http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Code_Hollywood

An era between 1929-34 where Hollywood movies weren't heavily censored yet.

A movie scene from this era:
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You mean they were allowed to curse and show nudity? ???

To an extent, yes, but only to the point of damn and hell for the most part.

Even then, movies still had to pretend to be wholesome. It's merely that censors back then were in some cases, more flexible than later censors, and in other cases, simply out of touch with dirty jokes of the day.

As for nudity, it did occasionally surface in Pre-Code movies.

As for nudity, it did occasionally surface in Pre-Code movies.
Back in the 1980s, I can recall seeing violence and nudity in D.W. Griffith's silent epic from 1916  "Intolerance", I was astounded in seeing such a thing from a film back then.

You mean they were allowed to curse and show nudity? ???
Actors could still be lip read in the silent films, graphics depicting the dialogue were quite tame.

Actors could still be lip read in the silent films, graphics depicting the dialogue were quite tame.
This thread mostly talks about early sound films.

This thread mostly talks about early sound films.

On record, silent films were still being made up to 1936, including "People on Sunday" by Robert Siodmak in 1930, and two films by Charlie Chaplin "City Lights" (1931) and Modern Times (1936).

Movies from the Pre-Code era available on YouTube:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQo-i_e86KY&list=PLx7Uz1FzhBi85km1Q0QKCG9RXPHxIS2ed (The Story of Temple Drake)

To an extent, yes, but only to the point of damn and hell for the most part.


So I'm guessing the "F" word wasn't invented just yet?

As for nudity, it did occasionally surface in Pre-Code movies.


I think full blown nudity didn't occur for another 20 years or so.

So I'm guessing the "F" word wasn't invented just yet?
It was too strong.

So I'm guessing the "F" word wasn't invented just yet?
That certain word has been around since the fifteenth century, back home in the UK we call it Anglo-Saxon.

It was too strong.


imagine what the actors and actresses would've blurted out if they accidentally said that? :o

We're fortunate to still have such films since ever since the SCOTUS in 1915 ruled that films weren't protected by the First Amendment there was a movement to set up a censorship board by Congress. IMO when the MPAA rating system had launched in 1968, the Post-Code era had passed, since IMO and X-rated film could allow anything a pre-code film had to offer. The biggest "code" though today is political correctness. I feel that beforehand technology and crime would have made such a rating system allow juvenilles to go too deliquent with seeing such violence (not that it doesn't exist today). The comic book equivalent was the CCA and its pre-code era is known as the Golden Age. 

The days when in a bedroom two single beds have to be shown and an actor has to keep one foot on the floor when lying down on a bed.

So when did cursing and nudity actually come in?

BTW, during the Pre-Code era, you could negotiate with the MPPDA (old name for the MPAA), in order to get your movie approved. Kind of like how today, you could negotiate with the MPAA to make your R-rated movie a PG-13 one or to make your NC-17 movie an R-rated one.

BTW, during the Pre-Code era, you could negotiate with the MPPDA (old name for the MPAA), in order to get your movie approved. Kind of like how today, you could negotiate with the MPAA to make your R-rated movie a PG-13 one or to make your NC-17 movie an R-rated one.


How were you able to do that?

How were you able to do that?
Make cuts in the film? Delete scenes that could be unsavoury?

What came after Pre-code?

What came after Pre-code?
Post-Code cinema and those stereotypical squeaky-clean movies associated with old cinema.

Post-Code cinema and those stereotypical squeaky-clean movies associated with old cinema.


So by this time they started to curse and show nudity or partial nudity?

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwij798NDuY

This is very interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AjrDDHbkCE



Cat

Back in the 1980s, I can recall seeing violence and nudity in D.W. Griffith's silent epic from 1916  "Intolerance", I was astounded in seeing such a thing from a film back then.


Actually such sceens were quite common.  I forget the director who said it, but it was something like "We can show 50 minutes of sin, so long as we finish with 10 minutes of repentance".

There were not yet any kind of national laws in regards to what could or not be shown in movies, these were all in the local level.  This is for example where the phrase "Banned in Boston" came from.  It had some of the most strict moral code laws in the nation at that time, so many cities simply followed the lead made by that city (or would do the opposite for publicity purposes, allowing something that had been "Banned in Boston").

And much of the pattern was later repeated in 1954 with the Comic Code.  A movie was allowed to be made that did not follow the code (just like a comic did not have to follow it's own code), but most of the country used the code as a way to justify local standards.

Sometimes it was interesting to see what exactly the code would allow or not allow.  In addition to many pre-code movies (including Intolerance), I even have in my collection a DVD that features nothing but banned Hayes code cartoons.

http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Crazys-Banned-Censored/dp/B0000541UL