|
Post by snsurone on Nov 7, 2018 23:02:02 GMT
Ever since the Production Code was established in 1935, filmmakers have striven to test its limitations.
Some of these attempts have been pretty brazen. One example is the museum scene from ON THE TOWN, where Ann Miller sings, "I really love bear (bare) skin!" I had mentioned on an earlier thread that a scene in THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER showing naked boys swimming (in long shot). Makes one wonder just how effective the Hay's Office really was.
Can anyone think of other examples?
|
|
|
Post by mikef6 on Nov 7, 2018 23:44:21 GMT
Hays was not very effective but in the middle of 1934 the Christian moralist anti-Semite, and racist Joseph Breen took control of the Production Code office and cracked down. He remained in office until 1955 ("It Happened One Night" barely made it in under the wire so can be termed "pre-code," which means before Breen). Any earlier movie scheduled for re-release had to meet Breen's approval. When he viewed the 1931 "The Maltese Falcon" and came to the scene where Iva Archer sees Bridget at Spade's apartment and says, "Who's the dame in the kimono?" Breen ordered the film shut off and issued a denial for release. Breen usually worked from shooting scripts which had to be approved. Alfred Hitchcock was a master at negotiation with the Code office. Hitch would also work sub-texts into his films visually so they were already out there before any official objection could be made. One example is suggesting Mrs. Danvers' love for the title "Rebecca" (1940) by how she lovingly runs her hand over Rebecca's clothing. In "Suspicion" (1941) during the party featuring the mystery writer based on Dorothy Sayers, he surrounds her with admiring females including one dressed in a man's tuxedo. Maybe this sort of subtlety went over the heads of most people in early 1940s audiences, but Breen would certainly have caught it - too late. The Maltese Falcon anecdote provided a title for a good book about the Production Code years.
|
|
|
Post by vegalyra on Nov 8, 2018 1:20:12 GMT
The Big Sleep comes to mind. There were quite a few double entendres and allusions to what was really going on. If you were familiar with the novel it was pretty easy to know what Martha Vickers was up to when Bogart comes across her at the empty house.
|
|
|
Post by snsurone on Nov 8, 2018 20:46:50 GMT
One main plot point of THE BIG SLEEP concerned a nude photo of Carmen Sternwood. If this movie had been made after the Production Code was replaced by the MPAA rating system, viewers would get an eyeful of that photo!
Same with THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH. When Marilyn Monroe told Tom Ewell that she posed for an "artistic" photo for a book, viewers naturally assumed she was nude, and Ewell's reaction upon seeing that picture only reinforced that idea. I remember seeing the film in a revival theater, and there were audible groans of disappointment when the photo showed Marilyn in a two-piece swimsuit. Same with the iconic subway grating scene, which was far more chaste than the publicity led people to believe. I find that really testing the limits of the Hay's Office!
|
|
|
Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Nov 8, 2018 22:14:15 GMT
There's a Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck cartoon where a dog's rear catches on fire and he drags it across a carpet and then looks to the camera and says: "Hey, I better cut this out or I might get to like it."
It was put in deliberately so the censors would see it and remove it--but they kept it in!
|
|
|
Post by BATouttaheck on Nov 8, 2018 22:46:44 GMT
The last time that the scene from Tom Sawyer was brought up by the OP, I located and posted an image of the shot referred to. There is nothing that anyone ( much less a censor) would even notice or give a fig about. It's a very long shot of boys swimming and / or diving... cannot locate it again .. perhaps the Hays Office finally noticed it and had it removed from the web
|
|
|
Post by snsurone on Nov 8, 2018 23:46:25 GMT
There's a Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck cartoon where a dog's rear catches on fire and he drags it across a carpet and then looks to the camera and says: "Hey, I better cut this out or I might get to like it." It was put in deliberately so the censors would see it and remove it--but they kept it in! I can't remember the name of the cartoon, but neither Bugs nor Daffy was in it. Elmer Fudd was the nominal star, but the real stars were the dog and a pioneer flea. In the final scene, the house cat says, "Well, now I've seen everything!" and then shoots himself with a pistol.
