msladysoul Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 I can't get off the pre code films topic. I like the risque, sexuality, controversial topics but at the same time they left something to the imagination. Films today should be like that. They stopped that pre-code because the movies was getting too real damaging the supposed innocence, high morals and values image America wanted to have. You don't have to be nude, curse or be overly violent to get a point across or to entertain. But today's generation, my generation, don't know real talent and real movie making. Whenever one sees a classic film they end up liking it because at first they thought the old black n white movies would be dull and saint like. I love the gowns, dresses women wore. I would love to wear those types of clothes that were figure flattering, attractive, glittering, glamourous. Women didn't show cleavage and have half their behind and breast out. Women today believe in if you got it flaunt it. Back then they flaunted it but kept it covered, nothing tight but form fitting, leaving something to the imagination. The clothes flattered their figure and showed their clothes. What is more attractive then a well dressed woman? Constance Bennett weighed about 100 pounds but those dresses fitted her and made her look curvy. Women dress to kill then. Hats, gloves to match, oh I would love to dress like that. I going to start making me some outfits like that. Some of the outfits women wore back in the 30s and 40s are coming back, even styles of the 30s and 40s could be worn today. Women at Oscars should watch these older films and have gowns made like the Golden Era beauties. What are some of your favorite scenes, movies, outfits of pre-code? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
path40a Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 I rather liked what I saw of Ms. Colbert in The Sign of the Cross and Cleopatra (which will both be aired again next Monday;- ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 msladysoul, I agree and agree some more. I've said before that I loved Constance Bennett's dolman sleeved satin gown in Topper. In one of Claudette Colbert's movies, she wore a striped suit whose lines met, on the sleeve, on the collar, at every seam. It was flawlessly made and fit her beautifully. As you said, day dresses required gloves and hats. I loved the gloves which met the end of the jacket, about two or so inches past the wrist. Such detail. I loved the shoes matching the bag. And the scenes of people leaving theaters or airports dressed, DRESSED, men in their suits and women in their dresses. And night glamor, oh my! Gowns and furs and tuxedos, and everyone going to nightclubs and driving around in Cadillacs and Cords with chrome up to there. Great stuff, wasn't it??? Yes, I am an ex-hippie and was one of the first to embrace denim and clogs, but I miss the glamor and gentrification of My Golden Era nonetheless. Oh, and my favorite designer was Orry Kelly. He was a favorite of Gracie Allen, smart woman. There was some of the long gone glamor at the Golden Globe awards, or perhaps it was the SAG awards shows this year. A number of the flowing satin gowns -- Mariska Hargitay (daughter of Jayne Mansfield) had a lovely number -- were quite beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feaito Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 I liked Stanwyck in "Baby Face", Colbert in "Torch Singer", "Cleopatra" and "Sign of the Cross", Tallulah in "Faithless", Marlene in "Blonde Venus", Kay Johnson in "Dynamite" and "Madam Satan", Myrna Loy in "Love Me Tonight" and Norma Shearer in "Riptide"...those I can remember...I'd like to watch Joan Crawford's outfits in "Letty Lynton"...she looks ravishing on the film's stills and would like to watch Norma in "Let Us Be Gay" too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loliteblue Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 I loved the movie "The Women" yes i too wish we women of today dresssed like they did back then women dressing as women & men dressing like men!...I love the scene in the movie when it turns to color the fashion show and all the beautiful clothes!!!!lolite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loliteblue Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 oops i mean't the norma shearer version. lolite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenwal34 Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Just finished watching my dvd of THE OLD DARK HOUSE.Gloria Stuart and her costumes were something else! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brackenhe Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 I really love that dress with the fur (yikes!) that Jean Harlow has on at the dinner party in Dinner at 8. She looks all modest in the front and then she turns around and wowee the back is cut down to--well you know where. