Amazon.com
Who says the world of classic Hollywood moviemaking was never risqué? We tend to think of black-and-white movies as representing a sanitized world, where crime never paid, ladies of the evening had hearts of gold, and married couples slept in separate beds. But in fact, censorship in American cinema didn't begin in earnest until 1934, when Will Hays and Joseph Breen began enforcing the legendary Hollywood production code. In this revelatory book, Thomas Doherty looks at sound movies of 1930-34--what is now known as the "pre-code" era.
This was a Hollywood of loose dames, hot whoopee, and coked-up killers who'd do anything for a pot of jack. It was a world that was often amoral and anarchic--an industry that allowed James Cagney and Paul Muni wild orgies of violence, openly flaunted the sexuality of Marlene Dietrich and Mae West, gave King Kong permission to crush cars and eat people, and allowed Tod Browning to make Freaks, one of the ghastliest, most sensationalistic, and greatest American movies.
Doherty's book captures this mad universe beautifully, describing films in such delightful detail that you may find yourself tossing it on your couch and racing to the video store. He also documents the downfall of the period, the outrage that was leveled against early sound films, and the emerging code that repressed American movies for almost 30 years. Film fans reveling in the debauchery of Hollywood's naughtiest era will also want to see Mark A. Vieira's Sin in Soft Focus. --Raphael Shargel
Book Description
Pre-Code Hollywood explores the fascinating period in American motion picture history from 1930 to 1934 when the commandments of the Production Code Administration were violated with impunity in a series of wildly unconventional films -- a time when censorship was lax and Hollywood made the most of it. Though more unbridled, salacious, subversive, and just plain bizarre than what came afterwards, the films of the period do indeed have the look of Hollywood cinema -- but the moral terrain is so off-kilter that they seem imported from a parallel universe.
In a sense, Doherty avers, the films of pre-Code Hollywood are from another universe. They lay bare what Hollywood under the Production Code attempted to cover up and push offscreen: sexual liaisons unsanctified by the laws of God or man, marriage ridiculed and redefined, ethnic lines crossed and racial barriers ignored, economic injustice exposed and political corruption assumed, vice unpunished and virtue unrewarded -- in sum, pretty much the raw stuff of American culture, unvarnished and unveiled.
No other book has yet sought to interpret the films and film-related meanings of the pre-Code era -- what defined the period, why it ended, and what its relationship was to the country as a whole during the darkest years of the Great Depression... and afterward.
Customer Reviews:
OK, but there's better out there.......2002-07-01
I love this era, and I love reading about this era, but even so, I gave up reading this book about halfway through. There are better books about pre-Code, at least two or three. Geoffrey Blake has a great book about how the Code came to be, and Mick LaSalle and Mark Vierra also have excellent books about the artistry and the gossip and the history. This one is OK, but I'd recommend it only to people like me who just can't get enough. And even then, I found out, I can.
Better Ones Out There.......2001-08-01
This is a very respectable but uninspired treatment of the pre-Code era. Its virtues come mainly in the beginning, with an interesting introduction. Its weakness stems from the fact that the author seems more fascinated by the politics of the era than with the movies -- and that he fails to connect the politics with the movies in a way that ultimately illuminates THE FILMS, on an artistic level. I don't think he has a feel for the ART of the era at all, and as a result the best chapters are about Franklin Roosevelt and the newsreels of the day. A decent treatment, but better books are out there.
Exciting subject matter, dull reading.......2001-06-10
This is a good book, but it doesn't capture the excitement of its subject matter. All kinds of wild & crazy things were happening in pre-code (1930-1934) Hollywood movies (extramarital affairs, prostitution, robbery, violence, etc.), & they happened for the most part without moral judgment on the parts of the movie makers. But this book presents this exciting period in a rather dry, humorless way. It contains lots of useful information about the era & its surrounding politics, but also leaves out a lot of things that should be mentioned. On the plus side, it contains a complete version of the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 (which is referred to in so many books, but hard to find a copy of). The photos are great, but small in size & printed on the same porous paper used for the text (which results in less sharpness than if printed on glossy paper). The biggest negative, in my opinion, is that a number of important pre-code movies are not even mentioned in this book (for example, Norma Shearer's "The Divorcee"). And why the author spends 4+ pages analyzing "Congorilla" (a 1932 African documentary that was made during the pre-code era but has little to do with Production Code censorship) is beyond me; it's a good analysis but perhaps belongs in a different book!
