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Post by Fading Fast on Jan 30, 2024 11:08:29 GMT
It's Precode Melodrama Month.
This month's movies are all precode melodramas. Precodes are the early "talkies" that were made from 1929 to 1934 when the Motion Picture Production Code was only lightly enforced.
With that freedom, these movies could show more of real life: more sex, more crime, more gambling, more addiction (booze and hard drugs, yes, hard drugs show up), more marital strife, more women in positions of power and even some pretty obvious homosexuality.
In precode land, the sinners often didn't have to pay any price for their "sins" and the "moral" people were frequently the ones who looked mean-spirited.
Even in this era, though, there were local censorship boards and religious and civil groups that pressured Hollywood to rein it in. That might have been a gift, however, as these movies are meaningfully less gratuitous than our modern "anything goes" movies, but they still make their point.
Precodes, today, are a cultural and historic gem as they show us that society was not anywhere near as buttoned-up and conventional as movies made after the Code was enforced make it appear.
Our four precodes, consistent with our Sunday Live! theme, are heavy on the melodrama, but plenty of sex, drugs, drinking and a little corruption make it to the screen too. We hope you enjoy our month-long trip through the racy early 1930s.
Our first movie is "The Divorcee" 1930.
This Sunday, February 4th, at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT, we will be watching and sharing our thoughts on the 1930 movie "The Divorcee," starring Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery and Chester Morris.
Norma Shearer's answer to her cheating husband is "I can do that too." It's 1930 and, on-screen, a woman is sleeping around to get even with her philandering husband. Welcome to the world of precodes. Link to the movie (it's on the RU site as I couldn't find one anywhere else): "The Divorcee"
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Post by topbilled on Jan 30, 2024 14:30:00 GMT
Such a good introduction. Seems like it should be a foreword in a book about precode movies.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 1, 2024 11:02:30 GMT
Please join us Sunday, February 4th at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT for "The Divorcee" to see sex, love, marriage, lust and anger twist several young people around, not unlike today. It all proves to be less fun than it sounds, right Norma?
Link to the movie (it's on the RU site as I couldn't find one anywhere else): "The Divorcee"
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Post by topbilled on Feb 2, 2024 14:49:54 GMT
It's been awhile since I've seen THE DIVORCEE.
It was the first talkie/precode I ever watched...back in the early days of my film education, when I knew nothing about Norma Shearer or any of her costars!
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 2, 2024 15:08:03 GMT
It's been awhile since I've seen THE DIVORCEE.
It was the first talkie/precode I ever watched...back in the early days of my film education, when I knew nothing about Norma Shearer or any of her costars! I haven't seen it in many years either. It's been so long, it will be a bit like "rediscovering" it this Sunday.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 3, 2024 16:58:09 GMT
Please join us tomorrow February 4th, at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT for "The Divorcee" to see young people dress wonderfully while doing naughty things.
Link to the movie (it's on the RU site as I couldn't find one anywhere else): ok.ru/video/3086573570693
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Feb 4, 2024 18:17:55 GMT
It is a chilly 36 degrees but my hair is practically sizzling off my head reading about Ursula Parrott's life and her novel Ex-Wife (1929) upon which our film is based. Generally out of print it was reissued in 2023.
She tried to remain anonymous, was mysteriously linked to F. Scott, had a secret baby and was brought up on charges of breaking guitarist Michael Neely Bryan from the stockade. She graduated Radcliffe, earned millions with her writing, but died penniless. What a jazz age story.
It has been quite a while since those Forbidden Hollywood box sets came out. I don't remember anything about the film. There are thankfully a few non-Soviet copies on the internets.
Never put much stock in reviews but they are fun to read:
Harrison's Reports (1930) The picture will appeal to the high-brows rather than to the rank and file.
Reviews by The Motion Picture Committee of The Women's University Club (June 1930)Variety (November 1930)
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 4, 2024 18:47:39 GMT
It is a chilly 36 degrees but my hair is practically sizzling off my head reading about Ursula Parrott's life and her novel Ex-Wife (1929) upon which our film is based. Generally out of print it was reissued in 2023.
She tried to remain anonymous, was mysteriously linked to F. Scott, had a secret baby and was brought up on charges of breaking guitarist Michael Neely Bryan from the stockade. She graduated Radcliffe, earned millions with her writing, but died penniless. What a jazz age story.
It has been quite a while since those Forbidden Hollywood box sets came out. I don't remember anything about the film. There are thankfully a few non-Soviet copies on the internets.
Never put much stock in reviews but they are fun to read:
Harrison's Reports (1930) The picture will appeal to the high-brows rather than to the rank and file.
Reviews by The Motion Picture Committee of The Women's University Club (June 1930)View AttachmentVariety (November 1930)View Attachment I read the novel, give or take, twenty years ago and remember it being a fun easy read that felt a bit like time travel as you could really feel the period in the book.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 4, 2024 19:31:04 GMT
The Continuing Adventures of Fawn and Me
Me: "New month, new host."
Fawn: "Great!"
Me: "That's nice, thank you."
Fawn: "Why are you saying thank you on Topbilled's behalf?"
Me: "No, I'm the host this month."
Fawn: [long sigh] "Oh." [another long sigh] "What's the theme?" [derisively] "You do have a theme?"
Me: [enthusiastically] "Pre-code melodramas."
Fawn: [suspiciously] "And the movies?"
Me: "The Divorcee," "Double Harness," "Three on a Match" and "The Animal Kingdom."
Fawn: "You Googled 'classic pre-code melodramas' I see."
Me: "No, I picked them myself."
Fawn: "From a list approved by Topbilled?"
Me: "No, all on my own."
Fawn: [muttering] "A blind squirrel and four nuts."
Me: "What?"
Fawn: "Nothing. Have you seen them?"
Me: "Of course I have."
Fawn: "Alright, what the hey, it's only one month."
Me: "You'll love them."
Fawn: "Not a Fawn in one of them I see."
Me: "Not that again."
Fawn: "Okay, let's go get this month over with. At least there are only four Sundays in it."
Me: [enthusiastically] "It will be your favorite Sunday Live! month of them all."
Fawn: "Let's settle for you not embarrassing yourself."
Me: "Shh, the movie's about to start."
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Feb 4, 2024 19:37:29 GMT
The Continuing Adventures of Fawn and Me
Fawn: "Let's settle for you not embarrassing yourself."
What fun is there in THAT!?
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Post by Andrea Doria on Feb 4, 2024 19:47:55 GMT
We're definitely going to have to watch, "Bambi" sometime for Fawn. It's a melodrama, wouldn't you say?
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 4, 2024 19:51:03 GMT
We're definitely going to have to watch, "Bambi" sometime for Fawn. It's a melodrama, wouldn't you say? It would make the little guy so happy.
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Post by topbilled on Feb 4, 2024 19:55:42 GMT
I was just reading that the lead role was intended for Joan Crawford, but Norma Shearer wanted it.
But Crawford did good work in PAID and LETTY LYNTON, two precodes where she was able to put her own unique stamp on the melodrama genre.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 4, 2024 19:58:19 GMT
I was just reading that the lead role was intended for Joan Crawford, but Norma Shearer wanted it.
But Crawford did good work in PAID and LETTY LYNTON, two precodes where she was able to put her own unique stamp on the melodrama genre. I would also think Shearer had more power at the studio than did Crawford in 1930.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 4, 2024 19:59:30 GMT
TB, can we push play?
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