(Credit: far / de’andre Bush)
You’ve probably heard the term “pre-code” throw a lot in relation to older Hollywood movies and wonder what it means. You may know that it has something to do with censorship and that the code in question was a haze code, but history is rather complicated and inaccurate, making it a difficult area to summarize.
First of all, the beginning of the pre-code era is debatable. Some say it started in the late 1920s, while others say it actually started when the code was introduced in 1930 and continued until the code came into effect in 1934.
The pre-coded film was full of sex, violence and ignoring the law. They are all tamed to today’s standards, but they were markedly clearer than the films that came later. The pre-coded film also featured a romantic relationship between queer characters and mixed race couples. These are two things that became illegal once the code was enacted.
This period of cinema history coincided with Great Repression, with many films featuring a strong message about the state of the country. Some of them clearly criticised capitalism, while others showed that the protagonist relied on sex work to buy his next meal. Gangs are often shown in heroic light, suggesting that they are more morally integral than bankers and politicians who have put the country into a recession.
In June 1934, production code control was created to finally enforce all the rules that filmmakers had flaunted. It stated that every film made after July 1 of that year required a certificate of approval to be released, and that the calendar tilted to the era when Haze Code was the best reigning from the precode era.
It’s hard to pinpoint the last movie and put it in theaters without a certificate, but some summary of the last movie gives a pretty good idea of what the code was trying to ban. Roy William Neals Black Moon Released on June 15th, it was a horror film about a white woman returning to her hometown in Jamaican. It’s pretty gory by old Hollywood standards and grotesquely racist by modern standards.
Born to get worse The classic soap opera starring Loretta Young and Cary Grant (yes, that’s right), featured the taboo storyline of an unmarried mother who accidentally threatens a man after accidentally slamming her son on a track. He also showed Young in lingerie, but that would be banned shortly afterwards. Interestingly, the film had multiple re-shoots and edits before its appearance in theatre, suggesting that the code had shaking before the full effect occurred.
One of the most interesting pre-coded films that went under the wire was Dr. Monicareleased a few days before the code was implemented. It stars Kay Francis as an obstetrician and an obstetrician who cannot have children, and discovers that the baby she is about to give birth is fathered by her husband. What’s worse, she learns that her mother has tried every path to abort it. Female doctors were rare even in the pre-coded era, but more so afterwards. Meanwhile, stories about extramarital affairs and some attempted abortions were clearly non-coded.
Why was Haze Code introduced?
Frankly, pure conservatism, reinforced by some Hollywood scandals. In fact, the scandal had less to do with the film than the personal lives of film stars and filmmakers. Director William Desmond Taylor’s murder became tabloid feed due to his relationship with three famous women, but the fat-like rape of actor Virginia Rappe also became a sleazy headline.
American conservatives feel that Hollywood is a halt of the de fall, and the suspicions were not actually backed up by the relatively tame movies that the town is rigging around, but activists began to gain momentum and demand that the film’s content be regulated within inches of life. Between the mid-1930s and early 1960s, viewers were asked to believe, among other absurdities, the husband and wife slept in separate single beds, crimes were constantly punished, and birth actually did not involve pregnancy or labor.
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