|
|
|
Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Nov 9, 2018 0:51:34 GMT
I can't remember the name of the cartoon, but neither Bugs nor Daffy was in it. Elmer Fudd was the nominal star, but the real stars were the dog and a pioneer flea. In the final scene, the house cat says, "Well, now I've seen everything!" and then shot himself with a pistol. Oh yeah the flea. I think he was singing "There's food around the corner, for me."
|
|
|
Post by kijii on Nov 9, 2018 1:57:45 GMT
One main plot point of THE BIG SLEEP concerned a nude photo of Carmen Sternwood. If this movie had been made after the Production Code was replaced by the MPAA rating system, viewers would get an eyeful of that photo! Same with THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH. When Marilyn Monroe told Tom Ewell that she posed for an "artistic" photo for a book, viewers naturally assumed she was nude, and Ewell's reaction upon seeing that picture only reinforced that idea. I remember seeing the film in a revival theater, and there were audible groans of disappointment when the photo showed Marilyn in a two-piece swimsuit. Same with the iconic subway grating scene, which was far more chaste than the publicity led people to believe. I find that really testing the limits of the Hay's Office! I'm not sure what the Hay's Code permitted or prohibited, BUT I am sure Billy Wilder loved to test its limits. I love The Seven Year Itch because of it double entendres. I think that the Tom Ewell got away with a lot since he has only a pulp fiction writer fantasizing about MM, with her panties in the freezer. Dr. Brubaker : When something itches my dear sir, the natural tendency is to scratch. Richard Sherman : Last night I scratched.
|
|
|
Post by snsurone on Nov 9, 2018 13:29:10 GMT
No kijii, Ewell's character wasn't a writer. He was just an editor in a publishing company.
I think the movie might have been more interesting if he had been a writer. At least that might explain his overactive imagination.
|
|
|
Post by BATouttaheck on Nov 9, 2018 13:38:17 GMT
No kijii, Ewell's character wasn't a writer. He was just an editor in a publishing company. I think the movie might have been more interesting if he had been a writer. At least that might explain his overactive imagination. "Sherman is the key man of a publishing firm, Brady & Company, which publishes cheap pocket books. " "A professional book reader for a publishing company"
Not all who have great imaginations make their living by writing. j/s
|
|
|
Post by Doghouse6 on Nov 9, 2018 14:55:51 GMT
One main plot point of THE BIG SLEEP concerned a nude photo of Carmen Sternwood. If this movie had been made after the Production Code was replaced by the MPAA rating system, viewers would get an eyeful of that photo! Same with THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH. When Marilyn Monroe told Tom Ewell that she posed for an "artistic" photo for a book, viewers naturally assumed she was nude, and Ewell's reaction upon seeing that picture only reinforced that idea. I remember seeing the film in a revival theater, and there were audible groans of disappointment when the photo showed Marilyn in a two-piece swimsuit. Same with the iconic subway grating scene, which was far more chaste than the publicity led people to believe. I find that really testing the limits of the Hay's Office! I'm not sure what the Hay's Code permitted or prohibited, BUT I am sure Billy Wilder loved to test its limits. I love The Seven Year Itch because of it double entendres. I think that the Tom Ewell got away with a lot since he has only a pulp fiction writer fantasizing about MM, with her panties in the freezer. Dr. Brubaker : When something itches my dear sir, the natural tendency is to scratch. Richard Sherman : Last night I scratched.The significance of Joe Breen to Code enforcement, as outlined in mikef6 's earlier remarks above, can't be overstated. Although people typically refer to "the Hays Office" - officially the MPPDA, of which Hays was chairman until 1945 - and the Production Code itself had been in effect since 1930, it was from the 1934 formation of the Production Code Administration and installation of Breen as its head that his PCA office had the last word on what appeared in any final script or released film. Breen's retirement in 1954 and his succession by Geoffrey Shurlock very likely had an effect on films like The Seven Year Itch, which went into production in September of that year and was released in 1955. It's hard to imagine Breen ever allowing dialogue like, "Inwardly, downwardly pulsating, now together, ending and unending, now, NOW" onto the screen during his watch.
