Category: Drama - Feature Film-drama - Gift Set - Movie
Availability: Usually ships in 4 to 6 weeks
List Price: $39.98 Our Price: $29.99YOU SAVE $9.99!
Buy it
DVD TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1 (Waterloo Bridge 1931 / Baby Face / Red-Headed Woman)
Here are three films that couldn't and wouldn't have been made at any other time. Contrary to popular belief, the history of Hollywood permissiveness, what filmmakers could "get away with" on screen, is not a steadily rising graph from puritanical early days to the party-hearty present. In the early 1930s, a national mood of shock over the stock market crash and impatience with Prohibition licensed a relaxation of the movie industry's self-censorship policies. Sexuality--always a driving force in movie plots and characterizations, even when repressed--became a more explicit presence, with costuming that sometimes pushed the envelope for exposure of epidermis and dialogue that could be shockingly blunt.
Baby Face (1933) was made at Warner Bros., the golden-age studio with the grittiest style and the most street cred. The gutsy Barbara Stanwyck stars as a young woman from a factory town who hops a boxcar to the big city and sleeps her way to the top--a progress famously indexed by a camera ascending floor by floor outside a Gotham office building as she trades up, one corporate suitor after another. No other major-studio film was more explicit about sex as a tool and a commodity, yetBaby Face is curiously less sexy than any number of movies that weren't so outspoken about it. This TCM collection features both the theatrical-release version familiar for decades and a recently rediscovered preview version that is markedly superior, runs five minutes longer, and includes more sexual liaisons. It also happily lacks an absurd final scene that got tacked onto the release version to explain how the heroine learned to be content with a modest lifestyle.
Red-Headed Woman (1932) is arguably the raunchiest movie Jean Harlow made at MGM (though not as raunchy as her scenes in Howard Hughes' 1930 Hell's Angels). Unlike Stanwyck in Baby Face--a proletarian heroine grimly selling herself to beat capitalism and the patriarchy at their own game--Harlow's character brazenly relishes both the sex and the posh life it wins for her. The lion's share of this sardonic comedy, scripted by Anita Loos and an uncredited F. Scott Fitzgerald, focuses on Harlow's seduction of her married boss (Chester Morris) and the havoc she wreaks in his upper-crust world. Charles Boyer has a role (his first Hollywood credit) as a French chauffeur who knows how to give satisfaction, and the film's air of breezy ribaldry even allows the star a casual flash of bare breast.
The rarest item in the collection, the 1931 Universal version of Waterloo Bridge, has long been unseen because MGM bought the film in order to do a 1940 remake (starring Vivien Leigh) and locked the original away in the vault. Directed by James Whale the same year he did Frankenstein (1931), the picture charts the romance of a chorus-girl-turned-streetwalker (Mae Clarke) and a well-born young soldier (Kent Douglass) on brief furlough from the trenches during WWI. Apart from a zesty prelude in a London music hall and two scenes on the titular bridge, the film remains yoked to its talky theatrical source, a Robert E. Sherwood play flogging the hoary conceit that no fallen woman, however pure of heart, could be permitted to marry into a good family. Unlike the Hays Code-compliant remake, the film leaves no doubt how the heroine makes her living. --Richard T. Jameson
Review(s): DVD TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1 (Waterloo Bridge 1931 / Baby Face / Red-Headed Woman)
Wouldn't it be nice if they found CONVENTION CITY and put on Vol. 2?
This DVD set is absolutely perfect! Three of the most notorious pre-codes on DVD, all restored! I think that it would be AH-MAZING if someone found the fabled smuggled prints of the pre-code of ALL pre-codes: CONVENTION CITY. I heard thet what really made the movie people make the Hays Code was this movie. It made all the people protest. It was supposed to be SOOOO bad that the Warner Brothers ordered all prints of the movie burned, and the negative, too. How sad. But it's said that some people smuggled prints of this movie out of the country for showings. These are films that I think should be on Vol. 2: Red Dust, Goldiggers of Broadway, and Road to Reno. Red Dust especially, because it has been long awaited to be on DVD by Gable/Harlow film fams, and also because it's the one of the best acted and pre-codeish pre-code movie. Ever heard of Harlow's famous rain-barrel scene where Clark Gable trys to pull her out of her bath? Well, it's in here, this movie. For now, let's be grateful that we have these great and rare movies on DVD for us to enjoy. Try Red-Headed Woman first. It's very funny, and showcases the comedic talent of the imcomparable Jean Harlow.
