Wildest pre-code film you've seen?

myrnaloyisdope · Post by **myrnaloyisdope** » July 18th, 2008, 10:08 pm

So obviously a significant part of the appeal of pre-code films is their often salacious and wild subject matter.

So that begs the question, what is the wildest pre-code film you've seen?

For me it probably comes down to Wonder Bar for sheer craziness, Baby Face for brazen unapologetic sexuality, Design For Living for complete sophistication and going all out with risque material, I still have no idea how that got made. Beast of the City and Mayor of Hell both have some shockingly violent scenes, and I would be remiss to ignore how absolutely out there the first 50 minutes of Female are, I mean a woman portrayed as both a great business woman and a sexually dominant woman, that kind of character wasn't touched for another 40 years.

Oh and Night Nurse which manages to pack sex, drugs, bootleggers, drunks, child endangerment, and an evil Clark Gable into 71 minutes.

MichiganJ · Post by **MichiganJ** » July 19th, 2008, 7:19 am

Maybe not the wildest pre-code, but I’m always surprised when rewatching my favorite musical, Rouben Mamoulian’s Love Me Tonight. You’ve got the unashamedly insatiable Myrna Loy saying she likes men “and school boys”; and not one, but two long sequences featuring Jeanette MacDonald (!) in her underwear. The first, when the doctor “examines” her, Mamoulian’s camera does the examination, and then later, when Maurice Chevalier is taking her measurements to make her a new riding outfit, he very casually measures her waist, inseam and finally her chest, nodding in approval at the 34 measurement. ooooh la la, indeed....

myrnaloyisdope · Post by **myrnaloyisdope** » July 19th, 2008, 11:56 am

I have the Kino disc of that, and the extras include the script for several scenes that were cut. Most of the cuts are jokes and innuendo about Myrna's less than virginal reputation.

feaito · Post by **feaito** » July 20th, 2008, 10:08 pm

"Love Me Tonight" and "Baby Face" are high on my list. And I bet that two I haven't seen: "Blood Money" and "The Story of Temple Drake" would rate high too!

I agree with you Myrnaloyisdope in regard to the sophistication of "Design for Living" and unjustly underrated Pre-Code gem, usually unfavorably compared with its source Stage Play. Another excellent Lubitsch Precoder is "The Smiling Lieutenant" (1931)

I also think "Wonder Bar" is one of the most Pre-Code of film musicals.

"Strangers May Kiss" is very Pre-Code and risqué in its own right too. Liked it a lot. I have yet to watch "Three on A Match" (1932) of which I've read many favorable reviews.

"Night Court" is another terrific Precoder and so is "Skyscraper Souls", both from 1932.

charliechaplinfan · Post by **charliechaplinfan** » July 21st, 2008, 1:37 pm

I recently saw Night Court it was a great precode.

Design For Living is a terrific precode, very sophisticated, worth another viewing soon.

srowley75 · Post by **srowley75** » July 21st, 2008, 1:38 pm

The wildest pre-code studio film that I can remember seeing was Design for Living, which has already been mentioned. I think it probably broke every one of the code's "demands." Were it not for the fact that Tarzan and His Mate was originally released without the now-restored nude scene, I might have cited that one - though even without the nude scene, I can't name too many pre-code studio pictures that delivered audiences such sexy thrills.

If you can define "wild" as not only "salacious" but also "over the top," then Cecil B. DeMille's precoders must surely figure in there somewhere. Madam Satan and The Sign of the Cross are both pretty wild, and though I haven't yet seen This Day and Age (I hope to soon), I've heard about the gruesome climactic sequence with the rat pit, and I would venture a guess that it probably wouldn't have made it past the censors after 1934.

Though Dwain Esper's 1930s exploitation howlers weren't studio films, they probably rank as some of the most shocking films of the 1930s, given their subject matter (always dealt with under the guise of "education," of course) and the fact that they often contained nudity. Plus, many of Esper's films weren't made during the pre-code era - his most famous, Maniac, was made during the transition year of 1934, and Sex Madness was 1938.

-Stephen

feaito · Post by **feaito** » July 21st, 2008, 2:16 pm

Has anyone seen "Kongo" (1932)? Of which I've read it's pretty bizarre, disturbing and "wild".

