Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema; 1930-1934

by Thomas Doherty

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.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, History, Media Tie In, Pop Culture, Politics, Biography

430 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pre-Code films were a joy to watch. The Code was promulgated in 1930 but not enforced until 1934 so producers and directors tried to put everything that was banned into their films in those four years....infidelity, miscegenation, prostitution, violence, incest, et al. Films like Baby Face with Barbara Stanwyck and Scarface with Paul Muni were box office draws as the Great Depression prompted audiences to seek a make-believe world and these sometimes lurid films were just their cup of tea.
The author looks at pre-Code films from a social as well as artistic standpoint and delves into the final push that brought code enforcement into being. An fascinating look at Hollywood and censorship and a must-read for the film buff.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hayes Code was adopted in 1930 but was without any enforcement measures. By 1934, however, the enforcement was coming and it's those in-between years that are the focus here. This is more academic than I anticipated going in so it took me a longer time to get through than I expected, but that really isn’t a strike against it. Make no mistake, this book starts off with some very dense writing, but once Doherty gets into the thematic sections of the book the readability increases.

Dougherty hits a wide variety of areas and approaches things that I hadn’t necessarily expected – such as newsreels. But one of the drawbacks for me was that I hadn’t realized before I requested it from my library system that this was published more than 25 years ago at this point. In many ways the research is the research, but I think some of the takeaways that Doherty argues for in the text might have been different had he published this in the past 10 years, especially the ways in which non-white, non-heterosexual, and in many cases non-male stories and the people who created them were systematically removed from the output of studios based on complying with the Code.

full review: https://faintingviolet.wordpress.com/...

[Rama Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brief history of American cinema from 1930-1934

This is a product of fine piece of work done by Brandies University professor Tom Doherty investigating into the history of Hollywood at the height of Great Depression when much of the nation was reeling under economic turmoil. Hollywood was stressed out not only by the depression and lack of demand for their products and services, but also by the production code requirement of American motion pictures. The studios had no choice but to fight codes in order to make the movies attractive to as many viewers as possible so that folks of the depression have something they can see, enjoy and forget about their financial and domestic problems. During this time, the censorship was weak and Hollywood made movies about anything that looked controversial; sexual liaison, adultery, corruption of mind by wealth, sexism, racism, social inequality, poverty and reckless behavior. This was essentially a reflection of Hollywood, which was the epicenter of all forms of excesses that were of daily occurrences in the bars, salons, restaurants, hotels and other celebrity hangouts in tinsel town.

The author presents most movies of this time systematically and discusses them to illustrate his point. For example, in the movie "Tarzan and his mate" (1934), the underwater swimming scene featuring Johnny Weismueller and the Olympic swimmer Josephine McKim (doubling for the lead actress Maureen O'Sullivan) is a fine piece of artistry. In this synchronized swimming, you can see fantastic underwater aerobics; McKim is also totally nude which may be found on YouTube in fully restored version. This is not only erotic but also a spectacular show, and a bold move on the part of the studio. MGM faced minimal objections from the censor board. The pre-code era is known to be from 1930 to 1934; the code was officially adopted in 1930, but never enforced until the beginning of July 1934. The production code administration was widely referred to as "Hays office" that regulated the Hollywood productions and its perimeters with the full involvement of the clergy and the politicians. In MGM's "Faithless," starring Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Montgomery, the pressure of the depression drives a married woman to the "oldest profession" when her husband is incapable of working. Ironically this role was given to Bankhead who was highly controversial with her notorious, well publicized, out-of-control behavior. In "Blonde Venus" (1932), Marlene Dietrich begins her decent by trading her virtue for feeding her child and herself. Released weeks after FDR's inauguration, Roy Del Ruth's "Employee's Entrance" (1933), shows Warren William at his worst. The film tracks the machinations of a ruthless business executive of a department store. A workaholic with no home-life roams the store after hours, and finds an unemployed young woman (Loretta Young) whom he invites for dinner and in the next scene we see them together in his apartment. Next thing you know she is hired for the store. In Walter Wagner's production of "Gabriel over the White House," directed by Gregory Lava, supported by media mogul William Randolph Hearst shows how acute the malady was in president Hoover's last year. The movie makes you believe that you can have a tyrant president than a passive one. Hays office required many changes but still the final version was allowed to have the president (played by Walter Huston) to have mistress who would roam in the White House. This is certainly the wrong movie for the troubled time. He declares martial law, assumes dictatorial power in order to bring order in America during the Great Depression.