|
|
|
Post by snsurone on Nov 9, 2018 15:38:10 GMT
Great post, Dog. I sincerely hope Breen's "soul" is burning in Hell and will for all eternity!
BTW, fellow posters, my thread on Internet scammers HAS been moved. It's now on page 5 of the "Politics" board if you wish to add to it.
|
|
|
Post by teleadm on Nov 9, 2018 17:33:11 GMT
I came to think of the old MGM Tarzan movies, not the first two because I know that they might have been re-edited when they were reissued (maybe the wrong English word when a movie returns after a few years to cinemas), especially Tarzan and His Mate 1934 with a nude swimming scene and a tent and shadows scene, but they have been restored in the versionI have seen. I'm thinking about the later once, since they were always very "lightly" clothed. It's doubles, at least Maureen O'Sullivan. The swimming scenes from Tarzan and His Mate... ...and the tent and shadows scene.
|
|
|
Post by BATouttaheck on Nov 9, 2018 17:39:02 GMT
teleadm Tarzan Finds a Son (1939) "Tarzan had to "find" a son, because censors would not allow Jane to become pregnant because she and Tarzan were not legally married."
and nowadays in movies, we see scenes of people doin' what needs doin' to make a son.
|
|
|
Post by teleadm on Nov 9, 2018 18:06:48 GMT
teleadm Tarzan Finds a Son (1939) "Tarzan had to "find" a son, because censors would not allow Jane to become pregnant because she and Tarzan were not legally married."
and nowadays in movies, we see scenes of people doin' what needs doin' to make a son. Yes, now I remember that issue. Even if other rules should have applied to our heroes living far from "our civilization".
|
|
|
Post by snsurone on Nov 9, 2018 18:48:08 GMT
Another example is LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, where it was strongly insinuated that Ellen had an incestuous relationship with her father--which she had instigated.
|
|
|
Post by snsurone on Nov 10, 2018 2:27:16 GMT
tele, IMO, TARZAN AND HIS MATE is the very best of the "Tarzan" series, but I find that nude swimming scene the most boring part of the movie. I'll wager other viewers feel the same way.
|
|
|
Post by hitchcockthelegend on Nov 10, 2018 6:25:00 GMT
I came to think of the old MGM Tarzan movies, not the first two because I know that they might have been re-edited when they were reissued (maybe the wrong English word when a movie returns after a few years to cinemas), especially Tarzan and His Mate 1934 with a nude swimming scene and a tent and shadows scene, but they have been restored in the versionI have seen. I'm thinking about the later once, since they were always very "lightly" clothed. It's doubles, at least Maureen O'Sullivan. The swimming scenes from Tarzan and His Mate... ...and the tent and shadows scene. One of the sexiest classic movies ever, pre-code excellence.
|
|
|
Post by claudius on Nov 10, 2018 11:29:28 GMT
Some points:
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH still suffered some censor limitations. The original play had the husband actually shatter the commandment, but the Censors wouldn't allow adultery being played for laughs (if the film was a drama, no problem).
That cartoon short was Porky, not Elmer.
Perhaps not in the same bent, but Hollywood had to alter anything that portrayed the clergy humorously or negatively. Collins in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1940), Richelieu in THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1948), and Fersen in JOAN OF ARC (1948) were defrocked of their holy robes. Both the Chaney and Laughton versions of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME removed Archdeacon Claude Frollo's ruthless obsession for Esmeralda (the point of near-murder) and transferred them to his brother Jehan.
|
|