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Building a pre-Code video collection

Jennifer Tang
Hostos Community College Library, New York, New York, USA
Abstract Purpose This paper aims to focus on a group of lms that were made during a little-known period of Hollywood lmmaking known as the preCode era. It seeks to provide an overview, historical background, and a general discussion about censorship and the cinema. Design/methodology/approach This research examines key actors, directors, and lms that exemplify the characteristics of pre-Code. The criteria for inclusion set by this study take into account not only their subject matter, but their availability on home video. Findings This comprehensive bibliography includes information on some of the actors who appeared in these lms as well as summaries of select lms. Commercial web sites that distribute and sell pre-Code lms are also presented. Key actors, directors, lms, and companies that were involved in the production of pre-Code lms are identied and discussed. General reference works about lm are highlighted as well as web sites, blogs, and other online resources that provide reviews and detailed discussions of pre-Code Hollywood lms. Originality/value The article offers guidelines for building a pre-Code video collection and discusses why its subject matter is of interest to academia, especially in regard to womens and ethnic studies courses. Keywords Modern history, Regulation, Film, Special libraries, Cinema Paper type Literature review

Introduction: the rise of pre-Code Hollywood


The Great Depression of the 1930s gave birth to a littleknown era of Hollywood lmmaking that deed the censorship restrictions of the day. Though the Hays Code (named after censorship maven William H. Hays) had existed since the early 1920s as a prohibitory list of donts and be carefuls, it was routinely ignored by Hollywood during the late 1920s to early 1930s. Film historians dene the preCode era as beginning in March 1930 and ending in July 1934, when strict enforcement of the Code began. These years encompass the end of the silent era and the early talkies, when movies were transformed by sound. Film historians agree that pre-Code lms are valuable historical documents that capture the avor and morality of American life between the end of the Roaring Twenties and the worst years of Depression. In the 1990s, thanks to lm critics such as Leonard Maltin, the popularity of cable channels such as Turner Classic Movies, and the success of repertory lm festivals highlighting forgotten 1930s lms, preCode lms have been rediscovered and lauded for their mature treatment of controversial themes. Debunking the myth that Hollywood lms before the 1960s were sanitized, highly idealized versions of American life, pre-Code lms are notable for their casual and offhanded treatment of extramarital sex, adultery, prostitution, interracial liaisons, and same-sex relationships. For example, the rst lesbian relationship and gay bar depicted on lm was during the preCode era. Some lms even tackle issues that few lms would dare even look at today.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0160-4953.htm

Dening characteristics of pre-Code cinema What are some of the dening characteristics of pre-Code lms? The characters depicted in these lms often reect the disillusionment of American society in the grip of economic malaise: crooked businessmen, prostitutes, corrupt politicians, and unwed mothers. In a more positive vein, sexually liberated women were often depicted as having the resilience to challenge a patriarchal society. Pre-Code lms are characterized by their fast pace, short running times, and stark black and white images. Words like damn, hell, sex, and nuts are openly voiced, and while frontal nudity was rare, revealing outts and underwear were often shown. Made with small budgets and big stars, these lms challenged their audiences while seeking to maximize the bottom line for the studios, which were losing theaters (and audiences) during the Depression. In their drive to appeal to a mass audience, pre-Code lms were notable for the way in which women, minorities and gays were often portrayed fairly and non-judgmentally. The atmosphere of permissiveness offered by these lms, however, stoked the ire of religious groups. In May 1934, the Catholic Legion of Decency mobilized a successful boycott against Hollywood that forced the studios to install Joseph Breen, a conservative Catholic, as head of the newly dominant Production Code. Beginning in July 1934, the Production Code decreed that no lm could be released without its approval. Among some of the more notorious restrictions instituted by the Code was the rule stipulating that even married couples could not be shown sharing a bed only twin beds were allowed. The Code prevailed for decades until the 1960s, when the MPAA instituted its own age-based rating system that is still in place today.
Received: September 2008 Reviewed: December 2008 Accepted: January 2009

Collection Building 28/2 (2009) 68 74 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0160-4953] [DOI 10.1108/01604950910953116]

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Building a pre-Code video collection