Three great films that typify pre-code Hollywood
When Turner Classic Movies first came into existence they cleaned out Warner Brothers' vault of 1930's and 40's era classics. It's about time some of them came out in boxed sets such as this one. The theme of this particular box set is pre-code Hollywood, and includes three films that illustrate why the decency code came into existence.
Film industry censorship began in 1922 following a trio of scandals that rocked Hollywood: the Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle murder trial, the never-solved murder of director William Desmond Taylor, and the drug-related death of matinee idol Wallace Reid. In 1930, a new version of the Production Code was drafted to standardize the censorship requirements of various states, since the inception of talking films made it difficult to arbitrarily cut offending scenes. However, the studios merely paid lip-service to the Code since they were more interested in finding ways to lure dwindling Depression era audiences into theatres. The pre-code era came to an abrupt close beginning July 1,1934, when watchdog groups threatened boycotts of all films and the Legion of Decency was established to monitor movies. Studio heads finally bowed to the public pressure and the era of censorship began, lasting until the establishment of the industry's rating system in 1968.
In "Baby Face" Lily Powers (Barbara Stanwyck), hardened by growing up in a speakeasy, leaves her blue-collar town for New York determined to get ahead by any means necessary. Thanks to some sage advice from a local cobbler (Alphonse Ethier) she has taken to heart the teachings of Nietzsche and has decided to sleep her way to the top, floor by floor. In the end, she's gone through seven men, ruined lives, and lost what little bit of compassion and humanity she may have started out with in the beginning. She's married to the president of a bank and has a suitcase with over a half a million dollars in it, given to her by her husband during good times. However, her husband now is in trouble with the bank over business decisions he has made, and he needs the money that he once gave her to get the bank and himself out of trouble. Will Lily start over in poverty with the man she loves, or will she set sail with the money in her suitcase? It seems funny now, but one of the things that the censors had trouble with in this film and actually cut were some scenes with Lily discussing Nietzche's philosophy of turning situations where one is a victim into where you are in control. I guess this was a dangerous idea during the depths of the depression.
In "A Red Headed Woman", Jean Harlow has her trademark platinum hair dyed an unlikely shade of red. Jean plays Lil, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who's determined to climb the business and social ladder in the same way that Stanwyck's character did in "Baby Face". Likewise, Jean sets her sights on her boss Bill and refuses to take "no" for an answer. In this film, though, her boss is already married. This doesn't bother or slow down Lil one bit. The shameless homewrecker uses every trick in the book to snag him until her behavior borders on what would be considered "stalking" in today's lexicon. Red Headed Woman wavers wildly between comedy and weighty melodrama, with Harlow showing great comic flair as well as pathos in her portrayal of Lil. More significant, though, is the plot. It is more than a little risqué, and is an example of the type of film that simply couldn't be made a few years later. With marital infidelity, innuendos, violence, and sadism (when Bill finally slaps Lil out of frustration, she says, "Hit me again! I like it!") this is thoroughly adult fare, even by today's standards. Chester Morris was usually cast as a rather boring hero type, which makes him a perfect contrast opposite the amoral Harlow. Once Lil gets what she wants - married to Bill - society and her family do not accept her as such, and continue to side with Bill's cast-off first wife. Lil soon becomes bored with life as an executive's wife and goes back to her old ways. Will Bill see the light or will even more tragedy result for all involved?
