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| Marj |
 Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:28 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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gromit wrote: More of the 1930 Code:
Quote: VI. Costume
1. Complete nudity is never permitted. This includes nudity in fact or in silhouette, or any licentious notice thereof by other characters in the pictures.
2. Undressing scenes should be avoided, and never used save where essential to the plot.
3. Indecent or undue exposure is forbidden.
4. Dancing costumes intended to permit undue exposure of indecent movements in the dance are forbidden.
VII. Dances
1. Dances suggesting or representing sexual actions or indecent passion are forbidden.
2. Dances which emphasize indecent movements are to be regarded as obscene.
The Dances section was taken out in the revised Code. The contents were rewritten and then inserted under the Obscenity section header. Owing to the removal of a section header strictly for this topic, from this point onward, both the older and revised versions of the Code have the same section numbering beginning with the next header, 8. Religion. (As noted earlier, section II. Sex of the original had become 3. Sex in the revision, and subsequent section numbers were consecutively incremented.)
Oh, how Busby Berkeley must have reveled at this! |
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| bocce |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 5:06 am |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
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Nancy wrote: bocce wrote: another pre-code sub genre that spawned a whole lot of celluloid was "the prison drama" at its best exemplified by THE BIG HOUSE (1930)...
That is a good one, if people can find it. It has apparently never come out on DVD, though Amazon has a few used VHS copies listed.
it pops up on TCM occasionally along with THE CRIMINAL CODE (1931), 20,000 YEARS IN SING SING (1932) and, of course the better known, I WAS A FUGITIVE...
it features that icon of the 30s, chester morris and aspiring lead robert montgomery (who would later reunite for THE DIVORCEE). but the real scene stealer is wallace beery in a role which would define his persona for the decade... |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:19 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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I think I mentioned this in Stephen Frears; but one precursor film is Glorifying the American Girl, which is available online at the Internet Archive (mainly because the copyright was not renewed).
The first talkie to use the word "damn"!
Johnny Weissmuller in nuthin' but a fig leaf!
I don't see how you can go wrong. |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:35 am |
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| How large is the fig leaf? |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:43 am |
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tirebiter wrote: How large is the fig leaf?
Well,... but that would be telling. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:25 pm |
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lady wakasa wrote: I think I mentioned this in Stephen Frears; but one precursor film is Glorifying the American Girl, which is available online at the Internet Archive (mainly because the copyright was not renewed).
The first talkie to use the word "damn"!
Johnny Weissmuller in nuthin' but a fig leaf!
I don't see how you can go wrong.
And that was back when Weissmuller was in good shape. I can't wait. Oldies.com has it on DVD for $5.95 or VHS for $1.98. |
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| bocce |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:37 pm |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
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actually, TARZAN OF THE APES is a surprisingly good example of "pre-code" values: casual sex, relative nudity (the swimming scene), the self assured female and the stereotypical portrayal of blacks...
i like it for discussion since, surely, everyone here has seen it at some point...
i'm adding that it conjures up an implied acceptance, if not glorification , of primitivism and independence which would have freaked out the censors... |
Last edited by bocce on Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:50 pm |
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Tarzan and His Mate (1934) is even racier. Maureen O'Sullivan is HOT in that animal skin thing.
Just looked it up over on IMDb:
"The infamous nude swimming scene was originally filmed in three different versions: with Jane wearing her traditional costume, with Jane topless and with Jane fully nude. US states were empowered at that time to enact individual censorship laws, and three different versions of the scene were filmed in order to allow individual states to select the version of the scene which best conformed to its laws. All three versions were eventually removed from the film due to protests from conservative religious groups, particularly the powerful Catholic Legion of Decency. The nude version of the scene was discovered in the vaults of Turner Entertainment during the late 1990s following its purchase of the MGM film library, and was restored to most subsequent versions of the film on the direct orders of Turner Entertainment chairman Ted Turner. In the restored version of the scene, Tarzan is depicted wearing his traditional loincloth while Jane appears fully nude, her costume having been torn off when Tarzan playfully tosses her from a tree to the water below. The scene as it exists today is approximately four minutes in duration." |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:04 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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bocce wrote: actually, TARZAN OF THE APES is a surprisingly good example of "pre-code" values: casual sex, relative nudity (the swimming scene), the self assured female and the stereotypical portrayal of blacks...
i like it for discussion since, surely, everyone here has seen it at some point...
I've definitely seen it on some lists, and I haven't heard the Tarzan yell in a while, so - hey, let's go for it.
And - it'll make tirebiter happy.
Actually, that's pretty interesting - depending on when in 1934 this was released, a choice of scenes very well could've been a bone thrown to keep the code from being enforced.
tirebiter wrote: Tarzan playfully tosses her from a tree to the water below.
It must've been hard being married to Tarzan, though. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:12 pm |
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Just to run on some more... Tarzan is kind of a latter-day Sheik - "primitive" man with his mate. All the things one could imagine happening within the story of the Sheik, one could see in the story of Tarzan.
And - they were both actually transplanted Europeans, so there was no miscegenation going on... 'cause that wasn't gonna fly. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:23 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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I'm trying to come up with the name of a tropical film with a risque' underwater diving scene. I seem to remember Joel McCrea and Dorothy Lamour - but can't find either of them in something like this on the imdb.com .
I also checked TABU but the movie I remember had stars in it.
Can you tell me what I'm thinking of? I remember it being pre-code. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:55 pm |
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lady wakasa wrote: It must've been hard being married to Tarzan, though.
Apparently it was, since Weissmuller was married six times. I would be in favor of adding Tarzan and His Mate. It's readily available, and I already have a copy. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:48 pm |
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| The movie I was thinking of was THE HURRICANE with Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hall, directed by John Ford. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:02 am |
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I've finished Blonde Venus with Marlene Dietrich. It has adultery, nude (or fake nude) swimming, suggestive dancing, suggestive songs. I believe drugs (in a flophouse scene) and Marlene Dietrich in a gorilla suit. Full review when we get to particular films.
We went over to Hastings to check out their classic movie section and I walked out with The Lottery Bride, which is a 1930 musical with Jeanette MacDonald, and Anna Christie, the DVD of which has both the English and German versions. They have an odd selection of films. In particular, they have a section of new foreign DVD with some very strange stuff, including two Mongolian movies and Congorama, which I refrained from renting because I'm burrowing into pre-code stuff. Next will be Morocco (another Dietrich), I'm No Angel (Mae West) or one of the two rentals.
I'm always wanted to see Tabu, which is pre-code and a late silent. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:12 am |
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Syd wrote: I've finished Blonde Venus with Marlene Dietrich. It has adultery, nude (or fake nude) swimming, suggestive dancing, suggestive songs. I believe drugs (in a flophouse scene) and Marlene Dietrich in a gorilla suit. Full review when we get to particular films.
We went over to Hastings to check out their classic movie section and I walked out with The Lottery Bride, which is a 1930 musical with Jeanette MacDonald, and Anna Christie, the DVD of which has both the English and German versions. They have an odd selection of films. In particular, they have a section of new foreign DVD with some very strange stuff, including two Mongolian movies and Congorama, which I refrained from renting because I'm burrowing into pre-code stuff. Next will be Morocco (another Dietrich), I'm No Angel (Mae West) or one of the two rentals.
I'm always wanted to see Tabu, which is pre-code and a late silent.
What are the Mongolian movies? I've seen a few -- all have been good. |
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