Building or expanding an existing world cinema collection can span both scholarly and entertainment purposes. Scholarship can involve the study of pre-Code lms within the broader context of the Hollywood lm industry in terms of its history as well as within a general historical cinema context. The collection can also be viewed as representative of cultural and social history. In an atmosphere relatively free of censorship, pre-Code lms provide a candid look at how the US population viewed women, minorities, and gays during the early twentieth century. In addition, these lms can be studied for their production values and as products of the now-antiquated Hollywood studio system, which lasted until the entry of television into American households. Analysis of these lms in terms of screenwriting, lming, production, and distribution methods can also achieve the goal of scholarship. A focus on pre-Code cinema and its resources will broaden the existing collection of any academic or large public library. My discussion will provide guidelines on building a pre-Code cinema collection from available resources. Methodology This research examines key actors, directors, and lms that exemplify the characteristics of pre-Code. The criteria for inclusion set by this study took into account not only their subject matter, but their availability on home video. Unfortunately, a number of important pre-Code lms are available only on cable, and I have not listed them. The bibliography also highlights pre-Code lms that were nominated or received Academy Awards. In addition, the article provides a comprehensive bibliography of general reference works on lm, books focusing specically on pre code and related historical material. I have included both print and online resources. Within the framework of the era, I have also identied various genres and discuss the history and evolution of each genre alongside key lms, actors, directors, and production companies. Parameters The focus will be lms produced by Hollywood, USA. Regional format lms are restricted to VHS and DVD formats. Most DVDs are NTSC format, with a few being considered All Region DVDs that include NTSC and PAL formats. Although some titles are listed as OOP (out of print) or available only on VHS at the time of this writing, new titles are periodically released by the recommended distributors, and it is advised that readers check the status availability periodically.

realizing the errors of her way by nding love, usually with a much poorer man, but sometimes with the man who was keeping her. In Possessed (1931), Joan Crawford plays a small town girl who becomes the mistress of wealthy politician Clark Gable. In Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise (1931), Greta Garbo becomes a kept woman after a series of broken love affairs. Working-class Jean Harlow tries to seduce her boss in the comedy Red-Headed Woman (1932). In the audacious Baby Face (1933), Barbara Stanwyck plays a poor woman who sleeps her way up the corporate ladder. The sexually liberated and independent woman Alongside the fallen woman theme, pre-Codes explored the idea of sexual liberation and the consequences of challenging the double standard. Pre-Code heroines often questioned traditional gender roles and upended them. Female (1933) cast Ruth Chatterton as the sexually voracious female CEO of a car company who seduces her male employees as a matter of course. In Kept Husbands (1931), Joel McCrea coped with being nancially dependent on his hardworking wife. Norma Shearer played a free spirit who has a lusty affair with her lawyer fathers client, a notorious gangster, in A Free Soul (1931). In The Divorcee (1930), Shearer won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a bed-hopping socialite who takes revenge on her cheating husband by sleeping with as many men as possible. The tagline for the lm read: If the husband cheats, why not the wife? and advocated a single standard for both sexes. This highly successful lm typecast Shearer as a classy lady who was also promiscuous, a prototype that appeared again in Strangers May Kiss (1932) and Riptide (1934). The latter was one of the last pre-Codes that promoted a benign view of adultery Shearer played a lonely wife who cheats on her neglectful and absent husband and then reconciles with him. The lives of a prostitute How a woman coped with living on the streets and how this affected their relationships with men was the theme of a number of pre-Codes. Centering a lm on the life of a prostitute would be considered controversial even today. In Greta Garbos rst talking lm, Anna Christie (1930), based on a Eugene ONeill play, cast her as a world-weary prostitute who fears revealing her past to her father and new beau. Joan Crawford played a prostitute who is reformed and then raped by a hypocritical evangelist in Rain (1932) and Jean Harlow played a fun-loving Saigon prostitute in Red Dust (1932). In Waterloo Bridge (1931), Mae Clark tried to hide her streetwalker lifestyle from an unsuspecting boyfriend. In each of these lms, the women were all portrayed as hardbitten but ultimately sympathetic. The criminal element Audiences, disillusioned by the breakdown of social order, responded to lms that depicted criminals in a more sympathetic light, with cops often represented as the cold guardians of the Establishment. Pre-Code gangster lms tended to be more frank in their depiction of violence and often humanized gangsters by emphasizing their vulnerabilities. In Little Caesar (1931), Edward G. Robinsons villainous gangster is depicted as a victim as well as a victimizer. The Public Enemy (1931) is lled with violence, both domestic and criminal its most famous scene features James Cagney shoving a grapefruit into Mae Clarkes 69

