“Complete Nudity Is Never Permitted”: The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930
Ping!
I still find it fascinating, just how many great movies were made during the “Hays Code” era as opposed to the great movies made in a similar period since the code was cast aside.
Of course, todays moves have a much stricter code to follow.
The Political Correct Code.
I thought the first kiss was from an old short film “The Kiss” from the early silent days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kiss_%281896_film%29
“The film contained the very first kiss on film, with a close-up of a nuzzling couple followed by a short peck on the lips (”the mysteries of the kiss revealed”). The kissing scene was denounced as shocking and obscene to early moviegoers and caused the Roman Catholic Church to call for censorship and moral reform - because kissing in public at the time could lead to prosecution.[1]
The film caused a scandalized uproar and occasioned disapproving newspaper editorials and calls for police action in many places where it was shown. One contemporary critic wrote: “The spectacle of the prolonged pasturing on each other’s lips was beastly enough in life size on the stage but magnified to gargantuan proportions and repeated three times over it is absolutely disgusting.” [2]
The Edison catalogue advertised it thus: “They get ready to kiss, begin to kiss, and kiss and kiss and kiss in a way that brings down the house every time.”
Perhaps in defiance and “to spice up a film”, this was followed by many kiss imitators, including The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) and The Kiss (1900).”
Section II, Paragraph 16: "All dramatic films must include at least one homosexual and portray said character as heroic, noble, and above all, normal."
Section II, Paragraph 103: "Comedic films must have one wise-cracking black person, preferably a heavy-set female who is loud and brassy. Where possible, an equally caustic black male should also be introduced, plot integrity notwithstanding."
And this (Section III, Paragraph 7:) "Christians of any denomination must be portrayed as either superstitious bumpkins, powerless hypocrites, or sexual deviants. In no instance are they to be positive characters nor is their faith to be anything but the object of ridicule."
See? Rules are still rules.
I couldn’t agree more! Hitchcock is one of my favourite directors, too.
“Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades and is often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker.[13] He came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, which said: “Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from viewers) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else.”[14][15]
Prior to 1980, there had long been talk of Hitchcock being knighted for his contribution to film, with film critic Roger Ebert writing: “Other British directors like Sir Carol Reed and Sir Charlie Chaplin were knighted years ago, while Hitchcock, universally considered by film students to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, was passed over”, before he received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980 New Year Honours.[12] In 2002, the magazine MovieMaker named Hitchcock the most influential filmmaker of all time.”
Source: Wikipedia
The final death of the Hays Code came with the murder of Bobby Kennedy and the anti-violence hysteria that followed.
TV shows dumbed down to kiddie shows.
Pulp Fiction changed to less lurid covers.
Toy Guns disappeared from the stores.
The 1968 Gun Control Act was passed.
A more effete American male became the rage.
Only the movie makers escaped as they said they would “police themselves” with a joke of a “ratings” system.
They then proceeded to turn out the most blood and guts sex filled movies they could make, reshooting scenes to add more sex and violence.
The Hays Code was dead.
Speaking of film history...today we celebrate the birthday of Charlie Chaplin.
I seem to recall some Ronald Reagan discussion of sex in movies. He said something to the effect that a shot of a “Do Not Disturb” sign on a hotel room door can make for a great movie shot because it allows the viewer to use his imagination as to what is happening.
“Practically all the Hollywood film-making of today is stooping to cheap salacious pornography in a crazy bastardization of a great art to compete for the ‘patronage’ of deviates and masturbators.”
-Frank Capra
Here is a selection of the wonderful soundtrack:
Personally I love pre code films they were best in genre in Hollyweird I got majority of TCM Pre code films from Warner and MGM