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Ah, brackenhe, perhaps that's why I liked Hillary Swank's Oscar dress while everyone else was complaining. I must have channeled Jean Harlow in Dinner At Eight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msladysoul Posted March 5, 2005 Author Share Posted March 5, 2005 I agree with one poster here who said that that he/she would love to see Ann Sheridan in a pre-code film. I would second that emotion. Ann wasn't offered the best of movies but she made them watchable. She's so likeable. Maybe had she been born a little earlier, maybe she would of been a big star in pre-code. Her acting really fits that era of movie making since she was a tough brood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhryun Posted March 5, 2005 Share Posted March 5, 2005 I too love pre-code. Not only is the writing superb, but the costumes! Ooh-la-la! All those WONDERFUL hats, shoes and they managed to put rhinestones and feathers on most everything. I find myself envying the costumes on 65 year old women, LOL. I agree, any one of those stars whether in a beautiful silk, body skimming gown or just a well fitted suit is a million times sexier than a dress that, like most movies made today, leaves nothing to the imagination. One my favorite movies is Trouble In Paradise, another Ernst Lubitsch jewel. It stars Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins, Herbert Marshall and Edward Everett Horton. Definitely see it if you can (it's on DVD). It's silly, funny and full of fabulous sets and clothes. Of course, The Women might take the cake for costumes. I have always thought Norma Shearer looked great in all her clothes (love her shiny lame in The Divorcee) but my most favorite is her HUGE and fluffy marabou or ostrich bed robe in The Women. My goodness what a thing. And that fashion show! There aren't even words. Tony Curtis said when they first started filming Some Like It Hot, they tried to use some of Norma's old dresses they had in the studio for him and Jack to wear, but the ended up getting custom ones along with Marilyn. Apparently Tony was told he had better legs than hers, to which she replied "But does he have a 'bust' like this?" Another great "clothes" moment isn't pre-code per se, but is in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Carol has brought out the little blue suit she wore 3 years earlier when she married. Of course, she can't get the side of the skirt buttoned and says to her maid in a way only Carol could have, "I can't understand anything hanging in a closet shrinking so much!!!" Of course we are given glimpses of her skirt popping open a few times later. I love that. My clothes do the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhryun Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 Right now my favorite pre-code film is "Sign of the Cross" but thats because its the last one I watched. That films got everything - scenes, outfits-WOW!! and even pygmies! The whole coliseum scene was incredible-quite graphic killing! I should have taped it, just writing about it makes me want to watch it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobywing Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Oh how agree with you all. The precode years..I was born way too late. I love watching these movies. I have a book called "Those Glorious Glamour Years". I lost it in a house fire & recently found it again on ebay. Anyhow, the entire book is about the movie fashions of the 1930's only. It breaks the clothes into categories like evening glamour, daytime glamour, glamour at home, epic glamour & so on. There are tons of pictures, stories & anecdotes. I recommend it to anyone like us! Laura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetbabykmd Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 The book sounds marvelous, I will have to get my hands on a copy. Thanks Laura! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayresorchids Posted March 18, 2005 Share Posted March 18, 2005 The dress Ginger Rogers wears to sing "Music Makes Me [Do the Things I Never Should Do]" in Flying Down to Rio. Even some of the post-Code dresses worn by Rita Hayworth in You Were Never Lovelier (1942) are pretty amazing. You can hear the costume designer reasoning, "Let's give the boys overseas something to dream about, here!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhryun Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Hi all, first post (thogh I'm a TCM oldie from several years ago, way back from the post chat days). I love musicals, especially pre-code (pre-propaganda). Fave pre-code scenes: Loretta Young first meets Una Merkel in THEY CALL IT SIN (1932) Opening chorus in HALLELUJAH (1929) "My Forgotten Man" in GOLDDIGGERS OF 1933 "Happy Feet" in KING OF JAZZ (1930) Eddie Cantor and the Roman soldiers in ROMAN SCANDALS (1932) Bummed out Bing Crosby in GOING HOLLYWOOD (1933) Fave outfits: Anything from that wacked out zeppelin party scene in MADAM SATAN (1930) Harlow's party dress in HELL'S ANGELS (1930) Myrna Loy running around in a bikini in THE DESERT SONG (1929) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 tobywing, one word...........GASP!! I just got my copy of "Those Glorious Glamour Years", and it is wonderful. If not for you and this board, I would not have known it existed. