Perhaps one of the most interesting
periods in film history is the Pre-code era. Pre-code Hollywood is the time
period after the introduction of sound in the 1920, and before implementation
the Motion Picture Production Code in 1934. This code was the set of moral
censorship guidelines in the film industry, however movies that were made
between 1920 and 1934 were full of cursing, violence, sex and prostitution, the
use of drugs, and homosexuality. Theses movies also often dealt with strong
female main characters, and feminine matters.
This era also birthed gangster films, starting
with Underworld. Underworld is the first gangster movie and aired in 1927. “The film established
the fundamental elements of the gangster movie: a hoodlum hero; ominous,
night-shrouded city streets; floozies; and a blazing finale in which the cops
cut down the protagonist." Ben Hect, the writer of the film, even won an
academy award in 1929 at their first ever award ceremony for his work.
This era in film history also
resulted in one of my favorite child hood movies, the 1931 Frankenstein. This
movie had many controversial scenes probably the most famous is when the
monster accidentally drowns the little girl. After the Motion picture production
code was used, the second half of that scene was cut in New York Pennsylvania
and Massachusetts. The iconic line “Its Alive!” was originally written as, “It’s
alive It's alive! In the name of
God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!" however
that was cut as well. Kanas only allowed an edited version of the
film to be released; they originally wanted to cut 32 scenes, which would have
cut the films running time in half.
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