Kay Francis and William Powell are at their best in this Pre-Code soaper where nothing good comes of the leading characters. Robert Lord received an Oscar in 1934 for this original story. Orry-Kelly outdid himself with the gowns he designed for Kay. Kay and William’s characters strangers in Hong Kong meet on the ship the…
Category: Pre-Code
Safe in Hell
Dorothy Mackaill is the original Gilda ‘Making a living the only way she could’ in this 1931 First National Pre-Code film. Accidental murder by champagne bottle and fire start Gilda on the road to perdition. Gilda’s fiancé Carl played by Donald Woods returns after a year of being at sea only to find that Gilda…
Hot Saturday (1932)
Hot Saturday is one of those films you need to watch, because it’s the epitome of everything that was wrong with popular culture in the 1930’s. I’m not talking about the film of course, which is spectacular, but instead the mindset that ran rampant across the country in that holier-than-thou fashion we all despise. Here it’s…
Ex-Lady Bette Davis and The Problem with Marriage
O.K. So I have to admit it took me like 2 months to finally wrap my head around this film enough to write this post. While I’m always up for a challenge to defend the noble institution of marriage, this pre-code film just brought up lots and lots of questions.
Under Eighteen Forbidden Hollywood Review
Okay, so I have to admit I am in a massive Warren William phase. It started when I finally got the chance to watch The Gold Diggers of 1933 and was absolutely smitten with the relationship between his and Joan Blondell’s characters. Mind you, had my first run in with Warren been in the depression tragedy…
Actors of Forbidden Hollywood
Forbidden Hollywood is one of those Risqué topics only whispered about after everyone else has gone home. Why? Well before the “Hays Code” set up the rules, films were on the verge of going to the dark side. Clothes got skimpier, decision making got more lax, and divorce was running rampant as was sex, drugs,…
Actresses of Forbidden Hollywood
I’ve been in a Kay Francis and George Brent phase lately. This usually warrants long periods of Forbidden Hollywood film watching. So I realized it was about time to make this list. AnnStj and I watch these films a lot, mainly because it’s terribly intriguing to see what people put in films before censorship. Lots…
Kept Husbands in Forbidden Hollywood
If you want to see Joel McCrea at the beginning of his acting career get taken in by a sassy, well-trained Dorothy Mackaill be sure to watch Kept Husbands (1931). 4 Weeks. After meeting the steel boss and former football star Dick ( McCrea), spoiled rich girl Dorothy (Mackaill) lets her father know that she’s only…
Let Us Be Gay
It took me almost 10 minutes to realize that the frumpy wife that looked like Ann B. Davis in this movie was actually Norma Shearer. Of all the Shearer films I’ve watched I am most impressed by Norma’s acting in this film. Norma was pregnant during the filming it’s fun to see the creativity the…
Pandora’s Box
OMGoodness…the German Cinema Weimar Era was pretty eye opening especially this G.W. Pabst version of Pandora’s Box, Sex, innuendo, manslaughter and murder are the bottom line in this 1929 German made silent movie featuring American born actress Louise Brooks. Again relying on DVD I am enjoying the Criterion Collection version of Pandora’s Box. Louise Brooks,…
ANNA CHRISTIE
‘Gimme a whiskey, ginger ale on the side, and don’t be stingy baby’ These were the first words spoken in the English version of the 1930 film Anna Christie by Swedish born Greta Garbo in a talking film. For TCM’s German Cinema in the Weimar Era theme I decided to borrow the DVD from my…
Happy Un-Valentines Day or…Divorce in Classic Hollywood
Fresh from the tails of the 1930’s Hays code which regulated just about everything in Classic Hollywood, came movies with spunk, wit and lots and lots of humorous divorces. These films were nothing like the divorce films prior to the Hays code regulations. The Divorcee with Norma Shearer is a prime example of how divorces were…
Female
If you’re not familiar with Ruth Chatterton, now’s the time to get familiar. While there may be good reason to not know Ruth, her work in some fantastic pre-code films in the 20’s and 30’s warrant attention. Those that paired her with husband George Brent were always particularly steamy. One film most memorable is FEMALE,…
The Moon is Blue
1953 was the year the Production Code began to unravel, and in no short part due to the film, The Moon is Blue. Laced with brazen questions brought on by Maggie McNamara , it’s William Holden who ends up holding all the moral ground in this story. It’s difficult to tell who is picking up…
A Life of Barbara Stanwyck Steel-True 1907-1940
There is nothing more shocking pre-code, than an early Barbara Stanwyck movie. Some of her most infamous, really stretched any semblance of a code before Breen took over as the strict enforcer of the code. Ladies of Leisure (1930), Illicit (1931), The Miracle Woman (1931), Ten Cents a Dance (1931), Night Nurse (1931), The Purchase…
