Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008)
TV-MA
TV Movie | 68 min | Documentary

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Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008)

TV-MA

TV Movie | 68 min | Documentary

Various film historians, film makers, and cultural commentators discuss the cultural, political, economic and religious reasons for what is known as the pre-code era of Hollywood movie making in the early 1930s, and those same factors ...See moreVarious film historians, film makers, and cultural commentators discuss the cultural, political, economic and religious reasons for what is known as the pre-code era of Hollywood movie making in the early 1930s, and those same factors which resulted in the drastic turn to working under the code for the twenty or so years starting in 1934. The "code" is the Hollywood Production Code of 1930 (also known as the Hays Code, so named for Will H. Hays, the first head of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America), which was developed in order for movie making in Hollywood to run smoothly in the face of increased outside censors. The code was largely ignored until 1934, when its enforcement was overseen by Joseph Breen who took over from Hays and who had a different agenda of moral purity. During those four years, pre-code Hollywood movies are characterized by their rawness and pushing the envelope of sexuality and moral ambiguity (with the depraved side often winning), which were not allowed under the code. What happened to the distribution of pre-code movies during the years that the code was enforced, the reasons for the slow breakdown of the code in the early to mid 1950s, and the reasons for renewed interest in pre-code movies later in the century are also discussed. Written by Huggo See less

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33 cast members

Name	Known for
Valerie Spencer Self - Narrator (voice) Self - Narrator (voice) See fewer	Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
John Landis Self - Interviewee Self - Interviewee See fewer	The Blues Brothers (1980)
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Rudy Behlmer Self - Interviewee Self - Interviewee See fewer	The Ray Anthony Show (1956)
Jerry Beck Self - Interviewee Self - Interviewee See fewer	The Baby Huey Show (1994)
Camille Paglia Self - Interviewee Self - Interviewee See fewer	The Watermelon Woman (1996)
Hugh Hefner Self - Interviewee Self - Interviewee See fewer	Miss March (2009)
Jack Valenti Self - Interviewee Self - Interviewee See fewer	Freakazoid! (1995)
Will H. Hays Self (archive footage) (as Will Hayes) Self (archive footage) (as Will Hayes) See fewer	The Clinging Vine (1926)
Jeffrey Vance Self - Interviewee Self - Interviewee See fewer	Safety Last! (1923)
Molly Haskell Self - Interviewee Self - Interviewee See fewer	Billy Baxter Presents Diary of the Cannes Film Festival with Rex Reed (1980)
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Norma Shearer Various Roles (archive footage) Various Roles (archive footage) See fewer	The Divorcee (1930)
Clark Gable Various Roles (archive footage) Various Roles (archive footage) See fewer	It Happened One Night (1934)
Barbara Stanwyck Various Roles (archive footage) Various Roles (archive footage) See fewer	Double Indemnity (1944)
Joan Crawford Various Roles (archive footage) Various Roles (archive footage) See fewer	What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Ann Dvorak Vivian Revere Kirkwood (archive footage) Vivian Revere Kirkwood (archive footage) See fewer	Scarface (1932)
Walter Huston Various Roles (archive footage) Various Roles (archive footage) See fewer	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Wallace Ford Detective Ed Fitzpatrick (archive footage) Detective Ed Fitzpatrick (archive footage) See fewer	Freaks (1932)
Jean Harlow Various Roles (archive footage) Various Roles (archive footage) See fewer	China Seas (1935)
Paul Muni James Allen (archive footage) James Allen (archive footage) See fewer	Scarface (1932)
Tony Maietta Self - Interviewee Self - Interviewee See fewer	Rediscovering John Gilbert (2010)
Greta Garbo Queen Christina (archive footage) Queen Christina (archive footage) See fewer	Ninotchka (1939)
Joseph Breen Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer
Joel McCrea John Neville Jr. (archive footage) John Neville Jr. (archive footage) See fewer	Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Constance Bennett Valerie West (archive footage) Valerie West (archive footage) See fewer	Topper (1937)
Miriam Hopkins Ivy Pearson (archive footage) Ivy Pearson (archive footage) See fewer	The Heiress (1949)
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Loretta Young Madeleine Walters West (archive footage) Madeleine Walters West (archive footage) See fewer	The Stranger (1946)
Warren William Various Roles (archive footage) Various Roles (archive footage) See fewer	The Wolf Man (1941)
Ruth Chatterton Alison Drake (archive footage) Alison Drake (archive footage) See fewer	Dodsworth (1936)
Mae West Tira (archive footage) Tira (archive footage) See fewer	She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Leonard Maltin Self Self See fewer	Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

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