San Francisco Pre-Code Film Festival At The Roxie (VIDEOS)

From the Mitchell brothers to Kink.com, San Francisco has always been a little…uncensored.

So it's only fitting that a local festival celebrating pre-Code films -- those made after the introduction of sound but before the enforcement of the Hays Code censorship guidelines -- would be thoroughly celebrated.

Starting this Friday, San Francisco's Roxie Theater will present "Hollywood Before the Code: Nasty-Ass Films for a Nasty-Ass World!" -- a pre-Code film festival highlighting three themes: sex, crime and horror. (Obviously, we're in.)

(SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS)

In a fabulous write-up in the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle summed up the spirit of pre-Code film:

The term pre-Code refers to a small window of time, approximately five years, between Hollywood's widespread adoption of sound and the coming of censorship in the form of the strict Production Code, which came down like an ax on July 1, 1934. Before that, only one thing held studios back, and that was their sense of what an audience would tolerate.

Fortunately for us, audiences in the early 1930s -- coming off the social rebellion of the 1920s and in the midst of a devastating Depression -- were in the mood for sophisticated, grown-up entertainment.

The result: a collection of risk-taking films that cared more about truth in expression than appeasing the right people.

Included in the Roxie's festival are classics like George Abbott's deception-laced drama "The Cheat"; Tod Browing's cult classic "Freaks," a grippingly sincere film about physically deformed circus performers (starring actual circus performers); and the 1932 original bloodbath, "Scarface."

All bets are off with pre-Code, so expect the works: drugs, nudity, violence, torture and generally disturbing material. But unlike today's Blockbusters, pre-Code films don't make it pretty.

Visit the website for a complete list of films and showtimes, and check out a few of our favorites in our slideshow below:

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Scarface (1932)

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This blistering pre-code gangster saga towers over the rest--an unnerving portrait of a brutally evil and immoral man (patterned very loosely after Al Capone) obsessed with the power that crime and other perversions have carved out for him. Blissfully violent and sexually profane, SCARFACE sears itself onto your unsuspecting brain like few other films can. Starring Paul Muni, Ann Dovrak, Boris Karloff, Karen Morley. Directed by Howard Hawks. In B&W. 35mm Studio Archive Print. 93 mins. --The Roxie

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This blistering pre-code gangster saga towers over the rest--an unnerving portrait of a brutally evil and immoral man (patterned very loosely after Al Capone) obsessed with the power that crime and other perversions have carved out for him. Blissfully violent and sexually profane, SCARFACE sears itself onto your unsuspecting brain like few other films can. Starring Paul Muni, Ann Dovrak, Boris Karloff, Karen Morley. Directed by Howard Hawks. In B&W. 35mm Studio Archive Print. 93 mins. --The Roxie

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[Steamboater]

04:27 PM on 03/04/2012

“Otto Preminger's “The Man with the Golden Arm” was a landmark film in two ways. First, it was the first time that a Hollywood film squarely faced the problem of drugs in America. Secondly, the film established a new independence for Hollywood films from the long, stifling reign of the Hays Office and the Legion of Decency. In the course of doing that, “Man with Golden Arm” became the topic of a heated public debate.

The story of one man's fight against heroin addiction was thought to be impossible to bring to the screen because the Hays Office code outlawed even the mention of drugs in Hollywood films. The inflexible rule read: “The illegal drug traffic must not be portrayed in such a way as to stimulate controversy concerning the use of, or traffic in, such drugs; nor shall scenes be approved which show the use of illegal drugs, or their effects, in detail.” In retrospect, this rule is absurd.

The Hays Office made it clear from the start of Preminger's version of the novel that the Seal of Approval would definitely be withheld from the film. Preminger, who had previously fought the Hays Office and the Legion of Decency on “The Moon is Blue,” was not perturbed. The plan, which turned out to be a successful one, was simply to release “Man with Golden Arm” without the Seal and to see what would happen.
How should the problem of drugs be treated in a mainstream picture Realistically or Hollywood-style This was one of the big questions the film raised. Of course, “Man with Golden Arm” was a 1950s Hollywood movie, and Frank Sinatra's successful recovery in the film was necessarily guaranteed by Hollywood conventions of the time.

However, Harry J. Anslinger, commissioner of the United States Bureau of Narcotics, publicly condemned the film while it was still in production because of its planned happy ending. Anslinger claimed that this was a “100 percent Hollywood treatment.” Preminger promptly lashed back ...

After Preminger's attack on Anslinger...counterattacked, accusing Preminger of talking back only to buoy the box office...

The only concession Preminger made...was that a scene depicting the preparation of heroin for shooting up was cut by 37 seconds. This was due to the request of the New York Statute. The scene was at some later time restored to its original length.

When the Hollywood Production Code officially banned the finished film, it was joined by the MPAA. However, for the first time in the film industry's history, none of the theaters that had booked the film were afraid to ...show it. This was a turning point. ..(breakdown of) .the authoritarian Code had begun.”

http://www.emanuellevy.com/popculture/man-with-the-golden-arm-hollywood-on-drugs-7/

[Steamboater]

04:18 PM on 03/04/2012

The scene where Rita Hayworth as "Gilda" (The Flame of Buenos Aires) where she sings and does a very lame strip taking off a glove to the tune of "Put The Blame On Mame" was cut at the end of the number where men run up to her and start to unzip the back of her dress. It was put back in many years later thankfully and you can see it on TCM and on the DVD.

