When slender Asta Nielsen looks across to her gaucho lover, rope in hand, something exciting is imminent. Even today, glimpsed on YouTube, the sinuous dance she performs is still a knock-out – although cinema audiences first saw it in 1910. The Danish film in which it appears – Afgrunden (The Abyss) – was a sensation, so much so that screenings were banned in a number of the United States. {Read the complete article}