Both "Island of Lost Souls" (1933) and "Freaks" (1932) would also fit in this category of bizarre Pre-Codes.

charliechaplinfan · Post by **charliechaplinfan** » July 21st, 2008, 4:05 pm

Freaks is the most bizarre film I have ever seen. I liked it though.

srowley75 · Post by **srowley75** » July 21st, 2008, 5:28 pm

In thinking of pre-coders, I neglected the horror genre. But yes, horror certainly gave us some of the wildest precoders. And Freaks should be right at the top. The dialogue about Wallace Ford's "problem" and Joseph/Josephine stand out to me.

Another one that I would cite would be 1932's Call Her Savage with Clara Bow. It's about as wild as a drama can get.

-Stephen

myrnaloyisdope · Post by **myrnaloyisdope** » July 21st, 2008, 10:44 pm

I was a bit disappointed by Call Her Savage. It certainly has its wild moments, but Clara Bow just doesn't do much for me.

I've read a lot about Kongo and would love to see it.

The Mask of Fu Manchu and The Black Cat are both pretty crazy.

I have copies of both Madam Satan and Sign of the Cross, but haven't gotten around to them yet.

And I did watch Esper's Maniac and it is pretty awful, but I wasn't expecting anything less.

charliechaplinfan · Post by **charliechaplinfan** » July 22nd, 2008, 8:04 am

I watched Night Nurse last night, it was very good. Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Blondell were an excellent partnership. The story had all the elements of a good precode. The ending was a little strange, afterall she still ended up with a murderer.

Clark Gable was pretty tasty as the baddie, even in jodphurs

coopsgirl · Post by **coopsgirl** » July 22nd, 2008, 8:15 am

I was pretty surprised by Design for Living too. When they make their ‘gentleman’s agreement’ near the beginning and Miriam Hopkins says ‘no sex’ I was stunned that they actually said ‘sex’. I didn’t know too much about pre-codes when I saw that one, but now that I do and have seen quite a bit more of them, I haven’t noticed them actually saying ‘sex’ in too many others.

Another one that had some ‘salacious’ language (at least for the time) is Mystery of the Wax Museum (1932) which is one of my faves. Glenda Farrell is so great in this one and in one scene she strolls into a police station and approaches one of the officers that she seems to be friends with. He’s reading a girly magazine and she casually jokes with him saying ‘how’s your sex life?’ I think my jaw dropped to the ground when she said that.

In Doctor X (which I also love) one of the scientists is caught with a girly mag too!

Many of these pre codes were edited and able to be rereleased after the code went into place which they would do from time to time since there was no home video yet. Some films though like Design for Living were not certified by the board and couldn’t be rereleased. I would guess that is why some of these films do not have as great a following as some others b/c they have simply been forgotten since they would have only had one theatrical run until being released on home video (if they have been released at all).

I love Call Her Savage, but I love all of Clara’s movies so I’m pretty biased

. I think we really get to see how well she could have done in dramas from this one. Of course, it is pretty offensive though since it intimates that her crazy behavior is b/c she is half-Indian. I like how they portrayed Gilbert Roland’s character though who is supposed to be a full blood Indian. He is the one person in the film who seems to have it all together and always remains calm and level headed in every situation; even when Clara is beating him with her horse whip!

knitwit45 · Post by **knitwit45** » July 22nd, 2008, 8:38 am

Call Her Savage is on Fox Movie Channel tomorrow, 7-23-08 at 8am Central time

traceyk · Post by **traceyk** » August 22nd, 2008, 10:54 pm

I'd like to add Red Headed Woman. Wow. Not only was Jean Harlow BAD, she didn't even suffer for it! OK, she loses her rich husband, but she goes to France and finds a nice rich old man to pay the bills and she gets to keep Charles Boyer.

Would love to see Love me Tonight and Madame Satan. DOn;t suppose they'll ever come to TCM. Sigh. MAybe I can find them on VHS or DVD somewhere.

myrnaloyisdope · Post by **myrnaloyisdope** » August 23rd, 2008, 12:15 am

Love Me Tonight is out in a great edition by Kino, Madame Satan isn't out on DVD, but isn't particularly hard to find if you know where to look.

Red-Headed Woman is a lot of fun, and the payoff with Charles Boyer is absolutely glorious.

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Wildest pre-code film you've seen?

Wildest pre-code film you've seen?