GREAT SUBJECT, PASSIONLESS TREATMENT.......2001-04-13
While there may be no more fascinating subject in film history, this book just does not capture its magic. Most of the book consists of plot summaries, and the social analysis contains a lot of specious correlations between film content and the transition between the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations. The author doesn't really seem to like pre-Code films all that much--rather he seems to find them sociologically interesting. This is hardly a bad book. A lot of research clearly went into it. But this is not the book to make non-aficionados interested -- or lovers of pre-Code enlightened.
Censorship and Politics (And Who Can Tell the Difference).......2001-02-19
Thomas Doherty's Pre-Code Hollywood (Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930 - 1934) is a wonderful study of Hollywood and the movies it produced before the Production Code gained its censorious teeth and bloodied them on celluloid. The most significant and interesting aspects of the book were the politics involved, both in the production of the movies and the movies themselves. Movies looked at vice, poverty, and politics, for example, with eyes wide open and this frightened many people in power who led a successful campaign against the industry. This book tells that tale very effectively. It is a joy to read.
Book Description
In the pre-Code Hollywood era, between 1929 and 1934, women in American cinema took lovers, had babies out of wedlock, got rid of cheating husbands, enjoyed their sexuality, led unapologetic careers, and, in general, acted the way many think women only acted after 1968. Before then, women on screen had come in two varieties-sweet ingenue or vamp. Then two stars came along: Greta Garbo, who turned the femme fatale into a woman whose capacity for love and sacrifice made all other human emotions seem pale; and Norma Shearer, who succeeded in taking the ingenue to a place she'd never been: the bedroom. In their wake came a deluge of other complicated women-Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow, and Mae West, to name a few. Then, in July 1934, the draconian Production Code became the law in Hollywood and these modern women of the screen were banished, not to be seen again until the code was repealed three decades later.A thorough survey and a tribute to these films, Complicated Women reveals how this was the true Golden Age of women's films.AUTHORBIO: Mick LaSalle is the film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and teaches a class at University of California at Berkeley on pre-Code film.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing.......2007-04-14
This book was a HUGE disappointment. The author has some kind of strange obession with Norma Shearer. He makes numerous idiot statments. He refers to all of the other major movie stars (such as Clara Bow, Jean Harlow, Myna Loy) as just minor background players...umm NOOO. This man obviously knows very little about cinema. I kept waiting and waiting throughout the book for him to stop talking and praising Norma Shearer, but he never did. Yes, Norma Shearer was a good actress but she was not God's gift to earth, so stop with the worshipping. Unless you are a die heart Shearer fan, DO NOT buy this book, you will be disappointed.
Complicated Women, a great book........2007-01-11
Mick LaSalle wrote probably the most definative book on the greatest era on film for women. 1929-1934 women dominated the box office, and broke all the rules on what the typical ladies of the teens and even flappers of the 1920's followed. Much of this text is dedicated to Norma Shearer, and to me it should be. Shearer is the perfect example of the pre code icon, and after all "The Divorcee" won Shearer and Oscar, and created a national obsession with pre code films. As LaSalle states, she does deserve to be more remembered to the level of her contemporaries, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo.
Kay Francis, and Miriam Hopkins also get a good deal of remembrance, if anything the public certianly has forgotten them aswell. I think it would be interesting for LaSalle to specialize an entire book on either three, I know I would buy it. As for Complicated Women, it's not only easy to read, but also a must have for fans of not only pre code films, but Hollywood itself.
Indispensible book for fans of pre-code cinema.......2006-07-26
Not only is "Complicated Women" the definitive work on women in pre-code Hollywood, it's one helluva fun read. Here's some of what I'm talking about:
"Harding plays the moment like she just had a lobotomy."
"The Colbert with a smile in her voice who always sounds like it's midnight and someone just opened the champagne."
"No one did lust on screen like Norma Shearer. She was the complete lady, completely on fire."
Besides the engaging writing style LaSalle had three things going for him in writing this book: a love of film, a love of women and a willingness to conduct the research that would do their pre-code story justice.
LaSalle's love of women is particularly evident as he rhapsodizes about Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo whose stories are the centerpiece of "Complicated Women." They are the stars of this story. And make no mistake this story is a tragedy. A tragedy that the Production code was finally enforced in mid 1934 with the consequent censorship that didn't end until 1968. As the author points out this was not just a censoring of what was shown on screen, but, far worse, a censorship of ideas. The odious Joseph Breen is the true villain of the story, to read about Breen is to despise him.
