Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood

Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008)

**** (out of 4)

Another brilliant documentary from Turner Classic Movies. This one deals with Hollywood from 1930-1934 when movies pushed the limits on sex, drugs and various sinful things. The film talks about how two Priests came up with the "rules" of what you could or couldn't do and then talks about Hollywood broke all of them and tried to push the limits of what you could show. The Hayes Code finally broke through in 1934 when the Catholic Church jumped in and started boycotting the films and telling their followers that it was a sin to watch these movies. John Landis, Jonathan Kuntz, Leonard Maltin, Rudy Behlmer, Hugh Hefner and Jack Valenti are among the people interviewed for this film, which does a great job at telling the story of the Pre-Code movies. We get clips from countless films including The Divorcée, Night Nurse, The Public Enemy, Midnight Mary and various others. These types of documentaries still upset me since a religious group or a group of people can have so much control on what others do. Needless to say, the Catholic Church should have been looking in their own closet instead of going after Hollywood. Some of the early history is also talked about and this includes the scandal caused by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle and his rape trial. If you aren't familiar with this great part of Hollywood history then this film does a great job at introducing it. Complicated Women is another Turner doc that covers this era.

TCM aired this documentary on the pre-code era of Hollywood films during the early '30s: THOU SHALT NOT: SEX, SIN AND CENSORSHIP IN PRE-CODE Hollywood, and it lives up to its title with a rundown of various films that pushed the envelope before the Hays Office came into existence and censorship in films began with some rigid codes about what could and could not be shown.

As someone else pointed out, a lot of films went unmentioned and could have been included with reference to racy dialog that got past the censors, even in innocuous Laurel & Hardy comedies. Of the films mentioned, we get fleeting looks at NIGHT NURSE, THE Divorcée, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, and other such films that were considered risqué at the time but got past the censors. There's barely a mention of Mae West and her many one-liners, so there's a lot of material that isn't covered in the documentary's brief running time.

Comments from people like Camille Paglia, Rudy Behlmer, Leonard Maltin and others is incisive and to the point. Most amusing is the fact that twin beds always had to be shown in the budoir and there were rules about bedroom etiquette that included something about a man's foot had to be shown on the floor. Curious do's and don'ts ruled the day as soon as censorship boards were taken seriously.

Covers quite a bit of ground but leaves out a lot of other information which would have made for a more complete documentary.

Will Hays--Joseph Breen the topless scene shown at 8:00 mark was a religious epic--"Ben Hur"! subtitles didn't work economics pushed films towards sleaze and then later away from it gay Code of 1930 pretty much ignored--tightened up in 1934

I adore the so-called 'Pre-Code' films and was delighted when Turner Classic Movies brought this wonderful documentary to its audience. It was great because it was extremely well made and because it introduced this style of movie to viewers. Up until 1930, there were lots and lots of censorship boards across the nation but none for the studios themselves. Because of this, standards varied wildly. Some relatively innocent films were condemned by some groups and some amazingly adult and salacious films passed! Because of this inconsistency, the studios finally hired Will Hays to start the new board. However, it soon became obvious that this board had no teeth to enforce the new code--nor did it seem to want to clean up the films. Nudity, violence and a glorification of adultery were pretty common and things continued this way until mid-1934. And, this 1930-1934 is the Pre-Code era. But when the Depression and public outrage resulted in much lower revenues, the studios grudgingly decided the clean up its act and created the NEW Production Code--and the fun, as they say, was over!

This film not only details this process but it also celebrates the various famous examples of sleaze--such as "Red Headed Woman", "Tarzan and His Mate" and "Baby Face". Now I have seen other documentaries on this time, but "Thou Shalt Not" works best for two HUGE reasons. First, the guests who were interviewed really were excellent. Second, and most importantly, because Turner Entertainment owned the rights to these Pre-Code films, it was easy to show the clips--and in pristine condition. By contrast, the earlier documentary "Hollywood Uncensored" showed clips mostly from public domain films or the clips were VERY, VERY scratchy. "Thou Shalt Not" and "Complicated Women" (also by TCM) are both excellent chronicles of this age--and are exciting, educational and amazingly sleazy!