15 Odd 'Firsts' In Movie History We Never Would Have Thought Of

As a director, Mel Brooks has always pushed the boundaries of acceptability, and he seems to take a particular delight in using movies to explore the vulgar, the silly, and the downright ridiculous. Blazing Saddles, a riotous spoof of the Western genre, is a particularly notable example of this phenomenon, and even today it manages to be both scandalizing and hilarious. 

Among other things, it is notable for including a scene in which a group of cowboys, seated around a fire, begin to break wind, making this the first instance of an audible American fart in the movies. Mel Brooks, with his characteristic wit (and awareness of the historic nature of his own films), perhaps put it best when he said: ““Blazing Saddles, for me, was a film that truly broke ground. It also broke wind… and maybe that’s why it broke ground.” 

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho remains a profoundly frightening and disturbing film, and it is arguably one of his best. The story of a young man’s tormented and murderous psychology - and the women who fall afoul of him - tapped into 1960s anxieties about gender, sexuality, and even motherhood. 

The shower scene, where Norman Bates - in the guise of his deceased mother - stabs the distraught Marion to death, is unforgettable. Shocking as the moment is, however, it is matched by the image of a toilet flushing, which was (and, to an extent still is) a rare thing to see in focus on the screen. As he always did, Hitchcock aimed to shock his audience out of their complacency. In focusing on the toilet, he earned himself yet another place in the movie history books, as this was the first time such a thing had been done in the movies, largely because the Hays Code, which dictated what could and could not be shown, forbade such a vulgar image.

A little-known 1933 Czech film, Ecstasy, earned its place in the movie history books by being the first non-p*rnographic movie to feature a woman experiencing an orgasm. Viewers see only the face of the woman, played by Hedy Lemarr.

Unsurprisingly, the film earned its fair share of criticism from those who saw it as endangering public morals. Even the pope chimed in to condemn it. But Ecstasy also had its fair share of supporters, and managed to attain some distribution in the United States (without the approval of censors).

Almost from the beginning, people have worried about cinema's potential to corrupt society. In 1896, the 18-second film The Kiss led to such a controversy.  

As its title suggests, this short film from Thomas Edison features two people kissing, though the actual lips touch for only about two seconds. Despite the brevity, the film scandalized many because it seemed to demonstrate how movies could change the way people perceived reality.

At the same time, it was a bona fide hit for Edison, who had an almost unmatched knack for tapping into what the public wanted.

The spit take, one of the most frequently used gags in physical comedy, occurs when a character, confronted with some new or shocking information while in the middle of a drink, then sprays the liquid everywhere. It has become associated in particular with the comedy star Danny Thomas.

However, it has even deeper roots than most people realize. In fact, its first noted appearance is in the 1906 film Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, and thanks to the actor Jack Brawn remains etched into film history. It’s hard to imagine physical comedy without it, and at the moment Brendan Fraser holds the record for the most spit takes (it happens twice in Monkeybone and once in The Mummy).

Director Stanley Kubrick's 1975 film Barry Lyndon is a period drama that follows the exploits of its title character, an Irish rogue who starts to climb the social ladder. What sets the film apart, however, is just how much it immerses the viewer in the world of the 18th century, right down to its lighting and atmosphere.

In large part, this can be chalked up to Kubrick’s decision to light all of his interior scenes exclusively with candles, a first in the cinema. As always with Kubrick, this caused some difficulties, but if the final product is anything to go by, they were more than worth it.