But that is but a one sad chapter of this story. What LaSalle does so wonderfully is regale us with tales of Hollywood and its women from the end of the silent era to the beginning of the suppressed era.
Here is an appreciation for the work of stars still remembered such as Mae West and Joan Crawford to those largely forgotten like Miriam Hopkins and Ann Harding. In "Complicated Women" they are all brought to life through LaSalle's examination of their films.
These and other great actresses flourished in the pre-code era because they were allowed to inhabit real characters. They could be sexual, sensual, professional, pregnant, rebellious and rambunctious. This was a true liberation of women 30 years before it became a political movement. These were women who could be both as deadly serious as any man and as playful and horny. As LaSalle writes, "sexual satisfaction had become the right of both sexes."
Yes there were audacious films with wild women, but they were also reflective of society and the true desires of women. Movies were both a lot of fun AND realistic.
Thankfully many of these gems such as the classic "The Divorcee" and "Red Dust." can be seen on Turners Classic Movie channel (if you love films from the first half of the 20th century, no price is too high to pay for having TCM as part of your cable or satellite TV option). Others have been released on DVD like "Trouble in Paradise" and "Gold Diggers of 1933."
"Complicated Women" will send you searching for movies you've never seen and wanting to watch again some that you have seen.
I rented and more fully appreciated "Queen Christina" immediately after reading LaSalle's comments on it.
While it is cultural tragedy of the highest magnitude that the production code was enforced, we do have those few precious years before Breen and his ilk got out the scissors. LaSalle brings to life those years and the actresses so central to them.
A Love Letter To Norma Shearer.......2005-07-30
Mr Laselle obviously has a deep affection for Norma Shearer, & yes it shows here! I'd never heard of MS. Shearer until seeing the TMC documentary based on this book. Since seeing the documentary & a few of her films also on TMC, I've fallen in love (I've never had a crush on a dead person before!), & this book brings her much more to life then Gavin Lambert's biography. Yes, he does devote between 25-30% of the book to Shearer (Garbo gets the second biggest chunk), but I'm grateful that he does. It's a travesty that most of my generation (I'm in my late 40's) has never heard of this amazing actress. Also a great resource for suggested pre code films, & a needed damning portrait of the evangelicals who ruined US films for over 30 years with the ridiculous code. For those who have seen the TMC documentary, this is much more in depth. Hard to put down!
Johnny One Note.......2004-07-13
Mr. LaSalle is a zealot, not a scholar, and it shows. His obsession with Norma Shearer clouds everything he writes. He perceives that Shearer has been unfairly neglected in film history, and his attempt to redress this takes priority over any thoughtful examination of women in Pre-Code Hollywood. The plot synopses he offers are no better than anything on IMDB, his arguments on quality are poorly supported, his writing is clunky and full of redundancies, and his insights are dubious.
Book Description
Using the same mix of snappy prose, accessibility, and insider knowledge that he employed so successfully in omplicated Women,Mick LaSalle now turns his attention to the men of the pre-Code Hollywood era. Highlighting such household names as James Cagney, Clark Gable, and Gary Cooperand lesser-known ones such as Lee Tracy and Richard BarthelmessLaSalle shows how conceptsof manhood and heroism changed as the talkies came in and the Great Depression took hold. The smiling, confident hero of previous years fell out of favor, and new heroes emerged: gangsters, opportunists, sleazy businessmen, shifty lawyers, and shell-shocked soldiers. They were men whose existence threatened the system.
Customer Reviews:
One Mistake.......2006-02-07
I wish I could have given this book 5 stars, but Mr. LaSalle had made a minor mistake. In the book's first chapter, he made the mistake of comparing most of the major actors of this era - especially Clark Gable - to the recent film star, Tom Cruise. In some attempt to put Cruise at a disadvantage, he described the actor as being "amiable" and youthful in compare to Gable. One, Cruis is more than an "amiable" actor. He has made a career of portraying some rather ambiguous and/or dark characters during the past twenty-five years. And two, he stopped being youthful a long time ago. I think that Mr. LaSalle may have been blinded by Cruise's famous smile and failed to give a more accurate portrayal of the actor's career.
Those Pre Code Females!.......2006-01-29
Mick LaSalle has done a fine job in recording the accomplishments of actresses before the pre code "censorship" era (1929-1934 or thereabouts!) . If you are at all interested
in films of the thirties this is a MUST! And if you are just interested in films in general this will surely be "of interest". And if you are a Norma Shearer fan it is a MUST!