Genres within pre-Code lm


In order to develop a pre-Code lm collection, it is helpful to dene genres within the pre-Code era. Genres such as the gangster, comedy, musical, romance, and horror lm may be helpful. There are many lms, however, that cross genres. The kept woman/good girl turned prostitute A popular pre-Code story, reecting the social upheaval caused by the Great Depression, was that of a woman who is driven by economic circumstances to become a prostitute or kept woman. Usually these lms ended with the woman

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face. Scarface (1932) features Paul Muni as a Maoso whose acts of violence are contrasted with his possessive and incestuous feelings for his sister. Crooked businessmen If criminals were seen as rebels against a system that had failed them, pre-Codes were unsparing toward what it perceived as the real villains of the Great Depression: businessmen. William Warren made a career playing various archetypes of the predatory boss who took advantage of unsuspecting and virginal employees who had no choice but to respond to his advances. He was the unscrupulous, ruthless head of a Macys-like department store who seduced unemployed working girl Loretta Young in Employees Entrance (1933), controlled employees lives in Skyscraper Souls (1932), and had his way with the beauty in Beauty and the Boss (1931). Made during a time when women generally didnt work, these lms implied that women had power in the boardroom only by means of having power in the bedroom, as reected in titles such as Big Business Girl and Behind Ofce Doors (both 1931). Alcohol and drug addiction Substance abuse under the Production Code had to be portrayed subtly, but pre-Code lms portrayed drug users openly and realistically. In Three on a Match (1932), Ann Dvorak plays a wealthy wife who abandons her family and becomes a cocaine addict. In Heroes for Sale (1933), Richard Barthelmess plays a First World War veteran struggling with many hardships, including drug addiction. Horror and fantasy pre-Codes Pre-Code horror lms tended to be violent, gory and emphasized lurid content. In the original King Kong (1933), Kong chomps on an unlucky New Yorker, strips off Fay Wrays top and smells her, and throws a sleeping woman from her high-rise apartment to her death. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1932) emphasized Jekylls sexual repression and featured a seduction scene involving a half-naked barmaid. Perhaps the most shocking pre-Code horror lm to disturb audiences was Freaks (1933), a gruesome tale that featured real-life sideshow carnival freaks. The two leads of Tarzan and His Mate (1934) got to swim au naturale a totally nude Jane swam alongside the scantily clad Tarzan. Naughty musicals With the advent of the talkies, Hollywood began churning out musicals. Before the Code, however, musicals tended to be on the risque side, with shots encouraging lmgoers to ogle scantily clad chorines that were more reminiscent of the Folies Bergere than family-friendly Broadway fare. Scantily clad Ginger Rogers danced in Gold Diggers of 1933 wearing almost nothing except gold coins. Busby Berkeley choreographed racy pre-Code production numbers that featured nearly naked chorus girls in Forty-Second Street and Footlight Parade. Compassionate portrayals of minorities and gays The hardships of the Depression cut across racial and ethnic lines, and pre-Code lms often adopted a cosmopolitan acceptance of different races. Blacks, gays, and other marginalized groups were often portrayed in a more compassionate light, unlike the harsher stereotypes that prevailed after the Code was enforced. Hallelujah! (1929) was 70

