Movies before the code
An evening pause: I had doubts about posting this initially, not because I’m a prude but because, as I wrote to Phil when he sent me this suggestion, “What is the point? Watching three minutes of 1930s girls taking off their robes to reveal their underwear? I’m not sure that is my goal with my evening pauses.”
But then I thought, why not? The compilation definitely illustrates the differences and similarities between then and now. What was risque then is almost innocent today. And at the same time, what is interesting in terms of sex then is not much different than what is interesting today. Sex still sells. Humans remain human. And Valentine’s Day is tomorrow.
Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
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It was good to see, in the middle of all this, a (too) brief appearance by Betty Boop! :-)
Must be 70+ to view
The “Maltese Falcon” that we all know and love is a remake from a pre-code 1931 version. It is a rare example of a remake being better than the original. A promiscuous Sam Spade, in the original, takes Miss Wonderly into the kitchen to strip-search her for the missing bill. In the Humphrey Bogart/Mary Astor remake, Spade trusts the girl to have not taken it. Although we lose seeing her in a petticoat, we see a better bond between the two characters, making for a better ending and a better story.
To paraphrase Rick in “Casablanca:” the petticoat of a girl don’t amount to a hill of beans in a classic movie.
Sex may sell tickets, but good stories make classic favorites.