The greatest weapon a woman has is a man's imagination. Read this book if you want to know which 1934 movie spawned this line and was laced with sexual yearning and unrestrained eroticism.
Joan Blondell, my favorite Pre-Code babe mirrored dalliances in deceit. Her risque dialogue and lascivious lingerie lead to the over use of the censor board. Blondell's movies were brazen and uproarious, toying with the boundaries of decency. "Three on a Match" is laden with debauchery, including illicit sex, kidnapping and depraved thrills fueled by excessive drinking and hard drug use. This 1932 flick contains the debilitating vices and open sexuality in today's cinema. It's just implied and not in your face like our current films.
This book details 50 flicks made between 1930-1934 with sagacious insight. As stated in "Pre-Code Essentials Must See Cinema from Hollywood's Untamed Era 1930-1934," it's perfect for Pre-Code novices and film aficionados. Turns out, I'm not the expert I thought I was in this era in Hollywood. I personally own more than 100 of these movies and if I owned 80 percent more of these films, I'd still be well short of 100 percent. According to this book, at least 1500 Pre-Code movies were made in its four year period.
Women like Joan Blondell, Ginger Rodgers, Barbara Stanwyck, Clara Bow, Mae West and Claudette Colbert summoned delicious desires in cinema and ignited insane censorship that didn't completely end until the late 1960s when our current movie rating system was implemented.
Clara Bow entered the movies in the early 1920s and prior to her, sexuality for women in movies was nonexistent, the B.C. era in Hollywood; films Before Clara. (Bow) By 1927 the extravaganza of sexual liaisons was in full force. Many claim the Pre-Code era began in 1927. Regardless, strick rules were written years before 1930 on how much skin the ladies were allowed to show in mainstream films and what type of dialogue and story-lines were considered absolute taboo. These written laws took hold in July of 1935, officially ending the Pre-Code era. The far righties and religious zealots went way over board in hindering artistic freedom and violating the Constitution of free speech. Betty Boop was no longer showing her garter belt in 1935.
The extravaganza of sexual liaisons wasn't all that aroused the attention of the censors. Criticism of the government and World War I were also showcased in the Pre-Code era. "All Quiet on the Western Front" illustrated the inhumane horrors of war and its stark violence.
Outlaws were glorified in such movies as "Public Enemy," "Scar Face," and "Night Nurse," all reviewed with sagacious aplomb in this book. Four and a half stars easy for this 2025 gem of a book.
Bravo to the authors Kim Luperi and Danny Reid for writing about movies only I seem to like.
Mark Izzy Schurr
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