I Am Curious (Yellow)

[Grove Press]. Vilgot Sjöman (director); Lena Nyman (actor). I Am Curious (yellow). [New York]: Grove Press, [1968]. Original poster for the U. S. theatrical release. One sheet (41 x 27 inches; 1040 x 686 mm.). Single sheet, folded once vertically and three times across, as issued. A few soft, extraneous creases in the margins at the mailing folds and corners; trivial wrinkling along the folds in the image area; tiny bit of fold separation along the vertical edges; verso with a red rubber stamp and brief pencil notations (both the title). Near fine. One of the most significant films ever released in the United States, in regards to distribution regulations, and was responsible for a fundamental shift in obscenity standards. Subject of a Supreme Court case, which it lost but not before public opinion had sufficiently shifted. It was decided 4-4 with William O. Douglas recusing himself for having been previously published in The Evergreen Review, upholding a lower court's decision ("Byrne v. Karalexis." Oyez, www.oyez.org/cases/1969/83).

"I Am Curious (Yellow) had become a national topic of discussion, and its record-breaking box-office earnings helped knock down the barriers to the theatrical distribution of sexually explicit films. Grove's legal counsel Edward de Grazi later wrote that the film's case 'was widely considered to have broken the grip of governmental interference with the depiction of sexual lovemaking on the screen.' ... 'I Am Curious (Yellow) was a big success,' [Barney] Rossett explained. 'Because we made a lot of money, I went and bought a lot of foreign films--which were no longer viable because all the art theaters had closed down, overnight, in 1970. They had started showing X-rated porno films. There had been a big market for foreign films in this country, and suddenly it was gone. I Am Curious (Yellow) played, that was the end. We killed our own market.'" (Ed Halter, From the Third Eye: The Evergreen Review Film Reader, New York: 2018, accessed online). Criterion Collection, #180. (#10029).