Pre-Code Hollywood

[Bounci]

This clip comes from France from the film Un Carnet de Bal (or Life Dances On for it's English title). Even though the French have always been typically liberal when getting their actresses naked, it's still a surprise to see nudity in a film from 1937. This scene involves lead actress Marie Ball going to look up an old love in a nightclub, but discovering he runs a seedy place involving topless dancers who are paid to later 'entertain' the diners. The last pic is a still for the film's promotion, unbelievably!

[Lotfw]

I think this is a higher quality version of the swim scene...

Originally Posted by Bounci

To roll out the New Year for the Pre-Code thread, here are a couple of scenes from the film Bird of Paradise from 1932. It features Joel McCrea and Dolores Del Rio (her from my spanking video from Flying Down to Rio here: https://forum.oneclickchicks.com/sho...1&postcount=12) as a sailor who falls for a Hawaiian native, who unfortunately has been promised to be a sacrifice for a volcano (think Joe Versus the Volcano, but the other way round). And playing a Hawaiian, Dolores has only a garland of flowers round her neck to protect her modesty in half of the film, though unfairly she clearly has sticky tape attached to her so she doesn't make a boob (so to speak). However, it doesn't prevent her from having to do a naked swim in one scene that caused a rumpus in the US. In the scene Joel spots her in the water and jumps in after her, chasing her out onto the beach, where she desperately retrieves her wrap to cover herself before he wrestles her to the ground and kisses her forcefully. Which she likes.

The film unsurprisingly was a big hit for her, and went towards her getting the lead in Flying Down to Rio (1933). I've included the naked swim, along with a scene of her with her garland of flowers - mainly because if I'd of included all of those garland scenes the video probably of been 15 minutes long! There's a great line at the end of the video when it rains and McCrea tells Dolores they need to build a house for shelter. "An 'ouse?" she queries. "Yeah, a place to live in - to sleep," said McCrea. Suddenly Dolores' face brightens and she eagerly kisses him as she gabbles away. Joel cottons on and says "Oh yeah, and that too!" before the screen fades to black. No wonder it was popular in it's day.

[Lotfw]

Not sure how we all missed this one. Clara bow in a very early ENF scene in Wings (1927). Academy award winner no less...


Clip from "Skin History of nudity in the movies" (2020) (more to come)

[Lotfw]

Very early nudes in movies...1897 woman undresses for bath showing rear nudity
early 1900s early mainstream nudity tableau type nude scenes

[Lotfw]

-Scarlet Empress ..released after 1934 when the code enforcement began
- 1900s One of the first mainstream movies to feature 'moving nudity' . Lost film featuring nude swimming
- 1916 Intolerance

[Lotfw]

1927 Once again one of the most famous of the silent film era in an academy award winner

[yellow_fever_01]

This is a lengthy article about pre-Hays Code animation, with many clips illustrating the referenced cartoons.


Excerpt


How The Hays Code Censored Cartoons And How Animators Responded

by Vincent Alexander

We’re living in a strange era of Hollywood self-censorship right now. With physical media dying out and streaming services becoming the default method of watching films, sites like Disney+ are free to scrub out “objectionable” material like Elisabeth Shue’s F-bomb in Adventures in Babysitting and Daryl Hannah’s posterior in Splash, and the censored cut becomes the only cut available.

What some people may not be aware of is that there was an earlier attempt at Hollywood self-regulation in the form of the Motion Picture Production Code, popularly known as the Hays Code (named after its founder Will Hays). The Hays Code had strict rules regarding language, sex, nudity, and violence, and Hollywood films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s had to gain a certificate of approval in order to be released. These rules applied to animated cartoons, which were targeted largely toward adult audiences at the time, as well as live-action features, and the Hays Code is directly referenced in this great gag from the Warner Bros. cartoon A Tale of Two Kitties (1942).

[embedded video clip]

With the explosion of talkies in the late 1920s, movie studios looked to talent from the New York stage to write dialogue and musical numbers. Studios quickly found that the salaciousness typical of Broadway wouldn’t fly in other parts of the country.

cartoonbrew.com/cartoon-study/cartoons-and-the-hays-code-study-225994.html

[Lotfw]

1934 Woman in Danger Fay Wray

The cut of this film is nice. Braless and her nips poking through her dress.

Please indulge me for 2 minutes with these non nude clips. Just sexy

[yellow_fever_01]

Set your DVRs. Turner Classic Movies will broadcast this movie on Tuesday, December 5th at 10:15am. TCM lists the run time as 90 minutes, while Wikipedia and IMDb dot com both list it at 80 minutes. The extra time may be an introduction by one of the TCM hosts to explain the history and significance of the movie.

Interestingly, the Wikipedia article states that the movie, despite its notoriety, lost $250K at the box office. It also states that Delores Del Rio wore a flesh-colored G-string during her "nude" swim.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_of_Paradise_(1932_film)


IMDb states that the native dances were choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It also states that, because this movie is now in the public domain, many of the DVDs being sold are of poor technical quality.

imdb.com/title/tt0022689/

[yellow_fever_01]

Turner Classic Movies will broadcast "Flying Down to Rio" (1933) on Friday, January 19th at 11:30am EDT.

This is the movie with the scene of the airplane with the chorus girls strapped to the wing, only to lose their outfits in the wind.