Friday, September 27, 2019

art - commerce - propaganda




[Online "Wiki" Encyclopedia] --

     Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the brief era in the American film industry 

between 

the widespread adoption of sound in pictures in 1929 

and the 

enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known as the "Hays Code", in mid-1934.  


Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor, and it did not become rigorously enforced until July 1, 1934, with the establishment of the Production Code Administration (PCA).


...Strong female characters were ubiquitous in such pre-Code films as Female, Baby Face, and Red-Headed Woman.  Gangsters in films like The Public Enemy



Little Caesar, and Scarface were seen by many as heroic rather than evil.  Along with featuring stronger female characters, films examined female subject matters that would not be revisited until decades later in US films.  



Nefarious characters were seen to profit from their deeds, in some cases without significant repercussions, and drug use was a topic of several films.  

Many of Hollywood's biggest stars such as Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell, and Edward G. Robinson got their start in the era.





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