Ed here: that fine site Cinema Retro covers the release of the four movies pictured above.
I've recently watched both Skyscraper Souls and Employees Entrance and the overt sexuality
of them is stunning. Employees Entrance gets away with Warren playing and anti-hero and Loretta being a woman who has been around. And around. The biting take on big business coupled with
sexual themes demonstrate what Hwood could have done without the Code turning most films timid.
Order from Amazon.
Cinema Retro:
The Warner Archive has released four more pre-code gems as their latest entry in their FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD series (Volume 7). These films are deliciously delightful to view. When this series was started by M-G-M/UA video in the 1990s, I collected them on laser disc. When they went out-of-print I paid some premium prices to get used copies. I was thrilled when Warner Home Video started releasing them and now that Warner Archive has continued to do so, I’m happy to know that these otherwise neglected films will continue to be available through the burn-to-order market. This being Volume 7, one can see that there is a market for this genre, and I look forward to further entries in this valuable series. The bulk of the films released thus far under the FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD series have been from the WARNER BROS. & FIRST NATIONAL STUDIOS and nobody did pre-code films any better. Cagney, Robinson, Blondell, et. al. sizzled in these gritty, ripped-from-the-headlines films. There are the occasional entries from M-G-M that came close, but pre-code was WARNER BROS./FIRST NATIONAL’S stock in trade. The films in this volume are wonderful examples.
3 comments:
Ed, until you started posting these oldies I hadn't realized there was such racy stuff before the code was enacted. Now I know why my dad was so infatuated with Hedy Lamarr, whom he saw evidently baring all in a movie that must have been pre-code. I don't recall the name of the film, but it must have been a scorcher.
The notorious Hedy Lamarr movie was Ecstasy, but it wasn't made by a Hollywood studio. It was made in Czechoslovakia in 1933.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr
At last! Thanks, Peter.
Post a Comment