ANOTHER GREAT BOOK.......2003-08-31
It's a toss-up as to which of Mick LaSalle's great pre-Code books (his previous is COMPLICATED WOMEN) is superior. COMPLICATED WOMEN is a work of advocacy, in a sense -- he wants to rescue the women of pre-Code from obscurity and critical neglect, and he does so ably. This book is more cool-headed amd critical. It's also funnier. It feels more grounded in the real politics and culture of the early 1930s. The research goes deeper. The book is longer. I think they're both essential reading, demonstrating a passion for film and an understanding of history that's impressive, rare and indispensable.
Greatness before the Censors Came.......2003-04-02
The Golden Age of movies is sometimes taken as the glorious silent era. However, it can be argued that the films made right after the advent of sound provided more realism and more to think about than movies before or since. In a vital and entertaining study, _Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man_ (Thomas Dunne), Mick LaSalle lovingly analyzes the films and movie heroes from around 1929 until 1934 when censorship took over. Those interested in the history of film, and in learning more about giants like Cagney and Gable, as well as about important but forgotten former stars like Richard Barthelmess and Warren William, will find this book irresistible. After 1934, it was a long while before American films were made without a censor able to clip scenes, and LaSalle demonstrates that the pre-censorship (or "pre-Code") era was a time for realism as well as idealism in the movies.
LaSalle demonstrates that silent films were really productions of the Victorian era; men were expected to have sobriety and character. World War I, Prohibition, and the Great Depression changed all that. There was a deluge of pre-Code gangster movies, and every major actor played a gangster, even Spencer Tracy and Boris Karloff. The gangster movies, and the war movies, provided a new look at how a person might live in the world and live with himself; there was a good deal of introspection within the characters displayed on screen that would vanish when the Code came into force. Along with serious evaluation of such moral matters, pre-Code movies were full of pacifism. Repeatedly the young idealistic heroes go into battle only to be shocked at the destruction they themselves have wrought. These movies exalted individuality and distrust of governments that led citizens into pointless wars. Pre-Code films emphasized the heroism of getting wise and taking care of oneself, not the heroism of battles and bugles. There is a good brief history of Code censorship here, showing the role of the Catholic Legion of Decency and its regrettable effects. Not only did the Code enforcers impose wholesomeness on future movies, they insisted that when the pre-Code films were re-released they be re-cut into more acceptable form. Sadly, sometimes the censored version of a pre-Code film is all that remains. It was not until the ratings system came in 1968 that the Code was dismantled.
Partly LaSalle's book is a warning, and one especially pointed now that certain forces within the government find censorship in various forms appealing. LaSalle has enormous admiration for the films described here, but says, "Even vitality such as this can be squelched if a close-minded faction is obsessed, pernicious, and willing to organize." He has seen a lot more of these pre-Code pictures than his readers have, but anyone who enjoys the movies will be eager to take a look at these films after reading this book. Pre-Code films showed war brutality, governmental corruption, and harnessing courage to subvert the system. LaSalle writes, "These may be healthy things for individuals to know, but they aren't what governments like to see pumped into the public consciousness."
Favorite Book of the Year?.......2003-01-03
I guess it's too early to have a favorite book of the year, but I can say with certainty that, had I completed it in 2002, Dangerous Men would qualify as one of my top two or three -- and probably the best non-fiction book I've read: So smart, so authoritative and, as some other readers have pointed out, so funny -- funny, even as you're learning something fascinating on every page.
It is hardly the usual sort of film book. Rather it's a brilliant investigation into the nature of manhood in the twentieth century, using these films as markers along the way. At the same time, it is a movie book in the sense that you come away dying to see the movies. I'm going to be using the list that the book provides to help make my video choices in the coming months.
What a wonderful Christmas gift. I already ordered Complicated Women, because now I can't get enough of the subject. You'll probably feel the same way, too. By all means, this is a book to get.
Amazon.com
Prudes and the faint-of-heart shield your eyes! The stunning Sin in Soft Focus contains some of the most breathtaking black-and-white stills ever taken, all from the debaucherous decade before the Hollywood production code was established. With chapters devoted to "The Warners Grit," "The MGM Gloss," and "The Paramount Glow," and to horror films, gangster movies, and the sexy scandal of Mae West, Mark A. Vieira illustrates the story of classic Hollywood's most delightfully lascivious period--brought to a stop when Joseph Breen began enforcing the puritanical production code of 1934.