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flickerknickers Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Has anyone mentioned Clara Bow's shocking attire (or lack of it) in that cult hit, "Call Her Savage"? In the famous dinner scene where she meets her rival, Thelma Todd, you see everything Mother Nature gave the glorious Clara with only a thin, sheer silk gown as a wink at attire. Also, in the l932 "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," the dazzling looking Miriam Hopkins portrays a girl-of-the-street, Ivy. In the most risque scene that occurs in her bedroom, she pretends to have hurt herself so the handsome doctor, Frederic March, will examine her. Pulling up a sheet to barely cover her chest, the doctor's hands become very daring and she clearly wants more than a cool medical appraisal. This final scene ends with Ivy smiling into the camera in a startling close-up. Her smiling image is superimposed over the doctor as she whispers: "Come back! Soon! Come backkkkk! Soon!" Whew! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shainablue1 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 I love Tonight Or Never, 1931 with Gloria Swanson and Melvyn Douglas. When she finds that lame excuse to go back to his room, and it comes out she thinks he is a gigolo, and he is **** you can tell because A) he resents that b)he wants to chase after her and is dissapointed she came back obviously hoping to -shall we say- take a lover? But he lets her keep thinking he's a gigolo. Then he starts pretending like he is going to- shall we say- force his affections upon her- to teach her a lesson and runs and blocks her from the door, then runs and blocks her from the window, and actually grabs and hurts her. Then he locks the door and he warns her she has three minutes to decide whether she will either stay with him always or never see him again, and if she doesn't leave in three minutes he is going to - well- "hold her and never let her go ever"-and boy does that movie get tense and all the dialogue and her debating go or stay? Just like that game "Perfection" that pops all the pieces out at you if you don't finish in time- bam! She asks for a taxi and he says " too late!" and he grabs her intensely and kisses her and.....fade out. Wow. Love that scene! What a man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencerl964 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 It would have to be *James Cagney & the legendary "Shoving of the Grapefruit" scene in 1931's "The Public Enemy" (TRIVIA: The lady of whom was on rec. end of the grapefruit: Mae Clark, lived in a retirement nursing home during her final yrs & even ad a mammoth blow-up/poster of said sequence in her room! She also got roughed up by *Jim in a couple more WB's flix) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobywing Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Stoney - I'm so glad you were able to find a copy of Those Glorious Glamorous years. It is amazing isn't it. I love that book & reference it ALOT. I love these boards. I had no idea that there were so many of us out there that have such a passion for the early years. My favorite years are the precode years, well all of the 1930's. I look forward to reading these boards each & every day! I'm always disappointed when I'm too busy & have to skip a day. Laura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Ack! tobywing, I want a lame gown, now!!! LOL, and I want to look like a movie star in it. Gorgeous stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhryun Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 Joan Crawford's "Our Dancing Daughters" (1928), where she played Diana Medford (aka Dangerous Diana)is a showcase of the Jazz Age with its art deco mansions, beautiful clothes and fast living. Mostly a silent film, it established Joan as a star. In 1933, Will Hayes cited this film when defending why the Production Code was necessary "to protect the men and women of America." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhryun Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 The other night on one of the Harold Lloyd shorts (can't recall the title, but it preceded WELCOME DANGER), a shady character pulls out a syringe and shoots up. I'd never seen drug use so blatant in a silent before. I recorded THREE ON A MATCH but haven't watched it yet. I recall that Dvorak has a coke habit but don't think we see her snort it, just referred to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brackenhe Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 I taped 3 on a Match too and watched it yesterday. Dvorak was really good in it. Bogart just rubs his nose and points toward her direction and we hear her agonize from withdrawals off screen. It had been a long time since I saw this so I was shocked. LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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