Episode 34: Pre-Code Crime Movies, feat. Arianny Pilarte of Not All Podcasts Wear Capes

CALLING ALL CARS! CALLING ALL CARS! BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR POINTED PROFANITY, SUGGESTIVE NUDITY, AND RIDICULE OF THE CLERGY! 

Before the MPAA ratings board, there was the Production Code and, before that, there was the Hays Code, which was more of a series of nagging demands than an actual code. Film historians tend to refer to the five-year period between the widespread adoption of sound (1929) and the harsh implementation of the Production Code in July of 1934 as the “Pre-Code Era.” Gabe and returning guest Arianny Pilarte take a look at four such films, all of which fall into the crime genre, including two gangster classics – William A. Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931) and Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932) – and two salacious melodramas from a feminine point-of-view – Mervyn LeRoy’s Three on a Match (1932) and Stephen Roberts’ The Story of Temple Drake (1933).

00:00 – Intro

08:07 – The Public Enemy

36:30 – Scarface

1:10:11 – Three on a Match

1:33:16 – The Story of Temple Drake

1:55:34 – Outro

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