American Cinematographer - December 1999 - 130

rare

book market, but this new edition

gives readers another chance to discover
these thrillers from another

era.

progressive and reformist impulse" and
"evinced

for the proper nurtur¬

concern

ing of the

and the protection of

young

women."

Pre-Code

American Cinema,
1930-1934

by Thomas Doherty
Columbia University Press
412 pps, paper

($19.50)

Cloth $49.50

THE ART OF THE
CINEMATOGRAPHER

Though the

Hollywood:

Sex, Immorality, and
Insurrection in

ISBN 0-231-11095-2

(paper)

ISBN 0-231-11094-4

(doth)

A Survey and Interviews
with hive Masters
by Leonard Mattin

released

a

years
ago,
MGM
fully restored version of the

1934 film Tarzan and His Mate. The

print includes a surprising under¬
featuring the Lord of the
Apes (Johnny Weissmuller) scantily clad
in a loincloth, frolicking with a
completely nude Jane (Olympic swimmer
Josephine McKim, doubling for Maureen
O'Sullivan). The playful and explicit
scene runs on at some length.
This motion picture, according to
author Thomas Doherty, provides a
"glimpse of an alternate film universe"
when the Hays Production Code was in
uncut

This revised and

enlarged
republication of the original
New York (1971) edition,
Behind the Camera: The

Cinematographer's Art,
presents interviews with a
number of accomplished
directors of photography,
including:
Arthur Miller, ASC

*

How Green Was

My Valley,
Anna and the King of Siam
*

Hal Mohr, ASC

The Jazz Singer,

Captain Blood

Hal Rosson, ASC
The Wizard of Oz, Singin'
*

in the Rain

water sequence

*

Lucien Ballard, ASC

*

Conrad Hall, ASC

In Cold Blood,

Butch Cassidy

and the Sundance Kid

Paperback, 81/4" x 11",
with 105 illustrations

(800) 448-0145
WWW.CINEMATCX3RAPHER.COM

Doherty does a good job of
setting the pre-Code films against their
social and cultural background. He
states, "The arc of pre-Code Hollywood
cinema spanned a historical epoch of
singular upheaval and rare misfortune."
In chapters titled "Bread Lines and Box
Office Lines" and "Preachment Yarns,"
Doherty gauges the impact of America's
Great Depression on the pre-Code films.
The affinity between the crime boss and
capitalist executive is discussed in
"Criminal Codes," a chapter on gangster
films. Classic horror films such
the

because

and virtue unrewarded, illicit sexual

liaisons, and mockeries of marriage. It
strange and wonderful period for

was a

Hollywood films, which served up, in the
author's words, "the raw stuff of Ameri¬
can

culture, unvarnished and unveiled."
Pre-Code

Hollywood covers in
four-year interval, which
"marks a fascinating and anomalous
passage" when "censorship was lax and
Hollywood made the most of it." The
Production Code itself was written by
Father Daniel Lord, a Jesuit priest, and
Martin Quigley, a prominent Roman
Catholic layman and editor of the
exhibitor's journal, The Motion Picture
Herald. "Contrary to popular belief,"
writes Doherty, "the document was not a
grunted jeremiad from bluenose fussbudgets, but a polished treatise reflecting
long and deep thought." It "expressed a

as

Frankenstein and Dracula "blossomed in

existence but not enforced. Other films

detail this

The Wild Bunch, True Grit

transit visa for theatrical release."

from this

unique period (March 31,1930
to July of 1934) featured vice unpunished

Picture

(MPPDA) pledged to abide by the Code,
"the regulatory and oversight process
was a rigged game: members of the
MPPDA could appeal unfavorable deci¬
sions by Code administrators to the next
level of executive authority, namely
themselves." By "gentlemen's agree¬
ment, material that violated both the
letter and spirit of the Code was granted
a

Several

Motion

Producers and Distributors of America

early 1930s," declares Doherty,
they were "nurtured by the
incipient sense of disorder and disinte¬
gration in America."
By 1934, the National Legion of
Decency, the Roman Catholic Church,
and the Motion Picture Research Council

"embarked upon a

nationwide crusade"
moviegoers away from the temp¬
tations of Hollywood movies. A sense of
siege became evident in the motion
picture industry, and "the MPPDA reor¬
ganized the enforcement mechanism of
the 1930 Code to give it coercive power
over member producers," marking the
to lead

end of

a

brief but

eye-catching period in

Hollywood historyBooksNow

-

■
To order these books

(24hrs., 365 days), please call 800-2665766 (ext.
1578), or visit us at

http://www.booksnow.com/americancinematographer.htm. From outside the U.S.,
call 801-261-1187 (ext. 1578).
American Cinematographer - December 1999

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 1999