Three on a Match
Three on a Match 1932 (First National): Joan Blondell, Bette Davis, Ann Dvorak, Warren William Coming off an extremely delicious Warren William in the Gold Diggers of 1933, I decided to revisit Three on a Match, also pairing Joan Blondell and Warren William. Rather shocked by the Pre-Hays Code ending, it had been one…
Smarty
Smarty (1934 Warner Brothers) Warren William and Joan Blondell play the magically in-love married couple Tony and Vicky. Then one day Vicky goes a little too far mentioning impotence and baby carrots in the same sentence, and Tony slaps her in the face, in front of friends. This of course is just a little marital…
Party Husband
Party Husband 1931 (First National) The best part of Party Husband, which I feared may just be another one of these movies with a message, is when the husband emerges from a dark kitchen wearing non-removable lip rouge, and is caught by his wife. Mind you, she brought someone home too, but didn’t…
Week-End Marriage
Week-End Marriage 1932 (First National) “I like being independent.” “Because you’re not in love, that’s why.” This is the story of the Independent Woman in the 1930’s. If you were a working woman it was usually because you were single and needed to support yourself, or because you were stupid. See if you weren’t single,…
Road to Paradise
Road to Paradise 1930 (First National) Loretta Young Times Two A 17 year old Loretta Young plays double roles as Mary- the girl mixed up with jewel robbers, and Margaret- the high society lady they plan to rob. Both can read minds. This is a fast-paced cat vs. mouse story laced with twists and…
Girl Missing
Girl Missing(1933 Warner Brothers): Lyle Talbot and Glenda Farrell “I brought you to Palm Beach, I had no intention of being a gentleman.” Gold digger Daisy gets a headache when she realizes her playboy husband only married her to satisfy the stipulations of his father’s will, and subsequently goes missing. But when the cops arrive…
Naughty Flirt
Naughty Flirt(1931 First National): Alice White and Myrna Loy. Kewpie Doll cutie Alice White plays Katherine or K as her friends call her. The spoiled little rich girl of a wealthy lawyer she has managed to get herself expelled from every proper school there is. She likes games, tricks, and using what she can…
Blonde Crazy
Blonde Crazy (1931 ~ Warner Brothers): James Cagney and Joan Blondell “If I can’t get it from you, I’ll get it from someone else” As most of what we find in Forbidden Hollywood, Blonde Crazy is a movie about sex, not romance. How to use it, how to get it, and when to withhold it….
A Story of Illicit Sex
Part of Warner Bros. new Archive Collection, The Voice of The Turtle was deemed, just that by the Breen Office in 1947, “a story of illicit sex without sufficient compensating moral values.” And they were right! Absolutely no compensating moral values whatsoever! Apart from the few tears, and weak self-imposed regulation, Sally Middleton ( Eleanor…
George Brent
March 15, 1904 George Brent Female, Baby Face I never liked George Brent more than I did in the pre-code film Female. Playing opposite Ruth Chatterton, who I had only known prior in the Simone Simon vehicle, Girls Dormitory, Brent plays the Alpha Male. Brent’s status as a man matters of course, because until now,…
Pre-Code Lyle Talbot
February 8, 1902 ~ March 2, 1996 Lyle Talbot Lyle, up until recently for me used to be that “cute guy” that would show up on many a great old film. He was never really the headliner, didn’t have any scandals to contribute and no Oscar to gain him instant merit, and was the quintessential “B”…
Forbidden Hollywood Volume 5
Like most true Classic Hollywood Fans, we’ve been loving Forbidden Hollywood. Volume 5, however, it is not the comedic jewel we find in Volume 4. Forbidden Hollywood Volume 5 contains the darker side of humanity. The mysteries, murders, and set ups we’ve come to associate with films like Manhattan Melodrama, and Double Indemnity. In Ladies They…
Breakfast at Tiffany’s or Breakfast in Bed?
So here I am knee deep in 5th Avenue, 5 AM, and the Dawn of the Modern Women by Sam Wasson , when low and behold the same issue- women in the 50’s and 60’s- starts glaring at me from the tv screen in the form of The Tender Trap (1955). Frank Sinatra plays the…
5th Avenue Girl The good, the bad, but mostly just the ugly!
I must start by reaffirming our general love and adoration for the wonderful Ginger Rogers, because that which is to follow will not reveal very much love or adoration. As many of you know, in the spirit of preservation of our film heritage, a few reknowned production companies have taken to FINALLY offering those little…
AN UN-VALENTINE, BUT WHAT A PRIZE!
‘The Divorcée’…Wow! Who knew? I’ve never been a Norma Shearer fan however her powerful performance in this movie has changed my opinion of her acting capabilities. This movie has everything that gave pre-code America a reason to be up in arms at Hollywood to incorporate a code of decency in its product. This movie has…
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