Numerous examples are given in the book that includes; James Cagney's gunplay, wordplay of temptress Mae West, and many more. This book is a well researched by a respected academic.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the introduction, Doherty splits the films of the few-year period referred to as "Pre-Code" (actually between the point in which the code was adopted and the point at which it actually started being enforced) into various genre categories explored in each chapter. I found some more intersting than others--the horror, jungle adventure, and comedy sections, for example--but they're all rather well-written. A few are even brilliantly written.

The most frustrating aspect of the book has nothing to do with how it was constructed. It's full of the titles of scores of films, many of which are hard and/or impossible to find today. I spent a lot of time between chapters searching various library websites to see if they had this film or that film...

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to films you might not have realized were a little less old fashioned than you thought. These films, made from 1930 to 1934 dealt with sex, drugs, violence and themes of anti-Americanism, homosexuality and anti-religion. It would take forty years for films to start dealing with these subjects again.

[Zepp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good early Hollywood history. Also an excellent discourse on how the Hayes Code actually augmented and refined movie genre and convention.
or.. why Hollywood was sexier than the Berlin cabaret.

[Rick Burin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is rich in detail and stylishly written. It covers the high spots, with plenty of political and industry context, but goes further afield too. The chapter on fakery, nudity and colonial tropes in ethnographic documentaries is properly hilarious, and if sometimes Doherty stretches too far in attempting to make a Freudian point about racial unease, his thoughtful, imaginative approach does offer a fresh perspective. There are a few errors (mostly relating to film titles and restricted to the opening chapter, though some release dates later in the book are a year out), but that stuff was trickier in 1999. If you’re interested in Hollywood, 1930-34 (when the rules were lax or even absent), then you couldn’t do much better. If you’re not, then what are you thinking, you’ll hate this.

[Tom Dailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine book on a brief period in film history when Hollywood made some of its most provocative films.
Incorporates the political landscape of the early thirties particularly well. Good research.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond the familiar concerns and content of Hollywood cinema between 1930-1934 (gangsters, sex, fallen women), Doherty presents some less familiar aspects of pre-code Hollywood, such as the role of newsreels, the representation (or lack thereof) of minorities and, particularly fascinating, the lure of the expeditionary film.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone interested in this fascinating period in American film history! Academic, but always entertaining and insightful—the long forays into historically related incidents like Dillinger's undoing, Depression-era food-related desperation, and the climate in the news media were not only helpful to learn about the related films but utterly compelling in their own right. And, just when it makes you long for a Hollywood that never enforced the Code, Doherty (correctly) acknowledges that all that subsequent censorship resulted in some of the best films of all time, and that freedom from the Code didn't necessarily result in more artistically valid films. Thought-provoking and readable...and now I have about 300 films to go watch.

[Heather Babcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent study of Pre-Code Hollywood which is both entertaining and educational. Certainly the most comprehensive book on Pre-Code cinema that I have read so far. Most books on this era focus on the sexuality of the films and while Doherty certainly doesn't shy away from that he also discusses in detail other often un-explored but much more important areas of Pre-Code cinema: such as the socialism, worker's rights and the anger at the Establishment which can be found in the Warner Brother's "preachment yarns" of the era. Racism unfortunately taints many a Hollywood film from the 1930s, but there was also some push back against Jim Crow in the Pre-Code era and Doherty cites a few important examples. My only criticism of this book is that the text is very small so some may find it difficult to read for that reason.

[Tove · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome, well researched, engaging depiction of pre Hays Code films. Doherty wonderfully weaves politics, real-life gangsters, the Great Depression, vaudeville, and the growing strength of the Christian right into the unique Hollywood studio system that produced many of America's most salacious films between 1930 and 1934. A fun and informative read.

[Greta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent book on pre-code Hollywood, talks a lot about the individual films. Organized thematically, including themes not usually touched on. Aside from the usual sex and crime, there are political films, social problem films, racism and jungle and travel films, comedy, newsreels, horror.

[aloveiz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doherty is out of place in his own field. About as interesting as a dental anesthesia release wavier. Tell me about nociception and elimination of excitatory inhibitors! I don't think you know why we're here do you?