one of the rst lms with an all-black cast and presented a generally benign view of the lives of African-Americans. In The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1931), Barbara Stanwyck has sexual fantasies about her captor, a Chinese warlord. In She Done Him Wrong (1931), Mae West treated her black maid as an equal. In regard to gays, Millie (1931) was one of the rst mainstream Hollywood lms to depict a lesbian relationship, and Marlene Dietrich not only wore a mans tuxedo in Morocco (1930) but accepted a rose and a mouth-to-mouth kiss from a young lady one of the earliest (if not the rst) female-to-female kisses. Greta Garbo alluded to her real-life bisexuality in Queen Christina (1931) and spent half the lm masquerading as a man. Availability of pre-Code lms The availability and low-cost of many pre-Code lms make it easy for libraries to build a solid collection. Most pre-Code DVDs can be purchased from distributors such as Baker & Taylor for $15 to 30, while rarer, out-of-print VHS titles tend to cost between $25 and $99. To nd these, check Amazon, Kino International and other distributors specializing in more obscure, older titles. Special collections of these titles do exist in the 1990s, lm historian Leonard Maltin hosted introductions to a series of pre-Code classics released as the Forbidden Hollywood VHS collection. Last year, Turner Classic Movies also introduced its own Forbidden Hollywood DVD collection, duplicating many of the VHS Maltin collection. Unfortunately, a number of pre-Codes are available only on the VHS format. Hopefully, with increased consumer interest, more lms will be either introduced or rereleased on the DVD format. One caveat to a collector of pre-Code lms, however, is that some lms were heavily re-edited for television or for rerelease after the Code was enforced. Films such as Mata Hari (1931) only exist in their re-edited versions, with one preCode classic, Convention City, nonextant because the only negative was destroyed. Fortunately many pre-Code lms remain intact and some were restored exclusively for video. The most spectacular pre-Code restoration took place in 1993, with MCA-Universals transfer to video of Cecil B. DeMilles own nitrate print of The Sign of the Cross. Others recently restored include Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1932) and King Kong (1933). Many lms awaiting restoration still lie within studio vaults until there is sufcient consumer interest to justify the expense of rights clearance, restoration, transfer, and marketing.

Conclusion
This research has focused on the inclusion of pre-Code lms and resources in an academic or large public library special collection. Discussion of the history and characteristics of preCode lm have been highlighted. Key lms, actors, and directors as well as major studios have been discussed in relation to the genres that exist within pre-Code cinema. Suggested titles in the core collections include Academy Award winners and nominees, as well as key lms that exhibit elements particular to each genre. The suggested reference resources have been sorted into two categories, general and specic to the topic. Web sites listed encompass both general and review sources as well as commercial web sites that sell pre-Code lms. These titles can be used to support academic programs in American history

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(between the wars), womens studies, black history, and gay and lesbian studies. As artifacts of popular culture, these lms can be used to generate classroom discussions and foster critical thinking about how these groups were portrayed during a time of great economic and social upheaval. For example, black studies courses can examine how AfricanAmericans were depicted before and after the code, using the pre-Code Hallelujah! (1929) versus a post-Code lm like Cabin in the Sky (1943). Long before feminism and the sexual revolution, the comedic lm, Female (1933) entertained the possibility of having a woman CEO lead an all-male car company while exercising her sexual freedoms. I believe any academic or special collection in an academic or public library would benet from the inclusion of pre-Code lm in the aforementioned disciplines. A list of pre-Code lms currently available on video can be found in Appendix 1.

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Appendix 1: Bibliography of pre-Code lms


1929 . Alibi; . Applause; . The Broadway Melody; . The Cocoanuts; . Glorifying the American Girl; . Hallelujah!b; . The Love Parade; . Our Modern Maidensa. 1930 . All Quiet on the Western Frontb; . Animal Crackers; . Anna Christie; . The Divorcee; . Hells Angels; . Madame Satana; . Morocco; . Party Girl; . Romancea; . Sin Takes a Holiday; . Unholy Three; . Whoopee!a. 1931 . Behind Ofce Doors; . Big Business Girla; . Big Houseb; . Blonde Crazya; . Dance, Fools, Dancea; . Dishonored; . Dr Jekyll and Mr Hydeb; . Dracula; . The Guardsmana; . Frankenstein; . A Free Soulb; . Illicita; . Inspirationa; . Kept Husbands; . Lady Killer; . Laughing Sinnersa; . Little Caesar; 71

The Maltese Falcon; Manhattan Tower; Mata Hari; Millie; Night Life in Reno; Night Nurse; Parlour, Bedroom and Bath; Penalty; Platinum Blonde; Possessed; Private Livesa; The Public Enemy; The Royal Bed; Satan Met a Lady; Sin of Madelon Claudet; Smart Money; The Smiling Lieutenant; Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise)a; Waterloo Bridge.

