The magic of pre-code Hollywood and a bit more
I sometime get called for liking these old 20’s-40’s movies. You know, those movies where the actors and actresses speak way too loud and act way too theatrical? Those black & white movies, where things seem almost surreal for us in the 21st century. Most people nowadays don’t ever bother to bat an eye when confronted with cinema before the 2000’s. Well here i’ll try to explain, why you should give those films a try, why is it important and to give you a glimpse of a culture long gone.
The film that shaped my vision regarding this matter and actually ignited my interest towards this genre, was a movie I watched completely unintentionally. About a year ago while browsing through some film analysis videos on YouTube I came across this one video that spoke about movie length or soemthing similar. During this video the person who made that video said, that Gone With The Wind was a movie that lasted over 2 hours! This instantly ignited my interest so much, that I decided to go ahead and watch that film. And boy was it swell (fantastic)!
Before speaking about the influence of such movies on today’s Hollywood I do want to clarify this one term pre-code
Pre-code Films (Hollywood)
This describes a time period in US history between 1929 and 1936, when film studios began to adapt a set of rules (or guidelines) for censorship in films. This set of guidelines were also referred to as Hay’s Code, respectively named after Will H. Hays, who was the president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributions of America (MPPDA).
Thus some films between the late 20’s and late 30’s profited from the situation by incorporating sexual innuendos, certain violent acts, romantic relationships between white and black people, homosexuality, prostitution and so on, in their films.
Likewise this forced a certain point of view on some characters in these films that were ought to be criminal, yet their actions have not been met with any significant repercussions. Basically when people refer to a more “innocent” Hollywood, that is ceritnaly not the case with old films. They basically “policed” themselves at one point, thus giving birth to Hay’s Code,
A good example for such a case would be one classic you ought to watch Red Dust.
Red Dust (1932)
An American classic, released in 1932, is a pre-code romantic comedy starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow, amongst other noteworthy actors of that era and directed by Victor Fleming.
In Red Dust Jean Harlow in fact plays a character of a somewhat curious reputation. That is the character of Vantine Jefferson a fugitive prostitute who is seeking refuge at a rubber plantation managed by Dennis Carson (Clark Gable). The film is set in French Indochina, and provides a look at french colonial rubber business. Amongst passionate sexual touching, the films also puts forth asian-racism as well as a sparkle of male violence.
Essentially the plot follows that there is a love triangle between Dennis (Clark Gable), Ventine (Jean Harlow) and the wife of a plantation worker by the name of Barbara Willis (Gene Raymond). At first Dennis is involved with Vantine, the prostitute but later abandons his informal relationship with her in order to pursue Barbara. At the end he has a change of heart and returns to Ventine.
What does this has to do with Hay’s Code? Well, the film shows several scenes which under Hay’s Code would be considered as problematic. One is a scene, in which Gable sees Harlow as she bathes in a barrel, clearly nude. Under Hay’s Code scences such as the above mentioned should be censored:
— Any licentious or suggestive nudity — in fact or in silhouette; and any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture —
Furthermore in another scene, Gable proceeds to grab Harlow by her hair and push her into the waters of the barrel with force as she teases him further. Nonethelss Harlow manages to win over both Gable and the audience througout the film with her cheerful smile, jokes, jolly language and her selfless honesty and frankness. Thus making us, the audience fall in love with Harlow indefintly — forgetting the fact that she is a prostitute. Thus invalidating one of the Code’s main principles:
— No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin —
Meaning a prostitute gets her way and that’s fine. Meaning we sympathize with an unmoral charecter.
One must not forget, that despite the violent actions and nudity, love wins in the end. The love of both Dennis and Ventine is real and shows true happiness, thus ending the film on a happy note.
Another good example to showcase the affects of Hay’s Code would be to speak of the film It Happened One Night starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.
It Happened One Night (1934)
Released in 1934 It Happened One Night was one of the first films, which followed Hay’s Code. One would not find any nudity or inappropriate touching here! The plot is fairly simple as well.
The film is a romantic comedy or a sort of screwball comedy (Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression) directed by Frank Capra. The film follows a spoiled hairess Ellen “Ellie” Andrews (Claudette Colbert) as she escapes her father, which tries to annul her marriage of fears that her husband is only interested in Ellen because of her riches. As a consequence, Ellen runs away from her father by jumping off a ship and taking a bus to New York, in hopes of reuniting with her husband there. Only to her surprise she meets a passanger on the bus by the name of Peter Warne. Peter who has recently lost his job recognizes Ellen and gives her a choice — if she gives him a good story he’ll help her reunite with her husband or else he’ll tell her father about her whereabouts. Ellen accepts, but as they both travel a romance develops between the two.
The film was released four months prior to the rigid enforcement of the Hay’s Code. Although not officially adapting the Code and still considering itself as a pre-code film, the film does not feature any sexual innuendoes, nudity, inappropriate behaviours, that would otherwise, be considered a breach of the Code.
Although one scene would roughly be considered as the above mentioned acts. One scene depicts Peter (Clark Gable) as he attempts to catch a taxi on a countryside street. After several unsuccessful attempts Ellen (Claudette Colbert) takes over, and with a swift showing of a leg she instatly catches the attention of a passing driver, which stopps instantly.
Later Claudette was quoted stating on set that such an act was unlady-like. After the production has got her a body double, which would do the scene instad of her, she responded with outrage:
“Get her out of here. I’ll do it. That’s not my leg”
Thus continuing filming and finising the scene by herself.
With the examples above I hopefully I have managed to catch your interest and inspire you, or at least to spark some kind of interest in the movies that essentially shaped Hollywood. Films that often depicted human behavior in it’s purest form. Comedy and Romance at it’s finest and as human as possible.
With this I do want to state the fact, that female roles in those films, although true at times, depicted women with a more submissive nature, but at most as strong and independent individuals, which are willing to go to great lengths to get their goals. Actresses such as Jean Harlow, Una Merkel and Vivien Leigh are a but a fracture of those amazing women who shaped film and made it great and lovable.
