#production code

Those wonderful early talkies that were down and dirty, unafraid to portray sex in all of its glory, heroes getting away with murder, heroines killing bad guys, women in lingerie (oh so many!). On Turner Classic Movies in the early morning, they often show obscure movies from the early 30s, before the Production Code slammed the lid on creativity in 1934. Great, good, not so good, hilariously bad, you name it, I've watched it, and I've still got a TON to go! I'm going to post reviews here for those that might enjoy it. Below is a LIFE magazine 1934 staged photo by photographer A.L. Whitey Schafer mocking the Hays movie censorship Code by violating as many of its rules as possible in a single image.

Thou Shalt Not,

photograph created by Whitey Schafer (1902/3–1951) in 1940 to protest the Hays Code.

"A good example of a historical queer response to a film from this era occured with the exhibition of The Uninvited (1944). The film drew so many lesbians to it that several pundits actually commented upon it. Although the film had been passed by the Production Code Administration (as well as by other state and local censor boards), it quickly became obvious that queer viewers were flocking to it because they 'had been previously informed of certain erotic and esoteric elements in this film.' While no character in this filmic ghost story is explicitly homosexual, its emphasis on female relationships lays a groundwork for a lesbian reading. Most pronouncedly, the character of Miss Holloway (Cornelia Otis Skinner) is a rather butch matron who rhapsodizes over the dead Mary Meredith, recalling her beauty and how 'the two of us dreamed and planned our lives, what we would do together.' Even though Mary never appears in the film and is reported to have been married to a man before her untimely death, the evidence suggests that a sizable number of filmgoers were reading an implied lesbian relationship between Mary and Miss Holloway. The era's film critics also picked up on the film's lesbian subtext: 'Cornelia Otis Skinner is quite chilly as a Mrs. Danvers by remote control,' wrote Bosley Crowther of the New York Times, comparing Miss Holloway to another of the era's quasi-lesbian characters, Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca (1940)."

Law Defeated

Inside of Thigh

Lace Lingerie

Dead Man

Narcotics

Drinking

Exposed Bosom

Gambling

Pointing Gun

Tommy Gun

a kiss for you & you & you ...

Design for Living is a 1933 American Pre-Code comedy film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

It stars Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins and Gary Cooper.

It is based on the premise of the 1932 play Design for Living by Noël Coward, with a screenplay by Ben Hecht.