Pre-Code Hollywood

Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the <a href="/facts/Cinema_of_the_United_States/1HpkUBfd">American film industry</a> that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines (popularly known as the <a href="/facts/Hays_Code/wgntMFzn">Hays Code</a>) in 1934. Although the Hays Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor, and it did not become rigorously enforced until July 1, 1934, with the establishment of the <a href="/facts/Production_Code_Administration/mywSeh2S">Production Code Administration</a>. Before that date, film content was restricted more by local laws, negotiations between the Studio Relations Committee (SRC) and the major studios, and popular opinion than by strict adherence to the Hays Code, which was often ignored by Hollywood filmmakers.
As a result, some films in the late 1920s and early 1930s depicted or implied <a href="/facts/Innuendo/GXsV2eJ8">sexual innuendo</a>, romantic and sexual relationships between white and black people, mild <a href="/facts/Profanity/gf39KK4s">profanity</a>, <a href="/facts/Recreational_drug_use/eoBD3vKn">illegal drug use</a>, <a href="/facts/Promiscuity/nLzNh2Md">promiscuity</a>, <a href="/facts/Prostitution/LS7VeWB5">prostitution</a>, <a href="/facts/Infidelity/yqdIqsIV">infidelity</a>, <a href="/facts/Abortion/ro0RjIBT">abortion</a>, intense <a href="/facts/Violence/eJlCdt82">violence</a>, and <a href="/facts/Homosexuality/gNy8Nvl0">homosexuality</a>. Nefarious characters were seen to profit from their deeds, in some cases without significant repercussions. For example, gangsters in films such as <a href="/facts/The_Public_Enemy/K9jzwXTD">The Public Enemy</a>, <a href="/facts/Little_Caesar_(film)/RxjaP4FW">Little Caesar</a>, and <a href="/facts/Scarface_(1932_film)/BhaS27pI">Scarface</a> were seen by many as heroic rather than evil. Strong female characters were ubiquitous in such pre-Code films as <a href="/facts/Female_(1933_film)/GxdPHLY5">Female</a>, <a href="/facts/Baby_Face_(film)/rKffIfNJ">Baby Face</a> or <a href="/facts/Red-Headed_Woman/xx8KHTTG">Red-Headed Woman</a>, among many others, which featured independent, sexually liberated women. Many of Hollywood's biggest stars, such as <a href="/facts/Clark_Gable/LXtRcETs">Clark Gable</a>, <a href="/facts/Bette_Davis/3bEtNFjr">Bette Davis</a>, <a href="/facts/James_Cagney/vqGTjNbx">James Cagney</a>, <a href="/facts/Barbara_Stanwyck/JCmJUnMw">Barbara Stanwyck</a>, <a href="/facts/Joan_Blondell/Hx7uPrjL">Joan Blondell</a>, and <a href="/facts/Edward_G._Robinson/clwBD8pS">Edward G. Robinson</a>, got their start in the era. Other stars who excelled during this period, however, like <a href="/facts/Ruth_Chatterton/gxl22qmR">Ruth Chatterton</a> and <a href="/facts/Warren_William/SE94kI3n">Warren William</a> (sometimes referred to as the "King of Pre-Code", who died in 1948), would be largely forgotten by the general public within a generation.
Beginning in late 1933 and escalating throughout the first half of 1934, <a href="/facts/Catholic_Church_in_the_United_States/cW6Q4oxk">American Catholics</a> launched a campaign against what they deemed the immorality of American cinema. This, along with a potential government takeover of film censorship and social research seeming to indicate that movies that were seen to be immoral could promote bad behavior, was enough pressure to force the studios to capitulate to greater oversight.

Pre-Code Hollywood open-in-new

Pre-Code Hollywood