Forbidden Hollywood: The Pre-Code Era (1930-1934)

When Sin Ruled the Movies

Contributors

By Mark A. Vieira

By Turner Classic Movies

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$15.99

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$19.99 CAD

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  1. ebook $15.99 $19.99 CAD
  2. Hardcover $30.00 $38.00 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around April 2, 2019. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

Filled with rare images and untold stories from filmmakers, exhibitors, and moviegoers, Forbidden Hollywood is the ultimate guide to a gloriously entertaining era when a lax code of censorship let sin rule the movies.

Forbidden Hollywood is a history of “pre-Code” like none other: you will eavesdrop on production conferences, read nervous telegrams from executives to censors, and hear Americans argue about “immoral” movies. You will see decisions artfully wrought, so as to fool some of the people long enough to get films into theaters. You will read what theater managers thought of such craftiness, and hear from fans as they applauded creativity or condemned crassness. You will see how these films caused a grass-roots movement to gain control of Hollywood-and why they were “forbidden” for fifty years.

The book spotlights the twenty-two films that led to the strict new Code of 1934, including Red-Headed Woman, Call Her Savage, and She Done Him Wrong. You’ll see Paul Muni shoot a path to power in the original Scarface; Barbara Stanwyck climb the corporate ladder on her own terms in Baby Face; and misfits seek revenge in Freaks.

More than 200 newly restored (and some never-before-published) photographs illustrate pivotal moments in the careers of Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, and Greta Garbo; and the pre-Code stardom of Claudette Colbert, Cary Grant, Marlene Dietrich, James Cagney, and Mae West. This is the definitive portrait of an unforgettable era in filmmaking.

Genre:

On Sale
Apr 2, 2019
Page Count
256 pages
Publisher
Running Press
ISBN-13
9780762466757

Mark A. Vieira

About the Author

Mark A. Vieira is a filmmaker, photographer, and writer who specializes in Hollywood history. He is the author of Warner Bros. 100, Forbidden Hollywood, Cecil B. DeMille, Into the Dark, and many other film-related titles. He is also the creator of the documentary series DeMille Is Hollywood. Vieira has also appeared in documentaries such as Turner Classic Movies’ Garbo. He has lectured at USC, UCLA, Lincoln Center, and Universal Studios. Vieira resides in the Westlake District of Los Angeles.

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