1932 . American Madness; . Animal Kingdom, The; . A Farewell to Arms; . As You Desire Mea; . Beauty and the Bossa; . Bill of Divorcement, A; . Bird of Paradise; . Blessed Eventa; . Blonde Venus; . Cabin in the Cotton; . Doctor X; . Freaks; . Grand Hotel; . Horse Feathers; . Indiscreet; . I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang; . Lady Refuses, The; . Love Me Tonight; . Mask of Fu Manchu; . One Hour with You; . Purchase Price, Thea; . Rain; . Red Dusta; . Red-Headed Woman; . Scarface; . Scarlet Dawna; . Shanghai Express; . The Sign of the Cross; . Skyscraper Soulsa; . Smilin Througha; . Strange Interludea; . Strange Love of Molly Douvaina; . Tarzan the Ape Man; . They Call It Sina; . Three on a Match; . Trouble in Paradise. 1933 . 42nd Street; . Ann Vickersa; . Baby Face;

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Bitter Tea of General Yen; Bombshella; Cavalcadea; Christopher Stronga; Counsellor at Law; Dancing Lady; Design for Living; Dinner at Eight; Duck Soup; The Emperor Jones; Employees Entrancea; Female; Flying Down to Rio; Footlight Parade; Gabriel Over the White Housea; Gold Diggers of 1933; Heroes for Salea; Hold Your Mana; Hunchback of Notre Dame; Im No Angel; Island of Lost Souls; King Kong; Ladies They Talk Abouta; The Mayor of Hell; Murders in the Zooa; Mystery of the Wax Museum; Queen Christina; Roman Scandalsa; She Done Him Wrong.

General lm reference . (The) American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, 1931-1940, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1993. . Bordwell, D., Staiger, J. and Thompson, K. (1988), The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production, Routledge, London. . Crafton, D. (1997), The Talkies: American Cinemas Transition to Sound, 1926-1931, Scribners, New York, NY. . Cripps, T. (1997), Hollywoods High Noon: Moviemaking and Society before Television, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. . Finler, J. (1988), The Hollywood Story, Crown Publishers, New York, NY. . Nash, J.R. and Ross, S.R. (1987), The Motion Picture Guide, 1927-1983, Cinebooks, Chicago, IL. . New York Times (1970), New York Times Film Reviews: 1913-1968, 6 vols, New York Times and Arno Press, New York, NY. . Shipman, D. (1970), The Great Movie Stars, Bonanza Books, New York, NY, 1970. . Sklar, R. (1975), Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies, Random House, New York, NY. . Terkel, S. (1970), Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, New Press, New York, NY. . Vasey, R. (1997), The World According to Hollywood, 1918-1939, University of Exeter Press, Exeter. Books on pre-Code lm . Bernstein, M. (Ed.) (1999), Controlling Hollywood: Censorship and Regulation in the Studio Era, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ. . Black, G.D. (1994), Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. . Doherty, T. (1999), Pre-Code Hollywood, Sex, Immorality and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934, Columbia University Press, New York, NY. . Ernest, M.L. and Lorentz, P. (1930), Censored: The Private Life of the Movie, Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, New York, NY. . Facey, P.W. (1974), The Legion of Decency: A Sociological Analysis of the Emergence and Development of a Social Pressure Group, Arno Press, New York, NY. . Francis G. (Ed.), Movie Censorship and American Culture, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. . Gardner, G. (1987), The Censorship Papers: Movie Censorship Letters from the Hays Ofce, 1934 to 1968, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, NY. . Hays, W.H. (1955), The Memoirs of Will H. Hays, Doubleday and Company, Garden City, NY. . Jacobs, L. (1991), The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film, 1928-1942, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI. . LaSalle, M. (2000), Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood, St Martins Press, New York, NY. . LaSalle, M. (2002), Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man, St Martins Press, New York, NY. . Leff, L.J. and Simmons, J. (1990), The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship, and the Production Code 72