[Steamboater]

04:37 PM on 03/04/2012

See the cut part at the end of the number.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBILSCFMg8M&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLE66C06DFED287BD8

[Steamboater]

04:05 PM on 03/04/2012

“William Hays--president of the MPPDA - supported Lord's code, and in 1930 it became the framework for the code adopted by the motion picture industry. However, Catholics were not content with the outcome and enforcement of the code, and this contributed to the growing membership of the Legion, millions signing pledges to boycott movies that were offensive. In an attempt to work with the religious organizations, Hays named a Catholic, Joseph I. Breen , director of his Production Code Administration. After 1934 no film could be viewed in any major U.S. theaters without a seal of approval from the Production Code Administration . The Legion viewed every film made in Hollywood and released its ratings publicly, forbidding Catholics to attend any film that was condemned.

What the Legion Wanted Banned From Films
An excerpt from the "Don'ts and Be Carefuls" list:

Resolved, that those things which are included in the following list shall not appear in pictures produced by the members of this Association, irrespective of the manner in which they are treated:

1. Pointed profanity - by either title or lip - this includes the words "God", "Lord", "Jesus", "Christ" (unless they be used reverently in connection with proper religious ceremonies), "hell", "damn", "Gawd", and every other profane and vulgar expression however it may be spelled.
2. Any licentious or suggestive nudity - in fact or in silhouette; and any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture.
3. The illegal traffic in drugs.
4. Any inference of sex perversion.
5. White slavery.
Mae West in "She Done Him Wrong"
Mae West in "She Done Him Wrong"

6. Miscegenation (sex relationships between the white and black races).
7. Sex hygiene and venereal diseases.
8. Scenes of actual childbirth - in fact or in silhouette.
9. Children's sex organs.
10. Ridicule of the clergy.
11. Will offense to any nation, race, or creed.”

http://cinewiki.wikispaces.com/Catholic+Influence+on+the+Hays+Code

As Mae West said,  "Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often."

[KayoFrisco]

12:04 PM on 03/04/2012

It so fascinating watching the realism of pre-code films. It's like a little window into complex and sometimes challenging adult themes of those times. All that richness disappeared in 1934 and was replaced with stories that only only implyed vice, winking double entendres, and surgery Hollywood endings. Serious adult themes only sometimes sneaked through the censors until the MPAA rating system of 1968. Then another classic period of adult oriented films blossomed until the late '70's. Then special effects blockbusters and higher grossing PG ratings motivated producers to create less complex entertainment.

[OneVeryProudAmerican]

11:26 AM on 03/04/2012

I saw Freaks 25 years ago when I was in Jr. High. That movie alone is worth the price of admission!

[Steamboater]

03:31 PM on 03/04/2012

Freaks is running today too and all over America. Just take a look at these republicans running for president .

[OneVeryProudAmerican]

11:09 PM on 03/05/2012

Oh, I see what you did there! I think there's a story about Girl Scout cookies you can go post some snark political comment on. See if you can find it!

[romeoforever]

11:15 AM on 03/04/2012

Lots of raunchy stuff in those pre-Code pictures, some if it even by today's standards. Anything by Mae West during that period was grand. Another favorite was Dietrich's "Blonde Venus." A mother's spectacular fall from grace with a very young Cary Grant. She gets sucked into a terrible situation trying to get the money to save her dying husband. Along the way she becomes a cabaret sensation doing a spectacular strip out of a gorilla costume (!) and sinking to the depths of the lowest kind of street prostitute. She stays beautiful throughout the whole ordeal, though. :D

[Steamboater]

04:12 PM on 03/04/2012

Mae West was somethin’ else. :)

"A woman has got to love a bad man once or twice in her life to be thankful for a good one. "

"Don't let a man put anything over on ya 'cept an umbrella."

"Don't marry a man to reform him - that's what reform schools are for."

"Good sex is like good bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand."

"I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it."

"I have been on more laps than a napkin."

"I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it."

[dfh611]

01:23 AM on 03/04/2012

Even Tarzan got into it, Tarzan and His Mate had Jane, Maureen O'Sullivan, swimming nude. Made in 1934, must have been right before censors took over.

[almchrl13]

08:32 AM on 03/04/2012

Mae West was the final straw for the Hays Office. Ooooooooo.

[romeoforever]

11:05 AM on 03/04/2012

Young woman to West's character, "Goodness, what beautiful diamonds." "Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie." West was priceless.

[skantea]

11:50 PM on 03/03/2012

So many more interesting movies than just the same ones they always show. Break out of the rut and show how adult things could actually get back then. Babs Stanwyck alone could shock a modern audience with just three films, 'Night Nurse', 'Baby Face' and 'Ladies they Talk About' (the first women in prison film - and yes, they go there).

[javajava]

09:50 PM on 03/03/2012

I saw THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE on TCM about a month or so ago. That flick was bomb.

[bielymedved]

06:38 PM on 03/03/2012

Dovrak? Try Dvorak

[jackjmass]

01:20 AM on 03/04/2012

Ann Dvorak pronounced her last name Vorshack. What a dame. Try taking your eyes offf her in Three On A Match, even though Davis and Blondell shared the screen with her. She worked hard, she worked long, and she never made a bad film, even if the film she was in was bad. She personified the tough talkin' thirties. She had a killer look, And a killer figure. And she damn well knew how to wear those figure-fitting frocks. When she spoke, you listened. And you trusted her. She was a moll. She was a good kid. She could sing and dance with the best of them. She could be up to no good. And full of high jinks. She never uttered a false note. She could break your heart and melt it at the same time. I'm glad I got to "know" her, if only in those long-ago movie palaces or on the Late, Late Show on TV. George Cukor directed her in the all but forgotten A Life Of Her Own. And she stood her ground against none other than Lana Turner. One of her last films, before she gave up the Hollywood ghost and retired to Hawaii, was I Was An American Spy from 1951. What a clunker by today's standards, and probably by the standards of the day. But I was all of 12 and all I know is that she sure made me proud to be an American..

[almchrl13]

08:31 AM on 03/04/2012

And I bet she was a wonderful mother to you.