Ms Kathleen's

Screen 1 of 7

Movie Review

Female

Directors: Michael Curtiz, William A. Wellman, William Dieterle

Starring: Ruth Chatterton,

George Brent,

Lois Wilson,

Johnny Mack Brown,

Ruth Donnelly

Released: 1933

Length: 60 minutes

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Before there was the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) film-rating system, there was the Motion Picture Production Code, better known as the Morality Code, or simply “The Code”. Many of the Black and White films that us movie buffs love were produced during “The Code” years. That was appoximately 1934 up until it weakend in the 1960’s and was abandoned in favor of the MPAA rating system in 1968.

Films in the late 1920s and early 30s reflected the liberal attitudes of the day and could include sexual innuendos, references to homosexuality, miscegenation, illegal drug use, infidelity, and profane language, as well as women in their undergarments. Such behavior was common in the liberal climate of cities at that time, although it often shocked audiences in rural areas.

By 1934, theatre revenues were slumping (likely, in part, due to the Depression) and those in the film industry were unhappy with the prospect of losing even more of their audience, particularly in heavily Catholic cities (New York, Boston, Chicago, etc).