It's classic Hollywood -- uncensored. Filled with rare images and
untold stories from producers, censors, stars, exhibitors, and the
movie-going public, Forbidden Hollywood is the ultimate guide to a
gloriously entertaining and strikingly modern time in early
American films: the Pre-Code era. "Pre-Code" -- a catchy misnomer
for the days before a strict code of censorship purified the
content of Hollywood films -- encompasses movies made from 1930
through 1934, when Hollywood censors were lax or absent. But there
was already a Production Code in place, the result of a
collaboration between Catholic bishops, Protestant politicians, and
Jewish-American film producers with the aim of preventing federal
censorship. The Code prohibited violent, vulgar, or sexual content
in films. It was well intentioned, but no one abided by it,
especially after the Great Depression began to keep filmgoers away
from theaters. The easiest way to lure them back was with sex and
violence. For the next four years -- before a grassroots movement
caused the Code to be fully instated -- sinful cinema ruled the
screen. Forbidden Hollywood is a history of Pre-Code like none
other because it tells the story of the era by taking the reader
there. Through the text you will eavesdrop on conferences between
producers and writers, read nervous telegrams from executives to
censors, and listen to conversations between censors and directors,
where artistic decisions meant shifts in power -- and money -- when
one third of a nation was desperate. You will see how these
decisions were so artfully wrought as to fool some of the people
just long enough to get films into theaters. You will read what
theater managers thought of such craftiness. You will read letters
from a variety of fans as they, depending on community standards,
applauded creativity or condemned crassness. The book spotlights
twenty-three films which author and film historian Mark A. Vieira
identifies as the definitive list of movies that brought on strict
enforcement of the Code in 1934, including a loincloth-clad Johnny
Weissmuller in Tarzan and His Mate; Barbara Stanwyck climbing the
corporate ladder on her own terms in Baby Face; a group of misfits
out for revenge in Freaks; and Paul Muni leading the crime world in
the original Scarface. More than 200 newly restored (and some
never-before-published) photographs throughout illustrate pivotal
moments in the careers of such stars as Clark Gable, Greta Garbo,
Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Norma Shearer, Marlene
Dietrich, and Jean Harlow, completing a definitive portrait of an
unforgettable era in filmmaking.
General
Imprint: |
Running Press Adult
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
April 2019 |
Authors: |
Mark Vieira
|
Dimensions: |
256 x 206 x 32mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
256 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-7624-6677-1 |
Categories: |
Books >
Arts & Architecture >
Performing arts >
Films, cinema >
General
|
LSN: |
0-7624-6677-4 |
Barcode: |
9780762466771 |
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