Looking Back at Hollywood’s Pre-Code Era

Over at The Toast, Mallory Ortberg takes
a tour through Hollywood’s pre-Code era, recommending movies
left and right—some of them because they’re good, some of them
because they’re weird and interesting even if they aren’t exactly
“good” in any normal aesthetic sense. To give you the flavor,
here’s her list of “Less Well-Known Remakes”:

The Letter, 1929—SLUTTIER
THAN THE BETTE DAVIS REMAKE.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1931—SLUTTIER
THAN THE SPENCER TRACY REMAKE.

Mädchen in Uniform, 1931—LESBIANER THAN
THE 1970S REMAKE.

The Maltese Falcon, 1931—GAYER AND
SLUTTIER THAN THE HUMPHREY BOGART REMAKE (Obviously not as
good, though. I mean, it doesn’t ask us to believe that
Mary Astor is a femme fatale who has had sex, so that gives it a
leg up on the John Huston version, but still. Only worth watching
as a comparison to the classic. And I don’t think being as overt
about sexual matters makes much of a difference—it’s still
incredibly clear that Bogart and Astor bone, that Joel
Cairo is super-mega gay, and that Gutman is giving it to poor
Wilmer in the 1941 remake.)

The Broadway Melody, 1929—Really, really
bad production values, but a lot of fun if you’re a Singin’ in
the Rain completist and want to hear the full version of “The
Wedding of the Painted Doll.”

The pre-Code era came to an end for a few reasons, the most
underappreciated of which is the threat of federal censorship.
Thomas Doherty described that process in this
classic Reason article (and I’ve touched on the topic a
time
or two
myself); it’s a still-relevant lesson in the ways busybodies can
clamp down on eccentric creativity.

For more on this chapter of Hollywood history, check out
Doherty’s book
Pre-Code Hollywood, which is a great read. And since I
was writing about the Army-McCarthy hearings
yesterday, lemme add that one of the best discussions I’ve seen
of that soap opera is in another Doherty book,
Cold War, Cool Medium. Check that one out too.

[Via
bOING bOING.]