Well another Forbibben Hollywood set coming out

[kelly]

Well according to TCM they going world premire new docuemntary on March 3 called Forbbien Hollywood Hays office talk about pre code movie and fall of those films

www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=191905

Sweeet The Divorcee with Norma Shearer Thaliberg going be on

[Midge]

Oh, boy, another Forbidden Hollywood set! I have the first one. The Divorcee Hooray! Gotta have it.

[kelly]

Yup they going world premire documetary on Hayes office it going be on on TCM then be in DVD version yeah everybody on TCM board to anoher film board I cruise on are going SWEET Divorcee going be in this

That movie been requested I don't know how many time to put that baby on DVD

I hear they went back and got new print to restore it according to TCM board

[Larry's 66 Diner]

Oh boy!!! Sounds like a set I would like to get hold of!

[kelly]

Hey Larry for the record i try find out what coming on in March I know they going bring back silents but I don't know what schedule is that adverstiemtnt was on home page on TCM

[diane]

I love all the films in that collection except "The Divorcee". I'm not a rampant womens libber
but I found the double standards in that film so bad . If it wasn't for sweet Norma I couldn't
watch it. Poor Norma had to put up with that sort of thing in a couple of her films.
"Female" is double standard in reverse - I don't object to that at all - it is about time the
women had a go. Ruth Chatterton plays a general manager of an automotive company and the
men that are employed there know that if they don't go out with her and back to her place for
"nightcaps" they will lose their jobs!!!!

[kelly]

Yeah I saw that movie LONG LONG time ago on PBS station they have thing about strong women in Hollywood business on local PBS channel Female is hardly showsn because of topic that they cover in those day I hear they restored it and going be shown for first time on TCM in while

[Midge]

diane said:

I love all the films in that collection except "The Divorcee". I'm not a rampant womens libber
but I found the double standards in that film so bad . If it wasn't for sweet Norma I couldn't
watch it. Poor Norma had to put up with that sort of thing in a couple of her films.

Interesting comment, Diane. I like The Divorcee because it is one of the very few Hollywood films to challenge the idea that married men may stray but women must be faithful no matter what. This was 1930, so the movie was limited in how far it could condone adultery by either sex, even though it was a Pre-Code. To even broach the subject of a married woman openly cheating with other men, and not feeling guilty about it, was positively revolutionary for its time.

[Roger Thornhill]

midge said:

This was 1930, so the movie was limited in how far it could condone adultery by either sex, even though it was a Pre-Code.

This is a fact which makes me wonder why people make such a big fuss of movies which are Pre-code, as if they are going to be so daring or risque when the truth is that they were restrained by the (Fairly strict) natural conventions of their day.

[Hedvig]

The reason why I like them is, as I have said before, because women behave so naturally in them. After the code was set in, there was a trend towards idealizing women which was sometimes taken to such extremes that they became boringly stereotyped characters who I could never relate to. I know this wasn't the case with all the films, but it was a trend. After the code lost its grip, it swung the other way. I often feel irritated with the way later films portray women as annoying, dumb or just a useless hindrance. Compare that to films like 42nd Street, Golddiggers of 1933, Midnight Mary and a lot of other pre-code films focusing on women.

If you want to see a pre-code made by someone who was truly liberated, try She Done Him Wrong or I'm No Angel. Mae West didn't give a hoot about natural conventions.

[Roger Thornhill]

I wasn't thinking of the portrayal of women in Pre-code movies. When we consider the kind of natural censorship which was imposed by the standards of public decency of those times, exactly how daring risque or downright controversial could they be? The prevailing attitude of fans of Pre-code movies seems to be "WOW these movies were so wild and untamed" this attitude leaves me wondering exactly how wild and untamed can any movie be that was made in those days. I can understand that people would look at them and consider them to be daring or controversial for their day but if they are then compared to what has been shown many years after then my question is "So what is the big deal about these Pre-code movies?"

Incidentally, I'm not knocking Pre-code movies, that wasn't the purpose of my post. To be honest I'm not bothered by them one way or the other, for me movies begin c 1935. I'm simply genuinely perplexed by the attitude to these movies. As I have stated previously they seem to be regarded as either wild, untamed, daring, risque, controversial, rebellious, or maybe even shocking. I can't see that anyone who has seen movies of the late 60s 70s 80s 90s and now the 21st century would be shocked by any thing that was shown in the 20s and the early 30s.

[Hedvig]

I didn't think you were knocking them. I think you raise an interesting point.

They were more daring than you would expect from old films, I think. I think that is why they get this response today. Films made after 1934 tend to be so very restricted in their depictions of sex and violence and showing criminals in a sympathetic light, that they have created the idea that all classic films are like that.

Of course, a lot of pre-codes are steeped in old-fashioned values, but not all of them. There is a strong political content in many pre-codes, which would practically disappear in later films regulated by the code. The code made sure that films wouldn't be offensive to the general audience, but the pre-codes had more freedom to criticize the social order. The pre-code era coincided with the darkest years of the depression, and a lot of these films depict social issues in the grimmest possible way. See I Am a Fugitive From the Chain Gang for an excellent example of this.

For me, the main reason for watching the pre-codes would be the colorful female characters. I think this has got something to do with the depression and the aftermath of the jazz age. The poverty and harsh living conditions helped the women, who had gained confidence in the 20's, to emerge as individuals capable of surviving in a tough world. This was something that disappeared in the more conservative years of the code, and still seems unique even today, to me. That is one reason for why the pre-codes might be regarded as special.

Many of the pre-codes celebrate life in all of its many facets. They provide some valuable insight into the mentality of the early depression years. And they are fun, they have a certain wit and style. Some are just sleazy potboilers, but the best of them combine the realism of a more modern age with the skillful manuscript writing and great acting personalities of the classic era.

[kelly]

I wonder if MGM and warner bros may do Forbbing Hollywood vol 3 I got wish list one of them is Greta Garbo uncensored version of Mari Hari I hear from film historian said that Mari Harbi Garbo version in pre code existings is awsome