1934 . Belle of the Nineties; . The Cat and the Fiddle; . Cleopatra; . Dames; . The Gay Divorcee; . Going Hollywood; . Hollywood Partya; . Ive Got Your Numbera; . It Happened One Night; . Manhattan Melodrama; . The Merry Widow; . Murder at the Vanitiesa; . Of Human Bondageb; . Riptidea; . The Scarlet Empress; . Sensation Hunters; . Tarzan and His Mate; . Viva Villa!a; . Wonder bara. Available only on VHS. awarded lms.
a b

Academy Award nominated/

Appendix 2: Reference works on pre-Code lm


The following resources provide information on the Hollywood lm industry as well as individual actors/ actresses and lms. Sources included provide reviews of select pre-Code lms. This list is selective, not exhaustive, and provides the best resources in the opinion of the researcher.

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from the 1920s to the 1960s, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London. Lewis, J. (2000), Hollywood v. Hard Core: How the Struggle Over Censorship Saved the Modern Film Industry, New York University Press, New York, NY. Miller, F. (1994), Censored Hollywood: Sex, Sin & Violence on Screen, Turner Publishing, Atlanta, GA. Moley, R. (1945), The Hays Ofce, Bobbs-Merrill, New York, NY. Quigley, M. (1937), Decency in Motion Pictures, MacMillan, New York, NY. Viera, M.A. (1999), Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood, Abrams, New York, NY Vizzard, J. (1970), See No Evil: Life Inside a Hollywood Censor, Simon and Schuster, New York, NY. Walsh, F. (1996), Sin and Censorship: The Catholic Church and the Motion Picture Industry, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

Articles on pre-Code lm . Black, G.D. (1989), Hollywood censored: the Production Code Administration and the Hollywood lm industry, 1930-1940, Film History Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 167-89. . Curry, R. (1991), Mae West as censored commodity: the case of Klondike Annie, Cinema Journal, Vol. 31, Fall, p. 1. . Doherty, T. (1999), This is where we came in: the audible screen and the voluble audience of early sound cinema, in Stokes, M. and Maltby, R. (Eds), American Movie Audiences From the Turn of the Century to the Early Sound Era, British Film Institute, London, pp. 143-63. . Hall, G. (1931), Norma Shearer tells what a free soul really means, Motion Picture, Vol. 12 No. 11, November, pp. 48-9, 96. . Jacobs, L. (1988), The censorship of Blonde Venus: textual analysis and historical method, Cinema Journal, Vol. 27 Spring, p. 3. . LaSalle, M. (1997), The golden age of sex, violence, and perversity, San Francisco Chronicle, May 11. . Leff, L.J. (1995), A Farewell to Arms: unmaking the 1932 version, Film Comment, Vol. 31 No. 1, January/February, pp. 70-3. . Lugowski, D.M. (1999), Queering the (new) deal: lesbian and gay representation and the Depression-era cultural politics of Hollywoods Production Code, Cinema Journal, Vol. 38 No. 2, Winter, pp. 3-35. . Lumenick, L. (2006), Cracking the code, New York Post, December 1, available at: www.nypost.com/seven/ 12012006/entertainment/movies/ cracking_the_code_movies_lou_lumenick.htm . Maltby, R. (1986), Baby Face or how Joe Breen made Barbara Stanwyck atone for causing the Wall Street Crash, Screen, Vol. 27 No. 2, March/April, pp. 22-45. . Maltby, R. (1993), The Production Code and the Hays Ofce, in Tino Balio (Ed.), Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939, Scribners, New York, NY. . Maltby, R. (1995), The genesis of the Production Code, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Vol. 15 No. 4, March, pp. 5-57. . Maltby, R. (2008), More sinned against than sinning: the fabrications of pre-code cinema, Senses of Cinema, 73

