MovieChat Forums > Primrose Path (1940) Discussion > CENSORSHIP

CENSORSHIP

posted 17 years ago by rms125a
2 replies | jump to latest

I haven't seen this movie, but given the prevailing censorship of that time there is no way it was anything other than a bawdlerized version of what could have been a great movie (a la the original "Waterloo Bridge" from 1931 with Mae Clarke) 8-10 years earlier (before the Catholic censorship which took hold of films for 30-odd years starting in mid-1934).

Two questions:

a)How did/could they have managed to convey that Marjorie Rambeau's character is a "prostitute"??

b) How does everyone know Ginger Rogers purportedly wore no makeup in the film since she's so beautiful anyway?

[–] klasekfilmfan 17 years ago

Well, as a matter of fact, the film has no problem conveying the message that Marjorie Rambeau's character was a prostitute. No one comes out and says that this is what she is, but it is fairly obvious. I agree that this could have been even a better film had it been made pre-code. But then again, it's unlikely that Rogers could've landed this role in the early thirties as she was only making "B" comedies.

As for your other question about Ginger wearing no make-up, as a matter of fact she is still very beautiful playing a plain tom-boyish girl...and yet she is still very convincing in her role.

This is a very fine film and shouldn't be missed by any Ginger Rogers enthusiast. It's a pity that this movie hasn't been released to DVD yet. There are still OOP VHS's floating around though.

www.geocities.com/hollywoodoftheforties

[–] Jes' Sayin' (5947) 2 years ago

There were pre-code versions of this story. Maybe those films are more of what you want.