Pre-Code Hollywood: Difference between revisions
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'''Pre-Code films''' were created [[1930]]-[[1934]], before the [[Motion Picture Production Code]] or [[Breen Code]] was put into effect, through the extortionate threats by the Roman Catholic church of boycott. Although there was an existing code of conduct for the [[film industry]], many ignored it. Films from this period are very [[risque]] for the 1930s and could include [[sexual innuendo|sexual innuendos]], references to [[homosexuality]] and [[illegal drug]] use, as well as women in their [[undergarments]] and men and women in bed at the same time — which all ceased in mid-1934 following the Draconian Breen Code. Popular character roles include tough-talking, assertive women, [[gangsters]], and [[prostitute|prostitutes]]. |
'''Pre-Code films''' were created [[1930]]-[[1934]], before the [[Motion Picture Production Code]] or [[Breen Code]] was put into effect, through the extortionate threats by the Roman Catholic church of boycott. Although there was an existing code of conduct for the [[film industry]], many ignored it. Films from this period are very [[risque]] for the 1930s and could include [[sexual innuendo|sexual innuendos]], references to [[homosexuality]] and [[illegal drug]] use, as well as women in their [[undergarments]] and men and women in bed at the same time — which all ceased in mid-1934 following the Draconian Breen Code. Popular character roles include tough-talking, assertive women, [[gangsters]], and [[prostitute|prostitutes]]. |
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Female sexuality rather than violence was the offending characteristic for the Church and its censors (especially |
Female sexuality rather than violence was the offending characteristic for the Church and its censors (especially Catholic laymen Joseph I. Breen and Martin Quigley). |
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Many fans of [[Classical Hollywood cinema]] today prefer these pre-Code films for their audacious attitude toward conventional [[morality]]. |
Many fans of [[Classical Hollywood cinema]] today prefer these pre-Code films for their audacious attitude toward conventional [[morality]]. |
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Revision as of 00:07, 27 November 2005
Pre-Code films were created 1930-1934, before the Motion Picture Production Code or Breen Code was put into effect, through the extortionate threats by the Roman Catholic church of boycott. Although there was an existing code of conduct for the film industry, many ignored it. Films from this period are very risque for the 1930s and could include sexual innuendos, references to homosexuality and illegal drug use, as well as women in their undergarments and men and women in bed at the same time — which all ceased in mid-1934 following the Draconian Breen Code. Popular character roles include tough-talking, assertive women, gangsters, and prostitutes.
Female sexuality rather than violence was the offending characteristic for the Church and its censors (especially Catholic laymen Joseph I. Breen and Martin Quigley).
Many fans of Classical Hollywood cinema today prefer these pre-Code films for their audacious attitude toward conventional morality.
Popular pre-Code stars, many of whom continued successfully, in one form or another after 1934
- Joan Blondell
- Ann Dvorak
- Joan Crawford
- Clara Bow
- Barbara Stanwyck
- Jean Harlow
- Kay Francis
- Warren William
- Dorothy McKaill
- Alice White
- Miriam Hopkins
- Evelyn Brent
- Ruth Chatterton
- Bert Wheeler
- Una Merkel
- Lee Tracy
- Anita Page
- Helen Twelvetrees
- Nancy Carroll
- Clark Gable
- Greta Garbo
- Allen Jenkins
- Norma Shearer
- Mae West
Notable pre-Code films
- Anna Christie (1930)
- The Blue Angel (1930)
- The Divorcée (1930)
- Hell's Angels (1930)
- Morocco (1930)
- Blonde Crazy (1931)
- The Easiest Way (1931)
- Frankenstein (1931)
- A Free Soul (1931)
- Girls About Town (1931)
- Kick In (1931)
- Ladies of the Big House (1931)
- Little Caesar (1931)
- Night Nurse (1931)
- The Public Enemy (1931)
- The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
- Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931)
- Blonde Venus (1932)
- Call Her Savage (1932)
- The Devil is Driving (1932)
- Dracula (1932)
- Freaks (1932)
- Hot Saturday (1932)
- I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
- Madame Racketeer (1932)
- Rain (1932)
- Red Dust (1932)
- Red-Headed Woman (1932)
- Scarface (1932)
- Shanghai Express (1932)
- The Sign of the Cross (1932)
- Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932)
- Three on a Match (1932)
- Trouble in Paradise (1932)
- Two Kinds of Women (1932)
- The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
- 42nd Street (1933)
- Baby Face (1933)
- Bombshell (1933)
- Christopher Strong (1933)
- Design for Living (1933)
- Dinner at Eight (1933)
- Employee's Entrance (1933)
- Female (1933)
- Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
- I'm No Angel (1933)
- Island of Lost Souls (1933)
- King Kong (1933)
- Ladies They Talk About (1933)
- The Mayor of Hell (1933)
- Murders in the Zoo (1933)
- Pick-Up (1933)
- Queen Christina (1933)
- She Done Him Wrong (1933)
- The Story of Temple Drake (1933)
- Torch Singer (1933)
- Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
- Cleopatra (1934)
- Murder at the Vanities (1934)
- Riptide (1934)
- The Scarlet Empress (1934)
- Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
External links
- The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930
- Pre-Code Film from Bright Lights Film Journal
- Sexual Classic Films, from Filmsite.org
- Pre-Code Film at the UCLA Film & Television Archive
Further reading
- . ISBN 0810982285.
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