falaise’s Kliou the Killer (1936) and Nikola Drakulic’s Gods of Bali (1952).