March 29, available at: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/ contents/03/29/pre_code_cinema.html Maltby, R. and Jacobs, L. (1995), Rethinking the Production Code, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Vol. 15 No. 4. Mayer, G. (2000), A parallel universe? Hollywood in the pre-code era (review of Thomas Dohertys Pre-Code Hollywood), Screening the Past, Vol. 9, March. Morris, G. (1996), Public enemy: Warner Bros. in the pre-code era, Bright Lights Film Journal, Vol. 17, September. Ross, S.J. (2000), The seen, the unseen, and the obscene: pre-code Hollywood, Reviews in American History, Vol. 28 No. 2, June, pp. 270-7. Schallert, E. (1934), Film producers shaken by clean-up campaign, Los Angeles Times, June 10. Staneld, P. (2002), An excursion into the lower depths: Hollywood, urban primitivism, and St Louis Blues, 19291937, Cinema Journal, Vol. 41 No. 2, Winter, pp. 84-108 Turan, K. (2003), Pre-code lms: sex and lies but no videotape, Los Angeles Times, May 17, available at: http:// articles.latimes.com/2003/may/17/entertainment/etturan17

General web sites on pre-Code cinema Numerous web resources devoted to pre-Code reviewing and collecting have appeared in recent years. Web sites include biographical information on lms, directors, and actors. The Internet Movie Database is among the best for reviews, information specic to individual lms, and lmographies of select stars. Many sites exist on individual stars and production companies. General lm web sites: . Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/); . eFilmcritic.com (www.eFilmcritic.com); . Film Fax (www.lmfax.com); and . Film Reference (www.lmreference.com). Web sites on pre-Code . Filmreference.com (http://www.lmreference.com/ encyclopedia/Criticism-Ideology/Great-Depression-THEMOVIES-OF-PRE-CODE-HOLLYWOOD.html); . GreenCine page (www.greencine.com/static/primers/ precode.jsp); . Harvard Film Archive (http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/lms/ 2008janfeb/precode.html); . Montalvo Arts Center (http://montalvoarts.org/programs/ pre_code_lms/); . Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 (http://www. artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html); . Turner Classic Movies Forbidden Hollywood introduction (www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/ ?cid 194094); . UCLA Film and Television Archive Prole of Pre-Code Films (www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/Proles/ pre.html); . University of California-Berkeley Media Resources Center (www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/precode.html); . Wikipedia entry on Pre-Code (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Pre-Code); and . Wikipedia Entry on the US Motion Picture Production Code (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_Code).

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Blogs on pre-Code lm . http://randomshelf.blogspot.com/2008/03/pre-codehollywood-on-tcm.html; . Alternative Film blog (http://www.altfg.com/blog/ category/pre-code-hollywood/); . Flickr: Pre-Code Hollywood (www.ickr.com/groups/ 766357@N22/); . Lauries Classic Movie Blog (http://classiclm.about.com/ b/2008/02/26/tcm-investigates-pre-code-hollywood.htm); . MySpace Pre-Code entry (http://prole.myspace.com/ index.cfm?fuseaction user.viewprole&friendID 110295362); and . Pre-Code: Hollywoods Era of Raw and Racy Movies (http://hubpages.com/hub/Pre-CodeHollywoods-Era-ofRaw-and-Racy-Movies). Reviews of books on pre-Code lms . New York Magazines review of TMCs Forbidden Hollywood Collection (http://nymag.com/daily/ entertainment/2008/03/american_movies_are_lthy_and. html); . Salon.com review of Pre-Code Hollywood by Thomas Doherty (www.salon.com/books/review/1999/10/21/ doherty_vieira/); and . New York Times review of Pre-Code Hollywood by Thomas Doherty (http://times.com/books/rst/d/dohertyhollywood.html).

Educator guides . Film censorship some notes (www.talkingpix.co.uk/ ArticleCensorship.html).

Appendix 3: Distributors of pre-Code lms


This selective list of commercial websites provides information about pre-Code lms. Some are searchable databases that include bibliographic information pertaining to each lm. Kino International and Movies Unlimited are among the best for comprehensive information on lms. Libraries may want to consider using eBay as a nontraditional source for locating rare, out of print, or hard to nd copies of movies on VHS and DVD: . Amazon.com (www.amazon.com); . Baker and Taylor (www.bakerandtaylor.com); . Classic Flix (www.classicix.com/); . DeepDiscountDVD (www.deepdiscountDVD.com); . e-Bay (www.ebay.com); . Facets (www.facets.org); . Films for the Humanities and Sciences (www.lms.org); . Kino International (www.kino.com); and . MoviesUnlimited (www.moviesunlimited.com).

Corresponding author
Jennifer Tang can be contacted at: jtang@hostos.cuny.edu

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