While the 1940 remake of the final film "Waterloo Bridge" starring Vivien Leigh might be better known, this 1931 original version of the acclaimed wartime romance stars Mae Clarke, who transcends the tawdry material with a luminous performance that should have assured her of a bigger career. Unfortunately, Waterloo Bridge remained out of the public eye for more than 50 years, leaving Clarke to be best remembered as the woman into whose face James Cagney smashes a grapefruit in "The Public Enemy". Her career never took off the way Harlow's and Stanwyck's did. In Waterloo Bridge, Mae Clarke is an American chorus girl who marries an officer in London during World War I. After he's reported missing, his family cruelly rejects her and, desperate to survive, she drifts into prostitution. However, remember that "reported missing", especially in the chaos of World War I battlefields, does not necessarily mean definitely dead. The heroine in this film, unlike the other two, is a somewhat sympathetic character. This is the one movie I had not previously seen, and it was quite good. It probably would be more remembered if it was not for the remake of nine years later that involved bigger stars.
These are all excellent films especially with the restored footage, I found the video quality to be quite good even considering the age of the films, and the insightful commentary by Robert Osborne is always a welcome treat. The only bad thing I can say about the set is the somewhat high price which works out to about ten dollars a film, which is pretty pricey for three older movies, even if they are classics.
A Fascinating Trio of Pre-Code Hollywood Films Highlighted by Stanwyck's Blazing Performance
Before the Hays Code neutralized the sexually oriented behavior that could be shown in Hollywood movies for three decades, there was a crop of movies that reflected a more laissez-faire attitude toward risqué subjects like promiscuity, homosexuality and drug use. In what looks to be the first volume of an intriguing series, this two-disc DVD set from Turner Classic Movies contains three epochal works from that brief period that started with the talkie revolution and ended abruptly in 1934.
The oldest of the trio, 1931's "Waterloo Bridge", is fairly typical of the pre-code genre and has only a fleeting similarity to the glamorous 1940 MGM version with Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor. Directed by James Whale before he peaked with "Frankenstein" and "Showboat", this film is set in WWI London and stars the long-forgotten Mae Clarke, an actress best known for being the recipient of James Cagney's grapefruit attack in "The Public Enemy". She plays Myra, an American chorus girl who turns to prostitution when her show closes. Unlike Leigh's ethereal ballerina in the later film, Clarke's Myra is all bitterness with a shaft of hope in the form of an American soldier named Roy, whom she accidentally meets during an air raid. He comes from a wealthy family who find out about her profession, which leads to the inevitable consequences. Clarke is solid as Myra, though she does go overboard in her breakdown scene. Kent Douglass is rather wooden as Roy, though he certainly captures the soldier's callow nature. Done on the cheap by Universal and at only 81 minutes, it's an interesting and sometimes poignant curio thanks mostly to Whale's dexterity with melodrama. A freshly scrubbed, 23-year old Bette Davis shows up in the inconsequential role of Roy's sister.
In full hellcat mode even without her platinum blonde tresses, Jean Harlow has her breakthrough role starring in 1932's more comically oriented "Red-Headed Woman", an obvious MGM product given its high production values. She plays Lil Andrews, an unapologetic gold-digger who seduces her boss Bill Legendre and steals him away from his staid fiancée Irene. Bored and tried of being looked down upon once they are married, she moves on to an older, wealthier man to ensnare but not before she tries to shoot her husband. But Lil's amoral behavior finds her being further rejected, especially when she is caught with a French chauffeur, played by a very young Charles Boyer with his trademark continental flair already established. For all the pain Lil causes to the other characters in the story, she ends up happily unrepentant in Paris, a fact which really defines this as a pre-code movie. At only 21, Harlow is already confident and brassy, even though Anita Loos' script has her teetering precariously between comedy and melodrama. Chester Morris is rather stiff as Bill, but Una Merkel shines as Lil's best friend Sally. Take note of the forthright way the camera lingers on Lil and Sally as they change in and out of their negligees.
