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From Library Journal
Between 1929 and 1934, Hollywood was governed by a voluntary code of decency. During this period, women characters were often tough-talking, sexually aggressive, and independent. Under pressure from church and state decency groups, a code with enforcement powers was implemented in 1934. The effect of the 1934 code (which remained in effect until the late 1960s) has been hotly debated recently. LaSalle, film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, makes it clear what he thinks, blasting the code as a measure "to prevent women from having fun. It was designed to put the genie back in the bottleDand the wife back in the kitchen." He calls the code, as enforced by Joseph Breen, "anti-art," antiwoman, and anti-Semitic. However, LaSalle's main purpose is to celebrate the short-lived era of "complicated women," as personified by the early films of Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, and others. In particular, this book is an unabashed valentine to Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer. It features insights on significant scenes from precode films and evaluates some modern counterparts to the great ladies of the early 1930s. This book is more narrowly focused than other recent books on the subjectDsuch as Thomas Doherty's Pre-Code Hollywood (LJ 7/99) and Mark A. Viera's Sin in Soft Focus (LJ 11/1/99)Dand some may disagree with the author's conclusions, but it is recommended for large film and women's studies collections.DStephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Entertainment Weekly
"LaSalle writes wittily about the risque world Hollywood created in the Pre-Hays-code 1920s and 1930s...The examination of women's roles in pre-Code and present-day films is sophisticated and provocative." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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First Sentence:
At the end of the silent era, Joan Crawford was dancing the Charleston on tabletops, while Norma Shearer was wearing a hoopskirt in the costume romance, The Actress. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
repertory houses, complicated women, laser disk Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Divorcee, Norma Shearer, New York, Production Code, Queen Christina, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, Kay Francis, Mae West, Greta Garbo, Ann Harding, Private Lives, Bette Davis, Loretta Young, Miriam Hopkins, Anna Karenina, Constance Bennett, Irving Thalberg, Strangers May Kiss, Grand Hotel, Marlene Dietrich, Mata Hari, Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Red Dust New!
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