The text of this book is fascinating even for those familiar with the films of the era, but the mesmerizing photographs are what will keep readers glued to the pages. Oversized and abundant stills capture stars like Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, William Powell, Mae West, Joan Blondell, James Cagney, and Greta Garbo in striking clarity, dashing poses, and of course, shockingly revealing outfits. Voyeurs seeking more on this naughty era will also want to read Thomas Doherty's Pre-Code Hollywood. --Raphael Shargel
Book Description
Sin in Soft Focus showcases a scintillating era in film history: "pre-code Hollywood," that boldly creative period in the early 1930s when defiant producers flouted the restrictions of the censors, who tried--but failed--to ban everything from sex, profanity, and excessive violence to "lustful kissing." Lavishly illustrated with rare film stills, the book captures the artistry and bravura of the era's controversial films.
Customer Reviews:
Text also in soft-focus.......2005-02-27
While I can't understand the nit-picking objections of some previous reviewers, the text here does seem subsumed to the illustrations and to what end. Understanding the context of pre-Code Hollywood is not something that requires pictures. Viera's overview is easy enough to digest but why not something a little deeper, was there neither world enough nor time?
BEAUTIFUL AND COMPELLING........2003-01-22
In this exhaustively researched, beautifully illustrated book, author Vieira does an exceptional job. Recently, I have been drawn to the fascinating world of Pre-Code Cinema. There were some really realistically seedy, controversial and revealing films made in the Hollywood of the late twenties and early thirties. Many films which have been previously believed lost or destroyed have been rescued for the public to enjoy once more on either video or TCM. Hot stuff for the depression era! Fascinating films of the era include: THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE which starred the unique Miriam Hopkins. In this one, she plays the title character who is lured into the underworld, gets raped - and finds she likes it (!). Even sweetly saccharine Loretta Young had a dark-side: check out MIDNIGHT MARY. What I find ironic is that to many people, many vintage films are considered too pretty or unrealistic. This book proves otherwise!! A thoroughly fascinating venture into a little-known side of Hollywood which existed a scant half-dozen years: the era of Pre-Code talkies. A very informative and revealing laboured work of art - and a fine resource - for fans of vintage film.
So Many Movies, So Little Time.......2002-08-31
Like Mick LaSalle's wonderful book COMPLICATED WOMEN which chronicles the impact the Hayes Office had on decimating the interesting roles portrayed by women, this book serves as an interesting companion piece. It chronicles the somewhat racy plots and the female characters portrayed in pre-code movies.
Bordering on an almost scholarly take on this topic, this tome takes you through a lot of the grittier plots tackled by early Hollywood films and the wonderful actresses who portrayed the lead characters.
By the end of this book, you will find yourself craving a pre-code Harlow, Shearer, Crawford, Garbo or Bow film and will want to devour a lot of them like a 21 oz. bag of Hershey kisses or Raisinets. Such were the days when little titans like Hayes weren't dictating the mantra called the CODE and films were a little risque and fun and not always that predictable.
Entertaining look at a formidable time in film history.......2002-01-30
This book offers a great collection of photographs and an insightful look at the early days of Hollywood when religious groups, politicians and self-important studio execs were grappling with Hollywood's role and responsibilities. Many nearly forgotten films are discussed. Like McCarthyism, this issues deserves this look so that we don't forget where society has been. A great book for film buffs.
NICE BOOK, WRONG PAIRING.......2001-10-25
SIN IN SOFT FOCUS is both a great general history of pre-Code and a gorgeous book of photography. But ladies, ladies, ladies, why oh why, if you're to sell it with another book, aren't you pairing it with COMPLICATED WOMEN by Nick LaSalle, which truly complements Vieira's work and is a very great book in its own right? Now THAT would be a deal.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Cineaste, published by Cineaste Publishers, Inc. on June 22, 2000. The length of the article is 1785 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood.(Review) (book review)
Author: Thomas Schatz
Publication:
Cineaste (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2000
Publisher: Cineaste Publishers, Inc.
Volume: 25
Issue: 3
Page: 56
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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General
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Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood
Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man
Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship, and the Production Code, from the 1920s to the 1960s
The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film, 1928-1942
Hollywood v. Hard Core: How the Struggle Over Censorship Created the Modern Film Industry
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