By far, the most interesting of the three films is 1933's "Baby Face", a hard-boiled Warner Brothers film starring a very young Barbara Stanwyck. A consummate master at portraying Machiavellian cool, a technique she perfected eleven years later in Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity", Stanwyck plays Lily Powers, the well-worn daughter of a violent speakeasy owner in a suffocating steel-town. She has been rendered cynical and numb by years of being offered up as a sexual favor to her father's customers. Once her father dies in a distillery explosion, she hops a freight train to New York and literally sleeps her way up the corporate ladder of a bank. This would come across as preposterous were it not for Stanwyck's blazing work here. With her dead-eyed stare and amoral seduction methods, it is easy to see why men become addicted to her aggressive carnality. One of the young men she seduces along the way is a fresh-faced John Wayne as of all things, an accountant named Jimmy McCoy. The melodrama gets heavy-handed toward the last third of the film with a murder-suicide, a hush-hush job in Paris to keep Lily quiet and the new bank president who is so addicted to Lily that he embezzles company funds to keep her in luxury. A tacked-on ending is somewhat disappointing but not before Stanwyck sears the screen. The film has curious touches like Lily's bonding friendship with an African-American woman named Chico and the German immigrant who teaches Lily about Nietzsche philosophy regarding the importance of avoiding sentimentality.
The first disc contains "Waterloo Bridge and "Red Headed Woman" with an introduction by Turner Classic Movies' Robert Osborne. The second disc has two versions of "Baby Face" - the original theatrical release version and the newly found, uncensored version, which includes seemingly minor edits and scene extensions that really make this an even more fascinating movie.
Related DVD's TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1 (Waterloo Bridge 1931 / Baby Face / Red-Headed Woman)
The movie that made Humphrey Bogart Humphrey Bogart anchors this second DVD box devoted to the mighty star. The Maltese Falcon gets--and merits--the deluxe three-disc treatment, and the other Bogie movies collected here are solid vehicles from his early 1940s Warner Bros. heyday. The essence of Bogart's world-weary yet mysteriously romantic aura is on luscious display, even if most of these films fall just short of classic status.
Bogart's letter-perfect incarnation as Sam Spade, the anti-hero of John Huston's debut film as a director, grounds The Maltese Falcon in a smart, sardonic groove. Even if Spade is one of Bogart's finest turns, it's hard to single out the film's best performance: Mary Astor as the mystery dame who trips off the case, Peter Lorre as the fey Joel... More Info about this DVD Director(s): John Huston - Vincent Sherman DVD Release Date: Released the 03 October 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $59.98 Your Price: $41.99YOU SAVE $17.99!
Buy it
Springfield Rifle, one of five films included in this set, may miss the bullseye as a true Gary Cooper classic, but there's a line that speaks to his enduring status as a screen icon and "American Legend." In this 1952 Western, his follow-up film to High Noon, Cooper's character has been drummed out of the army and branded a coward. Suffice to say that all is not what it seems, and an observer is asked how Coop will handle the pressure. The response: "He'll stand up." That is quintessential Cooper. He's a stand-up guy, and the "dang swangest hero," as he is hailed in Sergeant York, this collection's calling card. Directed by Howard Hawks and co-written by John Huston, Sergeant York earned Cooper an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Alvin York, a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Stuart Heisler - King Vidor - Howard Hawks DVD Release Date: Released the 07 November 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $49.98 Your Price: $36.49YOU SAVE $13.49!
Buy it
Preston Sturges was a 20th-century Renaissance man who, at Paramount Pictures between 1940 and 1943, wrote and directed eight original movies unlike anything before or since. All but one were high-energy, brilliantly detailed, and very, very funny comedies that became instant classics. No one ever dreamed up a more colorful assortment of characters, wrote more lovingly textured dialogue for them, or sent them hurtling and skittering through more outrageous situations, with undertones often darker than most dramatic films. Seven of these pictures comprise this boxed set; The Miracle of Morgan's Creek is missing because it remained with Paramount when most of the studio's pre-1949 inventory was acquired decades ago by Universal/MCA. (It's on DVD via Paramount.) The omission of a... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 21 November 2006 Usually ships in 6 to 10 days
List Price: $59.98 Your Price: $46.19YOU SAVE $13.79!
Buy it