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is for the history/classic film lover, which I am! A great exploration of the American history of film censorship and the few interesting years (1930-1934) that it wasn't enforced.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book dovetails with my favorite hobby--Classic Movies. It has tons of information about some of my favorite movies, and some movies that I have never seen, but would like to.

[aa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very informative about Pre-Code movies, a category I was not aware of until a few years ago.

I appreciate Doherty's leveled take on it. He explicitly criticizes the notion that, before conservative pearl-clutchers took over in 1934, Hollywood was outputting all these amazing, liberatory films. I felt like he was addressing people like me or my friends who like laughing at the Code movies splitting married couples into different beds.

In the book's final page, he points out that, as much as people hate the Code nowadays, arguably Hollywood's greatest films came out in that period (1934 - 1960/1967). I'll just say here that correlation does not equal causation, so this argument falls flat. The economics of the New Deal, WW2 central planning, and then the post-war period Keynesian wealth could help explain this golden era of Hollywood filmmaking. So could the movies being the main, accessible art form people were consuming at the time.

EDIT: Another argument against the Code causing great films of Classical Hollywood is that the New Hollywood of the late sixties and seventies produced amazing movies as well: The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Chinatown, etc.

[Magnus Stanke · Rating 4 out of 5]

My interest in Pre-code cinema has grown lately and so I was delighted to dive into Thomas Doherty's portrait of the time and era.
He gives a very complete picture of the political, social and cultural context of the eary 30's in the US, how the roaring 20s had shaped the audience's tastes, and how the devastating depression changed everything that people thought they knew and cared for.
My initial interest came mainly through the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck/Claudette Colbert/Marlene Dietrich/Greta Garbo/Joan Crawford/Mae Clarke films of the time (and I could easily extend that list with more names), which I guess have been discussed with more depth elsewhere and only get a cursory look in in this book.
But Pre-Code Hollywood was more than that, and Doherty's profile brings that point across loudly and clearly.

[Leigh Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If based on movies of a certain time you wondered at the naïveté of your grandparents and their seemingly innocent backstories, but were blown away by family journals and your first pre-code movie (in my case, I’m No Angel) - this book is for you.

Though it sometimes reads as an expansion of someone’s dissertation, this comprehensive read clearly contextualizes in form and content the time in US history, the role of movies, the impact of synched sound, and of course The Code itself as well as the people around it. The appendices are incredibly valuable resources, and those moments when the author slips in a wry opinion or two standout.

[Maranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and in depth look at cinema in the pre code era of Hollywood. A good choice for any classic film buff!

[A.J. Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book about the era after the introduction of sound and before the enforcement of the production code. Lots of fascinating American cultural history in this book.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic work of film history. Deeply researched with fascinating analyses. Includes a couple of appendices with the text of the Motion Picture Production Code and guidelines.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

good history of hollywood before and during the code .

[EuroHackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the caption of the photo chosen for the cover of this book: "In 1940 Paramount photographer Whitey Schafer staged a sinful still life entitled 'Thou Shalt Not,' a sly depiction of what the Production Code Aministration censored out of Hollywood's official publicity shots. The forbidden images include: (1) the law defeated; (2) the inside of a thigh; (3) lace lingerie; (4) a dead man; (5) narcotics; (6) drinking; (7) an exposed bosom; (8) gambling; (9) pointing a gun; and (10) a tommy gun."

A good overview of the four years between the advent of sound in cinema and the uptake of the Production Code in mainstream Hollywood (1930-34). This book explores pretty much all genres of film from this time, and includes analyses of newsreels, short subjects, and documentaries as well, against the context of the turbulence of American culture and life at the beginning of the Great Depression.

The first few chapters are incredibly dense, but once the author gets around to the films themselves, the words flow at a nice pace. I'm not sure I agree with all of his theses (especially the idea that the Code ultimately did good, considering it literally and figuratively whitewashed Hollywood, taking beloved literature along for the ride), but somehow knowing that Psycho was the final nail in the coffin was extremely edifying, LOL.

[Jim Willse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is third encounter with Prof. Doherty, who does an outstanding job viewing 20th Century history through the lens of popular culture (TV, film). His books seem by their publisher at an academic audience, but they are way more accessible than they -- lively writing, pungent observations. Hint: Stay close to YouTube/TCM etc so you can see some of the great pre-Code flix.