I so love these pre-code films

While many great films were made in spite of the later Code that came into forecful effect, it always makes me wonder exactly how great, honest and deep films could have continued to be if that awful Code had not been enforced on Hollywood.

When you see some of the sophisticated treatments of social issues and relationships that were being done in the 20s and 30s, all pre-Code, it's really depressing to imagine how this "new" medium of film could have progressed if all the censorship had not been imposed. It rather stunted film making in the area of honest portrayls of human behavior. It could only be explored later as long as it was not overt in either speech or behaviors.

And goodness forbid a woman should enjoy herself in Code pictures, and not be punished by the end for her sexual or professional enjoyment! That was one of the most egregious of Code requirements IMHO. It totally changed the outcomes of films when the woman had to be punished at the end for whatever she got up to during the film, in case it was immoral or illegal

And the awful Code legacy endured way too long. We still had married couples forced into twin beds on screen, both tv and film, until the '60s!

God...Barbara Stanwyck and her pre-marital lover having a long conversation on the couch about how great they both looked in their undies in the morning was incredible, given what the Code soon did to films. Whe he says how sexy she looks in the morning "in your shimmy" it takes you aback to realize this was in 1931 and the boom would soon be lowered on this type of film making.

And when they talk about how they like sneaking around in the night she says "Oh i LOVE pussyfooting around!" Wowee. Talk about thinly veiled hints with the P-word in it. I'm surprised they just didn't throw out the f-bomb, haha.

As another poster said, pre-Code films were modern. It was the stuff that came after that's dated. Sigh.